Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1864-12-30
NEIOIl tIIe D1s-0- 4IaI-sOIiPt'J
WHERE THERE ARE NO CHILDREN"

We find sometimes among the "wants," in
the newspapers, persons who seem desirous Of
a place where children form no part of the
household, exclusive kind of folk, who regard
youth as an annoyance, and sprightiness as an
evil not to be tolerated in "well regulated
families among other cultivated people.
If their wish could be grntifed in this re-
spect, however, they would soon feel "want"
such as is known to monastics and dWelleEs in
caverns. What a melancholy spectacle
community would present, every member
grown to maturity, their faces all bearded or
soured with "conservatism;" veritable Herods,
every one; whlle commonwealth all gone to
seed. and only awaiting the garnereF Death to
gather them in and close up the world forever.
AS well might they ask to be placed beyond
the range of the fora and the fauna of the
natural world az etEz I'D the sigh: and hepring
of children--the 5Esssoms aud the beauty Of
the human worldz-s
A household witeaut children is like neg
leeted garden witk-6nly last years stalks there
il, looking grim and forbidding. The stately
oak, which lifts it, branches, storm tried and
DID, above the hills, never becomes so genteel
or exclusive to saflse a shelter beneath its
outstretched arms to the tender sapling and
the little forget-ms uots that peer cut in the
sunny spots here and there-propbetic Of COM
ing strength and perpetual beauty. Man is
affecIionate by nature, and if not stunted in
his moral growth will see something to foster
and admire at almost every turn. If he loves
not children, be zuss needs love something
ese-even himself; and that, too, when the
lovable qualities in him are but imperfectly
developed. Such persons should take up lodg-
Jugs with the ''nlah in the moon," or seek for
happiness in the frigid zOnes, where the sun
shine lie but long twilight, and where flowers
and the verpal beauty oil spring are scarcely
known.
Nature produces nothing full grown at the
sutset-excspt mushrooms and other fungi
and we must ali SCI out with infancy at the
start, and trust to Iims for full development
Minerva, it is true. forms an exception TO this
principle, buI then she stands solitary and
alone in this respect-if we except our first
parents, who appear also to have had al un-
commonly good paysicaI outfit to begin the
world with. and, from what we read, must have
been much mere happy in their early days
than in their latter life. The preciss dats Of
their expulsion from Edea is still matter OF
some doubt, but that the prattle OF children
was heard there is unquesEionable, and it was
all the more paradise. To be sure, Adam g
first bern did not turn out very well, and there
have been Gains in several families since his
day, but then bad children are exceptional;
the rule is quite the contrary, and they GER
tainIy ought not to be obnoxious to the most
fastidious boarders. l have never seen the
person yet who could not look with some rel
ish upon the hearty pastime Of children, and
their cheerful presence ought to give US a
keener selish for cur ~In5a!E ai5o.
In olden time children never dropped into
unwelcome arms, nor were they looked upon
as intruders by royalty itself, What delight
the birth of Isaac brought to his parents; and
they straightWay expressed their joy in the
improved photography of their names. And
the gift of children has not only produced or
thographic changes, but has also changed the
entire nature Of many another man or woman
What Joy, TOO, the birth of Rachel's sor
brought to rael, albeit he had been seven
times blessed in that way by tender-eyed Leah,
not to mention Dan and Naphthali, Cad and
Asher.
Bnt ah what changes time produces! Two
thousand years ago no man thought of adver-
tising his dislike of childhood and innocence
Even At the beginning OF the Christian era IT
was said, "Suffer little children, and forbid
them not, to come unto me; for Of such is the
kingdom of Heaven"