Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1875-05-20
Danger OF Maternal Deception

or in maternal deception, played off
her successful plot upon her blind and
aged husband, the patriarch Isaac, the
world has aos been destitute of moth
ers who intrigue with their sons
against the husband and the father
Sometimes the plot is to secure a
greater portion of the paternal estate
for a favorite son, but more frequent
lY in matters of smaller amounts. The
son wants more money to spend than
the father is willing to furnish, and
the mother plots to obtain it. She
may honestly think the father is too
close listed with the boy, and does not
give him the amount which true pa
ternal regard would dictate; and so,
impelled by her maternal love. she
seeks to make up the deficiency by
some scheme which will outwit the
father and get the money out OF him
by deception. aao - ~zl-
Such a course is detrimental in the
greatest degree. It tends directly to
inlure the object of her maternal love
] by breaking down all nice distinctions
of honor and honesty. If n boy may
deceive father for selfish ends-that
father whom he is bound to respect,
love reverence and obey above all 9th
/ er men-and does this with the ap
probation and assistance of his own
mother, how can that boy be expected
to have any fine sense of honor and
honesty toward other men? The in
evitable results of all such practices
of deception will be to destroy, in the
mindtof that boy, all high respect for
4 the truth, and lead him to seek to OBJ
tain his end by any means, however
/ 4tustifable, which seem to promise sue
i cess. And thus he grows to manhood,
with ascharacter noticeable for beiRg
! trick. dishonest and dishonorable
i But it is not necessary to wait un-
/ til he arrives at manhood to see the
fruit. Having learned, by maternal
+ assistance, TO deceive his father, he
contriyes like plots against his moth
er. After time she is greatly sur
Eprised to find that boy playing off the
i grOssest deceptions upon herself At
first she is astonished above measure
and grieved beyond expression She
cannot conceive it possible that the
lson for whom she has done so much
should turn against her with such in
gratitude She does not stop to think
that be is only practicing on her the
very lessons she has taught him; that
she herself has been one of the chief
means Of destroying within him al
nice sense Of honor and all true pa
rental respect. And yet such are the
exact facts in the case : nor is it any
J thing uncommon to hear boys justify
the deceptions they practice upon
their mothers by saying, ''Oh! pshaw
she cheats the old man, and | cheat
her-its all on the square J"
Too great care cannot be observed
in maintaining the strictest honor aud
honesty in all home transactions. Ev
cry thing done aud said should be the
very soul of truth. More boys-and
girls too-are morally ruined in theil
homes, and by home influence and ex
ample, than anywhere else, or in any
other way. It is done by the false
! lessons there taught them; by the
fIoos6s deas there ezengenderedz IN thei
nlindss by the deceptions there prac
ticed; and by the "white lies'' there
spoken and enacted. Under the in
fuence of these they grow up with nc
e high sense of honor; with no staunct
e adherance of integrity; with no firm
8 principles sufficient to bind them tt
the right and to barricade them agains
: the assaults of temptation. And thi!
D must be the case when home life is no
= the soul of honor in all its ways-tht
Il correct practice of truth and of in
e tegrity in all its acts.
e It the father deals by strickery anC
d seeks gain by fraud, and wins by in
= trigue, how can the son reasonably bt
e expected to do any better2 If th
II mother deceives neighbors; is gla
: beyond expression to see visitor
7, when speaking to their faces, but be
5, rates them scandalously as soon a
J they have departed from the doorstep
q and thus practices the thousand an
d one enacted lies of social and domes
y tic life, how can it be expected tha
y her daughters will be guileless an
% truthful? =?
I'd In view of these facts we feel tht
IS it is of the greatest Importance thi
Le mothers should be brought to consit
er the danger to :heir children whic
y grows out of those maternal decel
e, tions which are too prevalent in man
Sc homes.
lg There is another point on which v
a. should like to say few words
nd warning and caution to mothers.
Ii is to enjoin them to check any tent
he ency which they may observe on. Il
ly part of their children towards cruelt
ng Children are not born with an i
stinct of cruelty. They are gentle
angels, and it is the fault of their p
: rents if they become monsters VIII
ur men. From sheer thoughtlessnes
as and before they begin to reflect, it
I'm common for them to do many cru
to things-to tear off the wings of i
o. sects or to transfix them with a pil
ed when a little older, to kill small birt
MS for pleasure or to put small animals
grief These short steps toward hab
IN lead on to great strides. Nero had I'll
is mild and philosophic Seneca for t
ra- Instructor of his intellect, but Agri
in pima for his mother. The records
lth our own times from day to day q
ect stained with deeds of blood and vi
for lence equal in enormity to tho
of which marked the worst periods
nd declining Rome. Heathenism, in
5ha most gloomy phase, could exhibit
ost stances of no more glariDg depravi
gas than those an account of which is to
Try found in every newspaper we take |
on All will have their small beginning
in the child who tortures dumb thin
od, grows up to be wife -beater aud
rn- rufian,--[ Humane journal
ing ------e----
as Detroit boys seem to advance
ply education whether they attend schc
,iv- or not A newsboy who could
ng change ten cent piece year ago, v
= recently heard remarking: 'Willi
Scott, if you ever corrugate your br,
at me in that MnV noain I shall te