Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1860-06-13
UNCLE ToBY's LETTERs.-Ho Q

0NV VVHBStky . u $50
"DowN EAST" n. c., June lst, 1860.
Dear Nereo:-It's very pleasant to git a
little letter from you and to hear that my
proposishun to write you on things and mat
tiers pleases you. I'll try to make um inter-
estin' and profitable but you must not oriti-
else UNI too closely. You intimate that your
old Uncle don't know how to spell. That
looks like some of your sassy jan, john, but
I'm glad to see You notice my spellin,' that
makes me hope 0 will read my letters
with care. Hain't I got as much right to
spell as | pronounce um, IS the dixonary
makers have to spell um as nobody pro-
nounces? think SO. But your old Uncle
kin write and spell like a book if he chooses,
but IN writin' to you | want to write like |
talk so that when yoa are readin' my let
tiers, youth feel edzaetly, as if the old man
was right there, talkin' to you. But enuf
OF this. was talkin' to you in my first let
ter about the Difficulties of raisin' children
right. Great mistakes prevail ON this sub
ject You are but child yourself but ia a
few years you'll be a man, and may perhaps
De at the head Of a family hence, before
proeeedin to talk on the main pints which
gave rise to these letters, IN dwell a little on
that matter, for your benefit in future.
All children are natrally bad, that is they
are born with a corrupt and unholy natur,
beln' Of the offspring of Adam and Eve. af.
ter they fell, and brought sin and death into
the world, and depravity and ~cerrupshun up
on all their children. And this you see as
plain as a mans nose in his face, stickin' out
IN all the children you ever did or ever viii
see. Their cryin', %frettin', self-will, disobe-
dience, bad temper, impatience under re-
%straint, chosin' evil always in preference to
good all these and a thousand other things.
show the DEVILS in um from the very start
Now If you ever saw a child which sprung
from Adam and Eve before their fall, or if
you ever saw a child which came from other
tore-parents than Adam and Eve, as some of
our run mad Philosophers talk, (for they con-
tend that all the present races of mankind.
could not have come from one pair then tits
possible you have seen a child, that is an ex-
ception to this rule; but if they belong to
Adams family after his fall, and | believe in
spite OF the Philosophers, that all mankind
sprung from them, aeeordin' to the Good
Book, then they are all naturally evil. and
the devil is in UNI, certain.
But while all children are born with an
evil natur, this ~c0rrUpshun shows itself in
different ways in different children. Now
you'll hear some people say, Willie is a very
good boy, bat Tom is a very bad me I adj
NIT that their conduct warrants this opin-
ion often, but it is not owin' to the fact that
one is naturally better than the other. but to
other causes. Besides appearances are often
deceptive, and some children have a way of
concealin' their bad pints, while the badness
OF others is sure to show itself. The dificil-
ty lies IN our ignorance Of the human mind
and the discipline and trainin' it needs to
beat down and keep under the evil in um.-
II parents, or those who have the nursin' and
themselves that is, if they knew edzaetly the
real bent of every child's mind, if they could
read its character thoroughly, and trace and
understand perfectly it's Developments, and
could then apply that kind Of discipline and
management precisely adapted to each child,
the results would be different. But who
can fathom its depths or understand fully the
character of that subtle substance we call
mind, or who can edZaetly train it as it should
be? Still it is the duty Of every parent to
study as we'll as he may the minds Of has chill
dren, and to apply the best discipline he car
to their proper rearing Otherwise we breed
and mature what is born in UNI.
You know Tom and Bob Frinks. Well
they were both promisin' lookin' boys il
their infancy. Bob was a cryin', bawlin' fel
low, who was scolded and spanked ever,
night to git him to sleep, and in the day h
kept things in an uproar. Tom was q qui
ct, laughin' child, that went to sleep wit
his thumb in his mouth, whenever hi
mamma said SO. Their mamma was a stol
mer, who supposed nothin' could be don
with Bob without a fuss. She thought Bo
a terrible. fellow, but Tom a mighty goo
child, whose spirit was killed in himby III
biusterin' and stormin' which his metklt
thought were necessary to subdue Bob. A
they grew UP, Bobkept up his noisy, mischSe
Gus, bad course, fallin' on the floor and 70
lin over and bawlin' when things didn't e
to suit him. He kept Tom asquallin' b
kickin' his shins, pullin' his nose and cal
or stickin' pins in him, and at the tab
, was stickin' his fingers in the sugar dish
: butter and turnin' over the plate in his Ia
4 and so or. Tom would sit in the corne
: run twenty times a day to his mother wi
! tales on Bob, but would slyly get into Il
f pantry and take his mothers cakes or sugs
l. for which Bob was sure to pay the forfeit
: But the course of the mother made B
o worse, but open, frank and fearless in
S while Tom, poor fellow, was made sly, dece
n full and cowardly.
!. Now if there had been no change in t
+ discipline, both boys would have been I'll
S ed. Sichis the uniform result of an irritah
e bad tempered, blusterin' course of a pare
nurse, or scho oil master or mistress. b
of the temper of Bob by such managem,
n are made vicious, noisy, daredevil fello'
al while boys like Tom are quiet, behave v