Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-09-25
Little Pitchers.


There is a homely proverb which says
that ' little pitchers have large ears" 1t
Is very foolish proverb when it is made
an edict of banishmeLt for the childron be-
cause the grown ups wish to gossip
unheard of those fearless reporters. But
It Is a very wise one when it is seen to
mean that the wee folk must hold every
thing which Is poured into them, by heed
/ less hand or heedful hand alike. All par
ents who respect themselves are pure Of
speech, and the children in the house-place
no more hear coarse or profane babbhng
there than in church But we confess
ourselves less solicitious than Mr.. POdsnap
as to things which might q bring blush to
the cheek Of young person, and more con-
cerned about topics which do actually
harrow their innocent souls.
For example, excellent fathers aud moth
srs discuss the morning papers before
little children 1t contains news of bur
glaries, murder, trial- for murder, mobs,
accidents, hairbreadth escapes, epidemics,
fires at sea, adventures to turn ones hair
gray. Besides that the most of such
reading is unwholesome enough for the
most stoid Of readers, to the children the
halfunder,tood horror Is a blood-eurdling
history / ulakes them timld, suspicious,
miserable Behind every closet door, to
their Imagination, burglar stands full
armed and blood thirsty as soon as dark
ness falls. They Seurry by the cellar-stair-
case and the unused attic, pursued by
sounds Of fear. Tney % trembling to the
q .I1tha1
They lie awake when everybody else is
asleep. hearing approaching death in the
cracking of the furniture and the wind in
the chimney. Imaginative children suffer
30 much from fears which they never tell,
that all knowledge Of tearsome things
should be kept away from them until they
are old enough to comprehend laws as well
as facts
Above al, other terrors in awluInes, Is
the terror OF death 1t Is impossible to
conceive, unless one has felt 1t, the shud-
dering dread of death which haunts a SEN
-itive child who has seen the ghastly real
ity while get too young to understand the
beautiful symbolism. The heavy black
clothes of mourners. the strange quiet aud
strange hustle In the house, the faint new
0d0r Of the coffin the straightness, and
whjteucs~. and awful, awful GOODNESS of
that strange presence which yesterday was
pa a, or mamma or baby. and VIII eh, they
are told. they are never to see again. the
trench in the gra vcyard, aud the rattle Of
the gravel on the very head OF their be-
loved ALI this wa ich is So hard to bear
that the very wi-e>t and strongest of US can
suffer IT only through knowing that death
is the counterpart of life, and beautiful as
life. because it is gateway which the Fa-
thor opens for us to Himself, Is so mystic
rious TO imaginative children, and so bitter, F.
that they carry Its heavy shadows through !.
their lives o.tentlmes, and even faith can
never wholly lift II. Many excellent per- F
sons have notion that children should be +
made familiar with death, as a lesson of I
the y4utie~ of life. and as manifestation .
Of the p0ver of God. To US IT seems that F
the only idea of religion which b baby +
minds can Comprehend, Is that of the per-
feet love ct AN unseen Father, and OF I
1artec. trust ia Him, which Jesus taught .
ll Iuleau hj.l--jIes with babies ID his ten F
der arms Only when they are old enough .
10 understand that shadows can not fall T
unless the ight Is shining should they be .
allowed to See all the hard and human as
aeet Of death.
Besides. If the effect OF fear on q quick .
SPIRIT he to torture Ia, on a blunt one it is {
to iul it, And the tie logical lesson
loe- harm IN either ease. There is q deep T
moral in the tale of the three-year-old +.
Irchin who. having been told that when he
died his body would be buried and his soul