Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1876-04-20

dance bore, ana our supper 4 sell
not among those unhappy little ones
whom fond parents dress up in pictur.
esque costumes for fancy balls, teach
ing them a self.complacency, a self.
consideration far beyond their years,
and only too easily learnt and least of
all are they among those still more un
happy little ones who act plays for the
amusement of grave and grown-up
audience, and are stimulated by ap.
plause and excitement, into state Of
moral intoxication wherein all that
makes youth lovely is lost forever.
For the cleverer they are for their
years, the more disastrously their tal-
ent works ON their natures; and one of
the saddest sights known to us is that
of a bright, pretty, vivacious little
girl acting her saucy part with aplomb
and assurance, failing in all that makes
childhood most lovely just in proper
ton as she succeeds in her attempt to
be some one else than herself.
BY the very nature of things it is
difficult for the children of the fash
ionable world to preserve their limo.
cence and childishness, victims as they
are, now by association and now by
exclusion, to the fast social life of
their parents. From their cradles
they are subjected to the closest inter-
course with nurses highly recommend
ed by ladies anxious to get rid of them,
and whose relations are to be found
mainly in doubtful circumstances and
shady quarters. Admitted to the ques.
tionable gossip of the monthly nurse
when she enters the nursery circle on
authorized occasions. and to the con-
tinued condolences of the resident
nurses, who perhaps are gross through
ignorance lather than through vice,
the children are reared from the be-
ginning under the shadow of the
Tree of knowledge, and are made free
of the blossoms before their time comes
to eat of the fruit. But if the nurses
are not the wisest or best rearers of
our children, fine lady mothers are not
much better; and the dressed up dolls
whose velvet and point-lace are shown
off to visitors in the drawing-room not
unfrequently hear there more than is
good for them of what, if they do not
understand it to its fullest extent now,
they think of hereafter and mediate
on till they have found out the riddle.
One kind Of fine lady mother certainly
leaves her children to be brought up
by nurses, without much assistance
from her even for the show.hour in
the drawing-room. They are circum-
stances of her existence which she
takes care shall give her no trouble
conditions of her married life which
represent certain loss of time, and so
much personal annoyance, reduced by
wise management to a minimum !;
and she has no desire to inflict on her
friends corvee, repudiated by her.
self. So far her visiting world has
cause for gratitude. But the mother
whose maternal instinct is large, and
her reasoning faculties small, who
prides herself on her love for her off,
spring, and insists that her acquaint.
ances shall partake in her glory.
adopts the foolish plan of having the
children brought down to see all her
visitors. and of converting her draw
ing-room into a small beer-garden.
where every one is uncomfortable
alike. The children are the axis on
which the conversation turns. You
are expected to be interested when
you are told Of their gifts and graces-
how Mary writes verses and Tommy
makes music, and how sweetly Ellen
and Harry repeat their poetry-just as
you are expected to be polite when
they pull your whiskers and fight for
your watch, and to smile, as to 4 good
acrobat feat, when Jacky makes a fly
ing leap into your hat. Harry scram.
bles on to your knee and informs the
company that you wear a wig, and that
he can see gold in your mouth. The
natural sequel to such a course is that
the position becomes untenable even
for the most indulgent mother, and
that the darlings are sent in the end t.
school, there to continue their educa
ton.
After the forcing-houses of the nur.
sery and the drawing.room, their
minds are sufficiently matured to de.
velop any seeds for evil and precocious
knowledge that may drop into the I'M.
titled soil, and on getting to their first
school, it is generally enough for chill
dren to unite their experiences to get
all the doubtful points cleared up
! which have exercised the youthful
mind ever since the days Of the first
man. It is at this stage of their exist.
ence that we hear of mothers being
shocked at the revelations made by
their own children. Things which a
! generation ago were known only at the
proper age, and when ignorance would
have been folly, are whispered in cor
nerS among these callOW investigators ;
and tho one who has most to tell is
the one who is king or queen of the
| root Whom tho %ho,s h.,
child from this unsatisfactory school,
and that undesirable companion, she
thinks perhaps that she has saved it ;
but the tree of the fruit of knowledge
when eaten opens the eyes so that they
can never close again, and what the
mind has once received the memory
can never reject. In the more ad.
vanced schools, the dangers attached
to unlimited condolences are so well
understood that experienced matrons
have recourse to various stratagems
. to prevent their possibility. Two
girls will not be allowed to consort to.
gether for any length Of time I; and
whispering and low voices are express.
ly forbidden. ,. In walking out they
must go in threes, or with a different
companion for each day. Governesses
have directions to watch all prefer.
entail couplings, and to break them
up by adding third to the party not
ostentatiously, so as to cause suspicion
of motives, which would be as bad
perhaps as the evil sought to be pre-
vented, but with the craft of quiet,
ness, the hypocrisy of concealment-
which we may cite as one instance OF
the lawfulness Of doing good by under
hand methods. Those schools are the
best where the social feeling is most
encouraged in contradistinction to the
personal and individual; and in saying
this we say all that need be told. Add
to this, unresting occupation, whether
it be learning or amusement, business
or play-at all events, the disallowance
of sloth and self indulgence in every
form-and the dangers of school life
are reduced to their lowest possible
sum, with SO much good to come from
wise guardianship and well.chose1