New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-01-06
When he demands ! pgesetst 4 sT1jeI

P'ai"' anu holus OUT his hand Years TO
come be will learn To oYinee and fa,yn. and
write begging letters, and attribute his want
OF sugar -plums to the hardness of tbe timayg
or to his having to g take up n little iii > "a
blunt Is his truthfulness that it freauentIv be-s
comes lnconvenient and embarrassing He Takes
the most alarming revelations, in all innocence
and Inconsistencies, respecting the maIpractiees
Of the servants, and the criticisms passed by Els
relatives upon the appearance and manners of
their friends and acqusintances. He suffers in
the flesh for this, and is martyr to his truth
fulness- Not strong enough in purpose to hate,
ne is yet afrahI and ashamed to lie. He blushes
ana ssamners over an untruth. 'Tis practice
makes the liar perfect The infant knows the
truth and It's seat for it is IN his heart, and he
mas no need to 30 wandering about the earth in
searcm OF IL, ike that mad fellow, who hearing
that Truth lay at the bottom Of 4 we'll. iumred
into we'll and was drowned; finding indeed
Truth at the bottom-for he found Death. You,
foolish, coekering mothers, teach your children
to lie, when you aid them in DENYING or COM
cealing their faults from those who would IL
stern with them. You, unreasoning, iSnpetrous
parents, nourish lying scorpions in your tosorn.
when you beat your children savacely far MI
Involuntary accident, for broken vase, or a
torn frock. You give the child a motive for con-
ceaiment You SOW lying seed that will bear
black sfruit; You make truth to mean punish
ment, and falsehood impunity.
In letters as large and bo6i as beautiful and
clear to view, IS written on the sheet Of paper
you are pleased to call blank in little ehildreu,s
minds the word charity. Large-hearted. onons
handed, self denying charity. Unreason;ng.
indiscreet, indiscriminate, perchance, but stili
charity of the Christian sort, which, done in
secret shall be rewarded openly. am corY, II
PEELED to admit that little children know no..
thing about the Mendicity Society and theinde-
fatsgable Mr.. Horsford; that they have never
perused the terrible leaders in tho Times
against street mendicancy and the sin of iirfis-E
criminate lms-giying; that they would, If they
could read bad writing, become an easy prey TO-
begging letter mpesters, and would never ba
ape % steel their hearts against the appeals TO
the benevolent Ia the newspapers must own
too, that their charity does not stop at humanity
but extends itself to the animal creation s II
never saw child feed a donkey with rnaca-
rooms; but i have seen one little eirl. nress
pouud-cake upon Shetland poneY, and anather
little girl give half of her cake to four
footed acquaintance of the Newfoundland
breed. | have watched the charitable in
stincts of children from babyhood to school,
hood, when hopes and cankering fears, desire
OF praise, solicitude for favor and lust Of
gain begin, shutting up charity in an iron-
bound strong box Of small worIdliness. Chill
dren love to give. Is it to feed the ducks
in the park, or slide warm pennies into the
paisled hands OF cripples, or drop them into the
trays or blind mems dogs, or pop them, smiling,
INTO the Sits of money boxes, or administer ele-
mentary sustenance to Bunny and Tiny the
rabbits, or give the pig a sspoons--to give ia
indeed their delight They want no tuition in
charity; it is in them, God sent Yanaer little
chubby sheet Of blank stationery who is numb
ling piece Of parliament in his nurses arns,
has scarcely consciousness of musical power
sufficient to teach him to hold the sweetmeat
fast; yet, if ask q baby half by word half by
gesture to give me bit, this young short-coated
Samaritan-who not long since began to take
notice, and can only just ejaoulate dada, ma
ma-will gravely remove the parliament from
his own lips and offer it to mine We're he q =
very few months older he would clutch it tighter >
in his tinny hand, and break a piece off, and
give 1t to me. Is not this charity? He does
not know, this young neophyte, that the parfia- p
ment is moist and sticky with much sucking
and mumbling: that l am too big to eat parlia-
ment; and that 1t Is mean and paltry in me, a
great, hulkIng, able-bodied, working man. to
beg cakes of him, o helpless infant But he
knows in his instructive sapience that he cannot
fill my belly with wise saws, or with preeepts of
political economy He cannot quote Adam
Smith, Ricardo, or s. e.. o. to me; he adminis-
ters, In his instructive charity, corporeaI susie
nance to my eorporeal necessity The avari-
cious infant is q monster
What word is that that shines SO brightly
whose letters dance and glitter like precious
gems on the so-called black scroll Love. In
stinct of instincts, inhorn of all innate things
little children begin to love as soon as they be-
gin to live. When mere faccid helpless babes
their tiny faces mantle with smiles-ah so full
of love end tenderness-in their sleep. The
first use they make Of their arms is to CLASP
them round the neck of those they love. And
whom will they not loye' If the witch Sycorax
had nursed Miranda and Caliban had been her
foster brother. the little maiden would have
loved each other, and Prospero's little child
would have kissed and fondled her hideous
nurse. The first words children utter are words
OF love. And these are not necessarily taught
them; for their very inarticulate calculations
are full of love. They love all things. The par.
rot, though he bites them; the cat, though she
scratches; the great bushy laundering house
dog the poultry in the yard; the wooden-leg-
ged, one eyed negro who brings the beer the
country lout with elouted shoon who smells SO
terribly Of the stable; the red-face1 cook, the
grubby little kniteb boy, the foolish fat scullion,
the cross nurse. They love all these; together
with horses, trees, gardens, and tovs. and
break their little hearts easily mended again.
thank Heayen,) if they are obliged to part from
them And chiefer still, they love that large
man with the gruff voice, the blue rough chin.
the large eyes, whose knees comprise such an
inexaustible supply of cock-horses always stand
ing at livery, yet always ready to ride post
haste TO coventry they love papa. Aud,
chiefest of all, they love her of the soft voice,
the smiles, the tears, the hopes, the cares, the
tenderness-who is all in all, the first, the last
to them in their tender fragile happy childhood
Mamma is the centre of love- Papa was an
after acquaintance, He improves upon ac-
quaintance, too; but mamma was always with
them to love, to soothe, to caress, to care for to
watch over When a child wakes up hot and
feverish from some night dream, it is upon his
mother he calls Each childish pain, each child
lsh grief each childish difficulty is to be soothed,
explained by her They have no
secrets; they understand each other The
child clings to her. The little boy in the Greek
epigram that was creeping down preepce was
invited to his safety, when nothing else could
induce him to return, by the sight of his
mothers breast.
You who have little children and love them
you will have borne patiently with me, -Lknow,
through all these trivialities, And you strong
minded philosophers who ~ celihate sit like a fiy
n the heart of an apple,n and dwell indeed in
perpetual sweetness, but sit alone and are con-
med and die in singularity, excuse my puerility,
ny little theme, my smaller argument. my
mallest conclusions. Remember the Master
uttered little children to come unto him and
hat, strong minded philosophers as we are, we IS
we're all OF us, once, but little helpless inno-
ents. Household Words.