Washington telegraph., 1856-07-23
From the Southern Literary Messenger
The Mothers and Children of the Present
Dav


''What Is wanting" said Napoleon t.
Madame Campan, ..in order that the youth
of France be well educated -
''Aothers,' was the comprehensive re-
/ ply; and it Is precisely this want that 50
eminently characterizes the present age.
We have a race of mothcrlcss children.
Not that these orphaned ones have been
plunged into woe and b0mbazine for the
loss OF 4 fond parent; bodily she is still
here, to tend them when they are sick, to
mend their clothes. to minister to their
pleasures, and to let them do precisely us
they please. The queen Of shadowy
realm, the mother still exists ruler
without the wish or the power to enforce
obedience
And the children, where are they, or
are there any Like Minerva. thev sprin.-
into life fully armed for its great conflict.
The babe of to-day, spurns rattlcs and pan
whilst II YES admiriurly II l,-te sis.gr
approTiagiT at tie y;6iithiui fanGt's"J-
claTsticE, that the great purpose Of her
life i to be ..ist woman, and pat-
brother GeorEy encouEusinglv on the back
as he swaggers into the nursery, redoleut
of cigar smoke. Master John. tie hope
and heir OF his house, sitting with inlantilc
devotion in tine corner Of his pew, gauges
with his kite line the merits Of the preacher
lie undertakes to prove that the canous
OF the church are nothing more than pop
guns, the pillars, pillows, aud sleep and
sermon synonymous terms. lie is able to
contend with his elders on Free VIII and
justification, Original Sin and Predcsti-
nation, and concludes the argument by
declaring that attendance at church is al
| together work of supererogation. In a
short while the corner OF the pew Is vacant,
I and the youthful John may be seen loung-
ing about the fashionable hotels of his
native city.
Sue, in her train and hoop, walks into
school booLless. She yawus away the
morning, because she danced herself
nearly to death at the fancy bali OF the
previous night, where chcvalicrs of twelve,
in crimson kaee-brecchcs and Prince OF
Wales feathers, presented passionate love
declarations, printed on kiss papers. Al
home, she utterly forgets her mother.
existence, or places her little foot so firmly
on her dress, that the passive parent Ia.
not the power to move one jot from hel
chair in the chimney corner. She hears
with smile the maternal "no," for sh,
knows what an easily conquered enemy il
:, is and she shakes of disdainsully the
maternal hand placed cautiously half way
on the plump young shoulder. Alas
where Is the parents authority, the parent
common sense!
Mother the world can utter no sweetcr
r purer word than this. What visions di,
it once conjure up, of boundless devotion
of self-sacrifeing love, of lessons, that fall
ing musically from 4 mothers lips, taugh
obodienco, truth, aud self restraint. Once
, the mother guided the child, with firm
but loving hand, through the fowery maze
of childhood into the broad fields of ma
-. turity. She prepared the youthful tray
eler for the worlds encounter; she III,
oiplined the ardent passions. and regulate
the hasty temper. She encompassc
c the child with wholesome moral iufiuene,
' and dared say "no.' when its welfare d,
. manded it, She ruled, not with an iro
rod, but firmly gently, and the child love
her none the less because she taught it th
t word obedience. We have mothers ju,
E rs loving, just as self-saerifcing as Of yorc
: but we miss that wholesome moral trainin
= that distinguished the rule Of the mother
. of the past.
1t is vain to closaour eyes to the fac
J it stares us boldly in the face, the mo-
r monstrous deforInity of the nineteent
t century: this IS he reign Of children
e at home and at school. The parent
\ ruled, and the teacher striving in vain
assert his authority, is overcome in Il
battle, waving over his defenceless hea
$ the banner of s'moral suasion" Alas f
q the teacher of this age. lie makes rule
!; his pupils break them as easily as they I