Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-05-06
Nagging.

| THIS term, according to one of our
leading literary authorities, means "not
scolding, reproof or outright punish
ment, but being always at child"-fnd-
ing continual fault with him about little
things. Though the gentleman to whom
we are indebted for this definition adj
dresses his admonition with respect to
"nagging'' to teachers it occurs to us
that parents might, without injury, take
the matter to heart. rt
1t is not always easy for US to distin-
guish between what is essential and what
is an accident of development in our
children. For the former we must have
long, patient and judicious training,
reaching from infancy to maturity, slow
| ly wedding out elements that are noxious
and as slowly Incorporating those that
are wanting, Just as we graft pears upon
quince-roots or apples on the thorn-tree.
For the accidental qualities, we have
only to wait their outgrowth. Yet these
qualities, mainly, and not the essential
ones, provoke nagglng," of which moth
ers far more than fathers are apt to be
guilty.
At one time in the life of boy, and
this applies to girls as well, he delights
| to get into the ink Look out then for
stains on the carpet, scribblings in your
choicest books and blotches on handker-
chiefs, aprons, dresses and table-covers
they are as certain to come as March
winds, and almost as trying; but they
| go of themselves, and nagging" neither
hastens nor delays their departure.
Dancing chair about On one leg while
sitting is another stage that nervous,
children have to go through and it lasts
till they grow into easy self-confidence.
Though excruciating to the susceptible.
looker-on, patience is the only true
remedy. Mild expostulation and pleasant
ridicule may hasten the progress of the
disorder to happy termination, but it
will cure itself in time.
Slamming doors and leaving them open
mark another regular stage in the growth
of every boy. Life is too short in the
| juvenile estimation to shut them quietly,
this time all along before and after he
has too much on hand to stop to wipe his
! shoes when he comes in from the muddy
| street. What matters a little mud? AS.
he sits by the stove, warming his feet
and leaving traces of their presence,
what more natural than that he should
whistle or sing comic song or psalm
tune comically? He doesn't mean any
thing wrong by it, The boy nature, ex-
| uberant, effervescent, OVERLOOKING, must
work itself off in some manner or dan
gerous consequences will ensue, the very
worst of which would be Miniature re-
sulting from suppression. "Nagging "
does no good at all; it only makes mat
ters worse
Coeval with muddy feet and slamming
doors are images In pencil on the house,
finger-marks ON the windows, especially
of frosty morning when they are so
tempting as tablets, trials of the new
jack-knife on the dining table or the pill
lars of the front porch, marginal read
ings on spoilers ard arithmetics In HE
roglyphics that not even Champoliion
could have deciphered; the boys name
in uniformed chirography scrawled in
| chalk or pencil everywhe1e-ont the coal
bin, the barn-door, the parlor window
| sill, the walls of his sleeping room; all
these testify to the presence of the boy
in the house. Can he help its Are such
| things to be allowed? By no means;
they are to be borne with, kindly re-
! Ouked, perhaps, and the activity that en-
| genders them turned into channel large
enough and attractive enough to absorb
it all. A damp cloth will remove the
chalk and finger marks; erasive soap
will take off the plumbago, tartaric acid
obliterate the ink-spot; but what can
eradicate from the child's character the
effects of perpetual "nagging ?"
The time comes fast enough when
there will be no little careless hand to
make ''muss" on the clean tablecloth,
no tiny fingers to scatter things round,
no CHATTER of childish feet on the stair
way. Fresh paper may cover all the
marks on the hard finish, paint may con-
ceal the ambitious handwriting on the
woodwork, and those traces of boyish
pranks that still remain the mothers
eye and heart may cherish as sacred to
the memory of the dead or the absent,
as something she would not willingly be
without.
In a genial, wholesome, tolerant, low
ing atmosphere, the boy and girl will 60
through the various stages of growth
| from childhood to adult life, dropping
whatever is in its nature Juvenile, little
by little, as naturally as the bean-vine
drops its seminal leaves; but the for
bearance and loving patience Of the wise
father and jud1cious mother who under
innumerable provocations refrained from
".nagging," will not be forgotten.-N.
7. Tribune.
The Sioux evince willingness to sell
the Black Hills outright to the United
| States, the ONLY question being that OF