The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1869-12-11
NUMBER 18.
For the Free Trader.
The Rod q Civiiizer.

The civilized state OF man is unnatural His
natural state is barbarian. The children OF civ.
ilized parents are NO less human than the chill.
rem OF barbarian parents. Therefore is civiliza-
tic. not the result of BIRTH but OF certain iuau-
snces acting upon the plastic organism Of tn,
human mind Every child born into the world
then, Is, In sense, young barbarian, . fact Of
which many parents are ignorant and hence their
negligence IN giving proper attention to training
their children while children. The tendencies
or human nature are to evil, and these evil ten.
denotes are developed before the child is capable
OF comprshending the import of the most simple
language Such being the case, would civilized
wisdom advise that the evil tendencies be per.
mitted to grow and strengthen until the child
has reached the years of discretion? Certainly
not, for the evils might than be so deeply rooted
that their destruction, If not an impossibility
would be very difficult. Gn the contrary tho
contrary, the civilized, christian parent would
admonish this child through It's sense Of feeli ng
or, in other words, would subdus nature by a
judicious use the rod, at time when the work
is most easily accomplished. BY proper and
judioious use of the rod, in the hands Of loving
and christian paront, the young barbarian Is per.
fectly civilized when he comes to the years Of
discretion without the rod rarely ii ever. Like
other substances, the human clay is most easily
nodded while in plastic condition. When per-
mitted to partially harden, to mould it becomes
more difficult; when fully hardened. impossible.
So the evil in the child that could easily be SUBJ
dued by the rod may be the cause which will
bring the man before the bar OF Justice felon
aud q murderer. The love and affection of some
parents are such that they overlook the evil
tendencies of their children, ruther than upbraid
or punish them. The same feeling SO obseures
the approximations of others, that they are
unable to see the faults of thsir child.
rsn. Other parents are themsclve, barbar-
ians, and consequently incapable of discerning
between tho good and bad qualities of their
children. The first time the children of these
three classes Of parents meet with positive re-
straint il when they enter the school room. Up to
this time the rod has been spared and child
spoiled" but now the child il placed in charge of
person whose vision is not obscured by love,
affection or ign rance. He sees plainly the
faults, and it is his duty to remedy them as best
he can If the rod is necessary to that end, it
must be used. A teacher may be able to coatrol
children who have been properly trained up to
the years of discretion, "by throwing at them
TUFTS of grass" but the spoiled bog, the young
barbarian, would laugh in derison at such con.
dust. The rod, which is truly the authorvf
civilization is necessary in his case for it is onE
by it's judisious use that the boy can possibly be
made a respectable member of society Some
very talkative persons, editors of newspapers
like the Chicago Times and their class, consider
| the rod remnant Of barbarism, but if the truth
was known, it is possible that they themselves,
where they have respectablity, owe it to tho
| influence of that great ciyiliZer. x