Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-08-15
The DeformiIies of Children.

No CHILD is more tenderly loved than
the unfortunate one, if the misfortune be
blindness, or deafness, or physical NAL
| formation The mother who could come
| to hate child on account of his natural
misfnrrunes would be a brute indeed. But
few mothers refiert that the child's ILL
temper, irreverenee. or even graver
faults are also the result of natural de-
formity, and that the child who is always
under censure for bad qualities Is in real
ity an object of pity. Not until the par
ent can he brought TO see the matter In
this light. can there be fright relation be-
tween parent and child Temper is an
| inherited quality, and cannot be broken
all at once. The child whose blood is
| poisoned by some ancestral talnt, which
NAV have lain dormant in the generation
Immediately preceding, needs the comfort
and svmpa hy of father and mother and
gets the rebuffs only.
We knew a family in which the father,
in spite of every restraining influence,
died of intemperance, two sons perlshed
from delirium iremens, and third was
an inebriate There was one sober son;
and sister, o refined lady, confessed to
her physician that she dared not take any
prescription having alcohol in it, her ap-
petite for it was so ungoverDable Here
was a clear case of hereditary dipsomania-
the sufferers were objects for pity and care
more than for reprehension. but unruly
tempers and other unpleasant qualities
are likewise inherited. We would not
relieve any person from sense OF &C
countability for their failure to govern
their passions; we are only reminding
| parents that the child with the most Vio-
| lent disposition deserves less reproach
| for a rtbellious temper than one nat
urallv more tractable. If you were blam-
ed for not curing the child's fault, your
excuse would be that you had done your
best. How do you know that the child
| has nots
Ingrained traits can only be combatted
| with any success where they are combat
ted with infinite patience and kindness
| That ''grievous words stir up anger is as
true now as in SOlomon's time, and as
true when the grievous words are spoken
by parent as by a stranger. But L
| cannot wink at the child's badness"
Certainly not. That would be Incidence.
But YOU can show the child that you have
| a full appreciation of his misfortune, that
you have a sympathy with his struggles
| and his difficulties When you have done
this. YOU have taken grand step toward
helping him out of his trouble
Nothing is of more importance, in deal
ing with a difficult child, than prompt
praise of his earliest endeavor to over
come his fault Do not measure your
commendation by his success but by his
endeavor.
The selfish or indolent parent pities
himself. "That child will kill me-" Il
have got TO endure his temper year in and
year out" Ali yes; hut what has he
got to endured If he live until he is
hundred there will be something left
of the old battle yet If you work for
no higher motive than TO rrlieve yourself
of annoyance, you cannot succt ed
But if YOU so develop the self-contrnl of
your child that he will have permanent
advantage in the lifelong warfare With his
besetment. VI on have delivered him from
IA lifelong bondage.
Consider the patience of teachers in in
etitutions for imbecile children. In some
cases, weeks are spent in persuading
child to make one awkward mark with
piece of chalk Reflect on The time spent
| in taking the successive steps that bring
the drooling idiot up to the level of man
able 10 care for himself. And is not the
victory worth the battles Is not your
patient endeavor to cure a moral defect
| rewarded by any measure of success,
however small? Wherefore cheerfully
take your share of the heavy burden of
your child, and by hearing it bravely,
help him to bear his lifelong load.-Hea'h
and Home.