American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-08-30
Fault-Finding.


says:
Grown people are so apt to forget that
they were once young, 1t is most la
mentable forgetiulness. There is no need
of the heart growing old. Gray hairs may
be the glory of old age, but freshness OF
heart and soul are its beauties
What dear, precious old man Is tna'
ed lively young girl, after my dear,
precious elderly friend had bid us good
night; ..he seems to know just how young
folks feel, and don't pooh and look
nonsense at our ambitions and likes. I'd
like to have him for my father, l would; ;
he isn't always finding fault about every
thing, know"
you suppose are annually driven from the
parental roof by the fault-finding of father
or mother, or both? We know of no sta
tistics to resort to to ascertain the number,
but using our own personal observation as
a basis the number is large. More boys
leave than girls, because they are boys. 1t
is not uncommon for girls to marry be-
cause they can have no peace at home
That is one outlet to them 1t may give
only a Change of cultivation, however.
Only few mornings ago, we had young
girl committing suicide, because OF the
eternal wrangling and faultfnding of her
parents
If we wanted to make a child deceitful
or a liar, we should find fault with him
about great as well as small things. If he
broke or lost, or destroyed anything, we
should give him such lingual castiga-
ton that if a similar accident befel him
again, he would rather lie, steal or run
away, than to encounter the parental or
deal the second time.
When q child, we had a great number
of very prominent traits that were cata-
logued off as faults" AS we had a pro-
pensity for climbing trees and scaling
fences, we naturally made considerable
havoc with our calico dresses. But being
def with the needle, We usually managed
to make the rents keep mum" until IRON
ing day came, when the quick eye of
mother or Bridget would ferret out the
mischief So ironing day became a sort
of Day of Judgment to us. We never
could get used TO being found fault with,
and were often put to our wits end how
to escape the wrath we knew would surely
overtake US. 1t didn't make us bit more
careful, and all the fault finding in the
world never made any child more careful.
There are words that uiU make them more
careful and thoughtful, but they are not
words of '.fault finding"
Another one of our distinguishing
''traits'' was what seemed a propensity
for breaking crockery We had to clear
w
took stool to make us tall enough to get
our hands well into the dish pan; SO we
received several castigations both of a
physical as well as spiritual nature for
breaking dishes. And until this day, the
sight of a girl carrying or lifting dishes
makes US actually nervous for fear she
will let them fall, and father or mother
will give her such a lawful scolding,"
when she feels badly enough about it al
ready
No child, in normal condition, feels
anything but sorrow at misfortune or loss
es which accrue from mishaps. But a
generous amount of fault-finding will
harden some young hearts into sort of
''don't-caIe-ism-" Sensitive natures will
eternal faultfnding, as to look out for an
escape-valve, rather than how to avoid an
other similar occurrence in the future.
Faultfinding never cured us of tearing
our dresses OF breaking dishes; for we dc
both unto this day, when we have a
chance. We haven't travelled so far into
womanhood as to forget how very, very
miserable We used to be from much fault
finding-so very miserable that we though
even God was ugly for allowing US to suf
fer so, and wishing, Oh, SO earnestly, fol
the time to come when we should be
woman and would break a whole store o
dishes, and not then be made to feel jus
as bad as if our little sister had died
Why, people will say, "Not of the leas
consequence" if guest breaks dish Oh
spills gravies. But if our own little chile
does the same thing, they consider it
matter of great consequences grea
that the child is rendered as miserable a
it can be, which is very miserable indeed
when we consider our own capacities TO
misery.
Talking with gentleman on this them
few evenings ago, he remarked: g
thought my own childhood must hav'
been an exceptional one, in point of un
happiness, until l grew up and compared
notes with others.''
'sBut what is the cause for such re
portse" we asked
Il don't know fully" he replied. g
know my boy shall never pass such a boy
hood! 1 think perhaps much of it grow
out of the old theory that children Ough
to owe everything to parents, when, il
truth, it's more the reverse. Bringing
souls into this world is fearful response
bility, and all that parents can do 70
their children, it is their bounden duty t
do. The most they can do for them vii
not even compensate for the inheritanc
of trouble and sorrow that is the brit
right of every child BORN
Oh, fathers and mOthersl We do NJ
plead for your salvation, although W
know full well that Heaven will not
Heaven with fault-finders in it. But fc
the sake of your sons and daughters an
those around you, whose happiness shout
mean more to you than the gratiicatio
of your ill feelings, we beseech you t
abjure the spirit Of faultfinding-a spir
that has nothing of Christ, or of Love, c