Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-09-16

| sequences of an unsatisfied natural want
| His body will not be more certainly
starved by Withholding from it its dailv
| food than will his mind and moral nature
by depriving them of the natural susie
nance supplied by the companionsidD of
| those of his own age.
The attempt, so common among over.
| fond and timid parents, to bring up their
children at home in manner by which
they are isolated almost entirely from as
| ISOLATION with others is an experiment
| full of danger. 1t is, however, frequently
made, especially in the case where the
risk is the greatest, as when there is an
only child If the family should be large
and the children many, they may become,
of course, to a great degree sufficient
| companions to each other, and will be
able to dispense, to some extent, with the
society of others; but these are ordinarily
those upon whom less restriction is i'm
| posed 1t is the single child, upon whom
| the tOnunesS of parents is so concentrated
that they must keep him wholly to them
| selves, who is the common victim of this
| pernicious isolation. 1t is usual to at
| tribute the generally observed physical
weakness Of such to excessive indulgence,
especially of their appetites, but it is not
seldom the effect of a pining for suitable
cOmpanionship, depressing the siren 9Th
| through the sympathetic influence of the
mind upon the body; and the youngest
| children are much more sensible to this
| sympathy than is commonly suspected
| The slow poison with which the Revolu
tionary Convention of France was charged
with causing to be administered to the
poor child, the son of Louis XVI, was no
cunning distillatiOn from the alembic of
the chemist, but simply solitude. De
prived by degrees of his parents, his sis
ter, attendants, of his toys, books, his
Gagged bird, of the sight of his iailers and
even of himself by the darkening of his
prison, he uttered throughout his agony
but the one cry: always alonem and
| died
| Children must have and will take COM
panions whenever and wherever they can
| get them; and since the influence of their
associates, especially during their earlier
years, is so great upon their characters, it
| behOOves parents to be ON the constant
watch to observe and scrutinize the con
| duct Of those whose cOmpaniOnShip may
be sought Many rest quite contented
with the general Injunction to their chill
dren: " Don't play with this shabby boy,
or associate with that common girl"
They do not apply any test to the fitness
for companionship but their own vulgar
sense of responsibility, so called, which
is, as we all know, a something that the
tailor and mantuamaker have more to do
with than the moralist. The young of we
shall not say the respectable, but the lux
uriOus, classes in our large cities are by
no means likely from the manner in
which they are ordinarily brought up, and
the wanton life of selfindulgence they
daily witness, to be endowed with such
| qualities to make desirable compan-
ions. Lace and brOadclOth are as often
if not oftener the drapery of vice than
| hOmespun, and we advise parents to
scrutinize the surface less and tie texture
more of their children's society.
| It has often been said that the play
! ground is more powerful educator than
the school, and this, which is true comes
from the fact that in the former the mutual
| influence, so unquestiOnably great, Of
child upon child has freer scope than in
the latter. 1t is mistake, then, to sup
pose that the teacher, or whoever, in fact,
has the guidance of youth, can safely
shut his eyes to the conduct of the young
as soon as the book is closed and the play
has begun. A certain freedom and spon-
taneOusness of action are OF course essen
| tial to the formation of a selfreliant char
acter, and children must not be made too
| sensible of the presence of the wieider of
the birch during their hours of amuse-
ment; but a careful supervision is, not
withstanding, required, not so much to
encourage the good as to check the vile
There is in the simple rule that no child
whom he is not willing to bring to his
home great security for good companion
ship. A parent, by the strict enforcement
of this rule and kindly encouragement
of the visits Of the companions of his
children, will do great deal toward pro-
viding them with such society as will best
conduce to their antage.-Harper's
B0zdr.
SOundings at Niagara.