Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1872-02-29

What the leaves are 10 the forest.
With light and air for food.
Ere their sweet and tender juices
Have been hardened into wood,
That 10 the world are children
i Through them II feels the glow
OF a brighter and SUMMER climate
Than reaches the trunks below
| Come to me, Q We children
And whisper in my ear
What the birds and the winds are saying
In your sunny atmosphere.
Forwhat are all our contrivings,
And the wisdom OF our books,
/ When compared with your caresses,
! And the gadness of your looks
Ye are better than all the ballads
| That ever were sung or said {,
| For ye are living poems,
And all the rest are dead
--LoaGfel2o,e.
The most important and the most sacred
work committed to human hands is the cul-
| ture of children.
Itself, the sweetest and most beautiful
! thing in all the universe, coming to this
weary world with strange, glad music on its
| lips, and light, as of heaven, beaming from
its eye blessed gift of the Father, breath
/ ing new fragrance over earth's impurities,
| giving to life holier purpose and a deeper
| soemnity to its duties, childhood is sent
into the world. The words "mother,"
| father from its lips, go deeper into human
| hearts than any or all others. What mighty
and sublime affections are moved by them
! What infinite and inspiring hopes come with
! their Inference. What splendid and bound
! less visions they picture in the future What
a magic energy they have to transform the
/ selfish woman into the steady martyr, and
! the careless man into the hero of lifelong
/ struggle.
! And while childhood thus fuflls its pecu-
! liar mission, ennobling life, and bearing per
/ Ia
gives birth To "a thousand new and trcmen-
! dous responsibilities responsibilities which
are often not half accepted responsibilities
! of guidance, instruction, the careful develop
! ing of the expanding seed into the beautiful
! flower, lit to be transplautcd to the upper
| and SUMMER regions.
On the character of its parental training
| hang the worlds future destnics.
We mourn over the decay of virtue. We
! say that Ne reverence FOR aye, and the sane
titles of religion are dying out that in the
childhood Of these latter days, modesty and
respect are giving place to efrontery and
! self-assertiou And vet, if this be true,
| childhood is not altogether to blame for IL.
IL absurd fashion forces parents, or they
| think it does, TO engraft the customs and airs
| Of maturity on their children, whose innocent
! simplicity and ndiUetc are among their chief
! charms, we needAnot wonder that the lowell
ness which naturally belongs TO that period
|
/ conyentionalities crush the throbbing inn
pulses and change its beauty and purity into
| defomity.
This matter of the infinite responsibility
that is involved in the parental relation can
not be overestimatcd. The later life of our
nationality. even. is contingent more on the
prccpptS Of the nursery, the teachings of the
| mothers Of the land, than on the deliberations
Of GaAiats Ehe r a5+Ft,7Vt
cation shall be rather the unfolding of pa
rental guidance than the realization of the
statesman Sschemes. The Church, too, OF
the next century is being built on the sun
day.school teachings Of this very Sabbath
| morning.
These thoughts, presented as merely
| suggestive, are brought to mind by de-
| scriptjon OF a fashionable child's party,
! which we find in one Of our New YORK eX'
| changes As long as such things are cncour-
| aged by parents we may look in vain Tor
! healthy moral development OF the rising
generation. Nothing, in our Judgment, could
! be more pernicious In its tendency; nothing
| could reveal more clearly one OF the worst
| tendencies of this land and age, than the scene
| described below. We copy from the Sew
| York Standard
much OF the affection and shallowness at
| tributcd To our girls OF the period Is due
| 10 the unwise management Of vain mothers,
| who in haste TO display the charms and ac-
! complishments Of their children, bring them
out in society almost in their infancy
Among the recent holiday parties given to
! children we describe one which Is not exag-
! perated and which is a fair specimen OF hun
| drpds This entertainment occurred in one OF
! tbe most fashionable streets In Brooklyn, ana
! al the residence Of one Of the wealthiest
I mon The mother IL one of the most cultured
women who grace our land, and IL, in the
main, a common-sense, practical woman.
! But she has gone fashiOn-Inad-a prevalent
] "a full
! hours appointed were from To II p IN.
/ About one hundred guests were present,
| who were received by the young hostess,
! "a miss of ten years. with rs mach ease and
! self-pOsscssion as a matron could assume
The dresses consisted OF white, punk, yel,
! low. and blue silk, deliberately trimmed and
/ decj,rd with spangles. The little misses had
their hair dressed In the latest style, frizzed,
! nutied powdered. aud adorned with bowers.
] White Kid gloves were generally worn. Only
| one thing was lacking In the minute repre-.
| sen,ation of an adult party, VIZ, enameica
! faces Powder however, was freely used'
! One little girl u lshc could be recognized as
suchl particularly engaged attention. She
I was apparently ten years Of age. In addition
to tho t,owdcred hair and dazzling costume,
! she sportcd. with true apprecihtloDt palf OF
diamond earrings, gold cham ana locket
studded with diamonds. Upon each arm
| ,Vas a bracelet 81 elaborate workmanship.
she did 80 10 her admirers There's no
sham about these; they're the real thlng'
which her auditors we've quite willing 70 ne
lieye II the aboye seems incredible What
win the following bef little girl Of seven
summers was arraycd in rosc-colorcd SIX,
s7 per ward, point applique flowers, galaxy
of diamonds, aud other expensive Jewcfry;
4 cold belt. the buckle Of which wa studded
with diamonds band Of gold encircled the
head, and from n pendent on the forehead
sparkIed solitaire OF great yaluc Hei
mother was heard to exclaim exuitingly
that the price Of her child's outfit, for thai
evening, was 5000. Another mother, jealous
of the sensation caused by such display
remarked that ''upon the next occasion uliIe
shall be dressed in tea rose SIX, which j.
by all means less common than pink, as my
chiId's complexion is such that she can wear
auytbng." II children at the tender age ol
seven and ten represent the follies OF fashion
what will they require at twenty-five ?-Ohna
ha Republican.
Miss P, just from the interior wa,
looking for situation in New York, and
She saw an advertisement in which An adj
mirable opportunity was offered to one
who was willing to undertake light house
| Loon;po So Miss P wrote To the al