New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-01-14
REARING onlIdren Physlolsgicaily.
We ind de following sensible remarks in the

We find the following sensible remarks IN tue
SeaLpegs
All M absolute evils Of this world may be said
TO arise from ignorance and seihsnness perhaps
all insight be included in the word selishness; II We
give 70 that term its full and broad sgnihcation.
/ Even our purest affections in their manifestation
seem often only desire to please ourselves, with
reference to any result Beyond the present. Ihere
IS throughout the world lack of perception OF sep
4 arate individuality, and OF the consequences to
4 that other being, of any course that we may pur-
I sue. Among men the results of the acts OF midi
4 vduals toward each other upon the community
1 have given rise to legislation and to laws.
In each separate family pater.familias (some-
times indeed tits meter familiasl constitutes him
/ self and his various moods the law by which ms
4 household is.governed; and in many cases his
4 daily emotions Of anger or pleasure, dlsappoInt
lnent or success, render his rule benign and CON
4 siderate, or harsh and tyrannical. Many again
there arc, who, by a steady moral, unwavering
mind, guiae'tlre household affairs, and the deyel
| opment of those youthful minds which God has in
trusted to their care. To these, and to all, we ad
dress ourselves It is impossible to instruct and
| deveiope'uorrectly any two children by the same
course of treatment; it is vain to make any system
a Procrrstean bed tbs inconsistent with the adj
vance DE- humanity and with true individuality.
While in morals there may be an absolute right
and wrong, an unwavering adherence to the good
| and the true, the peculiar method of attainment to
this rule is as varied as the minds upon the earth.
The natural faculties of each child are as plain
| to careful observation as the sun at MONDAY !;
child to enable us properly to determine the sit
Egtion in life to which his or her powers are best
Seapted.
Let.every father, every mother and all who hope
to call themselves parents, forever bear this in
mind. Watch the child at its play Suffer it to
play as it will, and note what sports attract it,
wherein lies the chief pleasure.
Away with those horrors, infant phenomena.
Let nature alone, and do you, ignorant man. keep
your great, coarse finger out Of the delicate ma
chinery which, working by and through nature,
will at the proper moment, indicate the course to
be pursued, the development which is sought.
Permit childhood to guide you in the treatment
thereof. Nature is a wise teacher.
At infancy, the healthy body, incapable of pro-
gresslve motion, demands rest; give them perfect
rest. Mans early life is a mere vegetable exist
ence; the brain, gently pulsating beneath the un-
formed bone is not yet the seat of reason, but of
instinct; while nature then demands entire repose
or, at the most, passive action, why should bar
barous nurse or ignorant mother array the little
form in thick embroidery display it to the admir-
ing multitude; dandle it with humping vibration,
or spin it like boomerang in the air? Why seek
the most noisy promenade to confuse it with the
Iproar? Why pound it up and down over hun
dreds of miles, in the midst of smoke eftluva and
all the rattle, noise and screams incident to rail
road travel Avoid those denominations called
cradtes flee from the rocking of the crib and all
those swinging motions which cannot fail to pro-
duce, in minor degree, those very agreeable sem
sations, that pleasant letlargy, which sezes upon
one when he is taking his first lesson in drunken
for himself who should first invent patent port
able, doubleaction, sefrockng cradle for sucking
calves--what an advantage to the bovine race!
When by pure air. and its natural nourishment |
1.-THE pure milk of cow or a goat is far better
than that Of feeble, passionate, ordrunken nurse
when the mother cannot nurse her offsprng1 the |
child has become old enough to creep about down |
on the floor with it, and let it go; give it ball or
something to creep after, and rest fully content |
that when tired, the child will cease its play.
Don't hurry the little one to walk !; do not en- |
courage it to stand alone, lest bowlegs and weak
ankles be the penalty of your too assiduous care,
of your selfish desire to your child walk before
nature has deereed it. When the proper time ar
rives the little hands will seek the tops of chair
seats, the little body will sway to and fro erect for
the first time soon the first step is TAKEN and then
all is plain.
Keep your books, your illuminated alphabet,
your intellectual blocks, and your abortions of
toys carcatures upon nature-toys which it is
no harm to fall down and Worship since the like
thereof exists neither in heaven above, nor in
earth beneath, nor in the water which is under the
earth. Let the child play one, two, three; what,
says some one-four years and not know letter! |
Yes, my good madam, even until it reacheth the
age of seven years would we have the little mind
free and unpuzzled; at liberty to observe to de-
sire, to construct, to play, to make out its own in
dyiduaity. This is the great attribute of man
play; this divides him from the brute creation:
man alone can laugh Remember that the longer
the period Of youth, the period of formation. the
better, the more healthfu enduring, and longer
lived the man. Of all created beings man is the
most helpless at infancy.