Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1871-04-19
The Management of Children.

There is tendency, we think, at the |
present day to put children too forward,
not so much for the sake of showing off
their extraordinary merits to an admir-
ing world, as from the better motive of
early accustoming them TO the CONVEX
sation of grow people and the usages of
society, and of inspiring them with
confidence, ease, and self-possession. No
doukt these results are very valuable
but the mistake which many people
make is in forgetting that children are
something like dogs, which require to
be very well trained before they can
safely he recommended to strangers.
And it is to be remembered that the
moment children cease to respect any
of the grown-up people with whom they
associate, not only the whole benefit of
the intercourse is lost at once, but real in
Jury is inflicted on the moral tone of the
child. For this reason children should
be brought as little as possible into the
society of men and women who cannot
command their respect while of those
who can, the influence should be hedged
round by all the numerous impalpable
barriers which judicious parents know
perfectly well how to interpose between
children and the most popular and care
less Of their adult playfellows. The
confidence which well-bred children at
once repose in an eligible stranger, with
out being either rude or troublesome, is
charming to everybody who has any
natural taste for their society.
But closely allied with the mistaken
license allowed to children in matters
like the above is the disposition to laugh
at, and hereby to encourage all traits of
singularity, oddness, or affectation which
children may exhibit, as marks of
genius which ought not to be repressed.
OF all the dangerous errors into which
parents can fall, this, in our opinion, is
the worst For nothing so soon hardens
into second nature as juvenile eccentri-
ty; and few things are more injurious
to success in life than marked oddities of
manner and gesture when they reach the
point of grotesqueness. The majority
of the world agree with Mr.. Peter Mag
nus they don't see the necessity of
originals And what is more so many
Originals" are only sham ones after
ALL That is to say, their singularity is
merely bad habit which they can't
shake off, and is only very partially
innate. When you see child doing
anything unlike other children, anything
queer, surprising, or uncouth, however
} comic, or however clever it may seem,
never laugh at or applaud it. Children
J naturally very self-willed, and with real
natural pecrllarities, can soon be broke
of such tricks, if treated with absolute in
difference. But once let the idea find its
way into their brains that such sallies
naughty though they be, are regarded
as marks of genius, and the mischief il
9 done.
e To come back to the point from which
9 we started-the management, namely, O
I young children-there is one thing tt
| be laid down let there be no divided
l rule in house. Don't let the children
t see that the father means one thing ant
] the mother another in their bringing up
d They see the difference, if it exists, in
= moment, and when they do, farewell tt
o all wholesome parental influence. Hus
bands and mothers may talk too freel,
o before their Children, forgetful of thei
rising intelligence. And indeed, nothin,
2 is more common than to get win
IS from the head of the house, implying
l that you are to be upon your guard be
is fore Johnny or Tommy, who is listen
" ing open-mouthed to your witty nara
n tive, while he himself the next momen
t, will offend against his own precaution
in the most barefaced manner by plune
b ing headlong into your domestic con
l troversy, in which, to speak metaphor
/ cally, knives are freely used on bot
le sides. Macmillns'S Magazine.
lie A COUPLE IN MAINE, about to be ioir
N ed in holy matrimony, determined the
ID there should be no nonsense about the
le bridal. Wherefore they gave notice i
ID the Bangor Wing that they were marie
ID on the 9th inst. and that they were t
I'd be "no cards and " no cake" for th
OF affair was nobody's business" How