The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1866-01-25

) Parents, | have some rough truths to
throw at you and am going to throw
them fearlessl y. You have more helps
to bring your children up wisely than ev,
er parents had before, and yet ysu have
the worst children that ever lived, and it
is your own fault. AS there is more light
in the world than ever before, so there is
more necessity than ever before for pa
rents to look well to the guidance of their
children Unless closely watched and
guarded they will be following false lights
that will overthrow parental authority
and lead to ruin. Now | contend that
parents who do their whoIe dutg to their
children are very hard to 6nd There is
no difficulty in finding parents who lore
their children. The trouble is in their
loving them so well that they can't bear
to cross the children's will 1t is that
tender indulgence which does the evil
work. 1t is SO painful to deny the child
his qualification that parents would rath-
er risk danger in the future than denial
in the present As the parents duty is
fuller and broader now so too opportuni
ties for children to get on the wrong track
are greatly multiplied in these later days.
Children are smarter now for good or bad,
than ever before.-Mrs Whack hammer
gave me this idea-When it is for bad
the result Of that precocity is specimen
known as Young America. This is
sort of America for which [ have DO par
ticular preference. When l hear him
ycu can always hear him before he is Wis
ibie to the eye-I always think Of paren-
tai negligence and mourn the consequence.
These Americas, instead of being the
most hopeful and promising,-for they
have aptitude aud wide-awakeness-have
had the reins thrown loose to them and
they 60 it with rapid speed down the
broad way. Very often parents look on
this state OF things aud smile complacent-
ly and even call the attention Of their
friends to the smartness (?) of their "pre-
cocious' children Such parents fur
nish candidates for the house Of correc-
ton, to begin with, and afterwards to
those stone hotels which are provided by
the different States. Parents used to ex-
crcise authority and influence over their
children, at leasttiil they were twenty-one
years of age, but now, by driving with
loose reins, this restraint grows less and
less from ten to fourteen when it is en-
tirely lost. After that time the State
must deal with the young rascals Now
isn't this "leetlc" too bad And is it
not little expensive and troublesome on
the whole ! If parents use any rod at all
il is the one patented since Solomon's,
and is called moral suasion, but I tell you
Solomon's is the best. 1t is all right to
lecture the young wilful on the moral law
and all that sort Of disagreeable thing to
him but remember it has TO be backed
with acood or leather or it is all sounding
brass to him. He has will and he ,riN
keep it, unless you declare martial law
and use sterner measures. The habeas
corpus is yours though democrats have
declared it arbitrary during rebellion.
When Johnny first began to run on his
little pins he used to ask you what he
might do and what he might not. He
very soon found out he might do what
you forbid without any particular discom-
fort to his little self and thus you kept
letting out the reins and he kept taking
them in until at ten or twelve years he
begins to consider that it is your place to
ask him what you may or may not DO :
You didn't mean to pass the relns over
in this manner but you were noI Wdtc"-
full and he was and SO he has out-gener-
aled you. He is little strateglst and
be knew that the way to gain battle is
to hold on to erery advantage. Johnny
he was christened John, but that is
rough and old fashioned-Jobnny is four
teen years old and he does just as he
pleases. He can run the streets, be out
nights, keep any kind of company-and
he finds the worst to be found, without a
doubt, and the next thing is a"muss" and
Johnny is in trouble, perhaps SO deep IN
trouble that the states attorney takes I'M
mediate care of him and denies him the
privilege of going home ] blame John