Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1853-09-04
Be gentle with the Children.

Know what VIII come II you don |! These words
spoken in no very pleasant tone, fell upon my ear
as passed through the hall to my study. They
were addressed by Betsy, the hOusenaid, to a
sprightly, but not very thoughtful child of seven
summers whom she was sending with message to
a farmhouse, some quarter of mile Distant
Mary set out at once and, taking seat moment
after near window which overlooked the road my
eye caught the form of the child bounding away on
her errand
There is hardly anything in this cold world, like
the feeling with which father regards bright az
fectionate daughter. / doubt whether the much
and justly euiogized love of mother. strong as it
IS is just such feeling. Prompted by the recol-
lection of what had just heard or by the dim re-
I membrance of some of my childish experience. or
/ perhaps by both combined l determined to watch
the movements Of the little messenger. For the
first few moments the memory of the charge which
she had received seemed to give energy to the chds
purpose and she skipped along as is to obey to the
letter. But in passing the door of neighbor,
something attracted her attention. She paused
then ran into the yard, and it was some minutes be-
fore she re-appeared. Again on her way, it was
not long before something new arrested her steps.
1t might be the sight of birds, or their music, or
the discovery of the far famed butterfly, which SO
many children have chased. At all events, it was
pretty clear that Mary had quite forgotten the
impressive injunction of the housekeeper. "Ah,
child"' thought |, as 1 turned from the window,
~thou art type of myself thou art true represen-
tative of thy kind"
Weak and irresolute Is man;
The purpose of to-day,
Woven with pains into has plan,
Tomorrow Tends away
1t might have been an hour or more later, when
the door Of MY room was somewhat suddenly open
ed and Betsy appeared leading the little cuprit-
MARY is a very bad girl, she said in an excited
tone Il sent her to Mrs KS, to get some things
for her sick mother and she has been gone thesetwO
hours, and lost her basket besides" So saving, !
she drew the reluctant child into the room and went
away. This introduction to me, then, was one of !
the aforesaid threatened consequences of disobe- /
dience.
Mary said l. ''what does this mean:' Mary |
raised her eyes timidly to mine but said nothing
Her countenanee wore an expression of mingled
shame, grief and perplexity. ~Come here, my
child, continued '.and tell me why you have been
50 naughty7
Il don't know" she said after considerable hesi-
taton, @but Betsy is SO cross to me- and she burst
into passion Of tears. This was evadng the point I
and was about to say with some severity, But, /
child. you do know, and YOU must tell me, when
the thought occurred to me that there was more
truth in her answer than 1 was willing to give her
credit for.
A little exercise of kindness and tact, on my
part, drew from her the history of her little expe-
dition. She hal been sent away, feeling that ii
was quite relief to be out of the sight of her harsh
mentor, withno explanation of the necessity Of be-
ing quick, except threat and consequently no real
respect for the authority which sent her Shehad .
stopped to play with the children in the yard from
natural love to society. She had fingered TO watch
the birds and listened to their songs, because she
loved them, and was curious to see their movements
When coming back, she had set down her basket (
to pick some pretty flowers, and then forgotten it.
L saw how it was, ami received lesson /
Mary perceived clearly enough the general idea Z
that she had done wrong. but could not see where 4
the wrong lay, or how, or why she had done it.
She had never been taught that it was wrong to
play, or to love the birds and the flowers but. on
the contrary, she had learned TO think that these
things were all right. Her error was that she had
taken the wrong time to indulge in these innocent
mcfnatiOns. On this point she had received little
or no instruction. No wonder she could not tell
why she had been so naughty" The fault was
partially in her instructors. and it was the consc-
ouSness Of something of this kind which made her
look so perplexed, and led her to say, Il don't
know"
This Il don't know, so often taken as an evil /
denee of sullenness on the part of children, has .
more of truth and reason in it than many parents
and teachers are aware of. Too often we deal with
the child just if it knew as much and could re-
son as well as ourselves.
Be just to the children. Be gentle with the
children.-1f9ther's Journal and FaDai1g Visitaat