Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-07-26
Justice TO Children.
by " UNCLE WILLIAM. %

My feelings are all wounded and sore, aud
that not because any ore has given me an un-
kind word or look | only saw, few mo.
ments ago, both Of them given TO bright
looking boy, AZ | walked along the street
Ills father, so he seemed to me to be, was
handing something from a cart on which he
was standing, and, just as passed, with an
ugly look aud a smarting word, struck the
boy, fine fellow Of about fourteen years Of
age, with a coil Of rope which was in his
hand do not know what occasioned it, |
saw simply the angry look on the father
face, and the surprised, half-angry, halfgriev-
ed, and, as he caught my eye, the half-asham-
cd look Of the boy. The blow given was
very little, but the tone and the words were
very much. was sure that then and there
that father had lail away in store in his sons
memory something very sad and bitter. The
sense Of injustice aud wrong done him-so |
imagined saw on his countenance-will live
there perhaps many year to come.
may be all wrong about this particular
case but it has suggested what think Of Of
ten, and what | wish those who have boys
and girls would think Of more-being Just
with them Every child has more or less a
keen sense of justice within him. He may
not be able to tell you about it, but he knows.
A boy will take deserred punishment calm
ly, and will cherish no resentment afterward
while he will never cease to remember with
anger one which be did not merit. tie will
forget the greater and severer punishment
while very slight one will live in vivid rec
objection forever.
sat lately with au old friend, and we hap.
pened to be talking about the training Of
| boys, and the difficulties that fathers have il
doing exactly the right thing with them. He
spoke of his father whom | had known 81
we'll and honored so much as to make it prop
er for him to say what he did. That father
long ago gone to heaven, was man Of NOR,
than ordinary nobility and excellence o
Christian character, and had reared a larg
family of sons to usefulness and honor
What affected me deeply, and impressed M
profoundly was this-that when this son, nov
past middle life, spoke of the family training
one incident seemed to separate itself from al
the rest, and stand out in sharp definition
and, sadly enough, that only one incident wa
painful. A thousand others, in his boyhood'
history, as it connected itself with his father
had passed away--this was abiding still. A
ter all it was little thing only this-his siste
aud he had childish quarrel She ran ava
to her mother, and falsely accused him q
striking her a blow. When the father cam
iu the case was reported to him, with onl
the sisters version. His father, refusing t
listen to anything he had to say, though back
ed by the testimony Of cousin that stood b.
his side and witnessed to his innocence hasti
ly and angrily administered a castigatior
As my friend told the story, his face hushe
and his eye kindled, aud he said Even now
after nearly fifty years, cannot think of
without my whole soul being nerved with il
dignation"
1t was very sad and painful, for | loveC
as be did, aud reverenced his father How,
thought, a sudden and inconsiderate act of il
Justice will live in memory aud blot the fail
est record, and cloud the brightest scenes {
the past What would we not both have gi,
en- could that long past scene be withdraw
from memory2 But it stands.
{ The next time a sudden gust of anger
your boy blows over your spirit, and you a
about to punish him-pause BE sure thi
you are Just II you are not, oeWar
One brief minute, one hasty act, may hiC
as with a black cloud a thousand kind
things you have DONE The blow which yo
, give on the impulse Of the moment, and b
cause you are angry, may seem but little ar
5 you may never think of it again, but it ma
make a vivid and bitter memory in all yoI
o chid's future; it may leave not a moments
, ry mark behind on the flesh, bu, it shall MAJ
a wound in the soul which the years shall OIL
ly heal, while the scar remains to grow r.
half a century to come.