Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1858-05-05
Eahits' 9tpsrfmtnt.

ny R ,. D. GAGE.

TO u"
Don't you see I'm ironing, you little
plague your
Il want a whip and a string tied to it,"
repeated the fs, rosy checked, bright eyed
boy, full of strength, nerve and energy, this
cold morning, the fifteenth Of February, in
the snug farmhouse Of, in the town
Il, in the State of Illinois.
Reader, | am not speaking a fiction, but
aplain sober fact.
Frank was just four years old, and a
child for his mother TO be proud of. His
sister had gone 70 school, and the cold air
shut the child in the house. Mother was
busy ironing, getting dinner and taking
care generally.
Frank wanted something to do. He got
a knife, and TO show the manliness that was
beginning to sprout in his young heart, at
tackled the stove, calling it a big tree. I'm
ceremoniously, the knife was snatched from
his hand, no reasoDrgiven him, and his in
dependence setNnp a fearful yell, which
- brought an unceremoniou blow upon the
side ofhis head, to make him stop his noise,
which had the effect TO produce an accu-
mutation Of discordant sounds. But the
mother had to 60 out just then, so the boy
sobbed himself quiet over the picture of a
hedgehog, which | pointed out to him in
a book.
But the hedgehog became familiar, and
his restless spirit wanted a new impulse
So he mounted the woodbox, and imagin-
ed Buck and Jerry, Just ahead, needed the
discipline which he had seen his father ex-
crcisc over those notable farm helps.
Master Frank asked good naturally
enough at first, "for his whip with a string
tied to it." But his request not being
chcerfully answered, he grew into furious
discomfort. His mother told him he could
not have it, that she had not got one, she
could not and would not stop. But he had
been too we'll trained to annoy and conquer,
10 give up.
lie leased, till she could bear no longer,
and then produced the whip and string, as
serting at the same time, that the stick
was pap's ramrod, and he would kill her
for taking it down if he was to see it,
She did not fix the string to suit the fas-
tidious taste OF the young gentleman, and
he screamed Justify to have it done anoth-
or way. The mother refused, and after
calling her darling child the 'hatefulest
young one that ever lived" and threaten
ing him with the terrors Of the rod in her
hands, she again yielded and took off the
string, and declared she would net touch il
again, and threw string and all upon the
floor, called him a little "hound," and went
to ironing.
But Frank knew Ito be sure he did, tina
he could carry the day, and he yelled lou
der than ever, and stamped and raved Xix
mad child, till his mother, wholly out o
patience, seized him with the passion of
tgress, and beat his little body with a fore
that might have shamed the humanity
an OK driver.
The boy, that bright, beautiful, lovin
child, writhod and screamed in his torture
in madness. Again and again, she bad
him stop, stop your crying this instant
or you'll get it worse"-as if the child, thu
irritated and thus suffering could stop
For q good half hour this contest was KEEP
up, till my very soul was suffering wit
the child, and though all unused to tn
work Of interference between parent an
offspring, | begged her to desist, which sh
soon consented TO do, and went to wor
to fix the string just as he wanted it at frs
The little fellow stiied his sobs as be'
he could, and as soon as the pain was gon,
used his whip TO his hearts content an
the stiff ramrod came in contact with h
mothers face, and forthwith came a bio
for his carelessness, and the ramrod W:
snapped off its string, the string cast angr
ly into the fire, and the rod put back INF
its place.
Another paroXysm of madness at her j
justice brought another beating, and befo,
eleven o'clock of this blessed day, that Ii
tie child has had three terrible whipping
three terrible, furious, mad fits, been to
more than twenty lies, taught deceptio
wrong, injustice, revenge, retaliation, (:
ranny and Northumberland all from |
mother.
The little girl came home from scho
but had hardly got into the door till S
was threatened a whipping, if certain a
were committed. But the acts were CO
mitted, and that promise was not redee
ed. Another transgression brought bic
and bangs, that scattered the sunshine
that pure brow, and turned the whole no
into a scene of discord.
Is this mother one standing alon,
these errors Not at all. Her WAYS
common might almost say they arc
most patterned after by the majority.
this mother ignorant, i'll tempered or
ciousi Not more so than common
is young, good looking, cheerful when
in a furry with her children,) talks sc
bic and thinks some, is a member {
church, and means, yes, she really me
to walk worthily in life. But these tn
are habits-habits learned Of the mo
before her, pcrchauce, and of which 81
ignorant, really ignorant.
She has not the remotest idea of t
dcformities of her life, still less of the
magnitude of the wrong which she is
ing to her children. Could she sec
ways mirrored forth fully in all their
eousness, would she not shrink from t
and struggle to reform We believe
the slumbering kindness of a mothers
may be reused to take hold of the tru
terest OF her children.
She will, in one Of these days, teac
boy and girl truth in long and stated
80 - - 1 i