Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-12-19
For Parents TO think About.


A distinguished theologian has as
serted his belief that children have nc
souls till they are about seven years
old, when they begin to acquire them.
However this may be, it is certain
that under that age, in the presence
Of certain facts, they have no souls
which they may fairly call their own.
They think it possible tor them to
commit the most awful crimes in the
caldendar, and so great is their dread
of any authority whose powers, not
beng understood, are thought to be
overwhelming, that when Trey i'm
agine they have laid themselves open
to its action they at once resort TO
lying, which is the natural and almost
the only weapon that weakness has to
use against strength, The amount of
worry and trouble which they bring
to Others by acting in this way is Of
no moment whatever with them =
their only thought is selfprotection.
For thee days the police OF Pbila
delphli have sought high and low, in
every vacant house III the city, ter
Willie Bishop, aged seven, whom
Master Albright, aged six, had &C
cidentally pushed into the river, where
he was drowned. There were four
children present when the accident oc-
CURED, and the three who were lett,
being in mortal terror OF what they
imagined would be their punishment
should me accident be discovered,
concocted the ingenious story that
while they were playing IN all empty
house, some larger boys drove them
away anu lett Bishop locked in q
closet. Search was made everywhere
until, at last, the body of the missing
child was found in the river, and it
was only then that the truth was told
by his companions, who explained
their silence by saying that they fear
ed they would be punished should
they tell the real story Of the accident
II their present account OF affairs Is
true, as it probably is, the amount Of
trouble they have given themselves
and the mental suffering they must
have endured for four long days and
nights are sad to think of, when we
remember how great is the capacity
OF children for mental AGONY
Young fends like Jesse Pomeroy, the
more they are considered are only
the more detestable they are not the
children who suffer, aud yet are the
only ones who should do 50.
For much of the untruthfulness of
children in such cases as this those
parents are directly responsible who
are always threatening dire punish
ment for trivial ofenses Young ones
soon learn that there is a real "Old
Bogie," of whom older people stand
in awe-the Law, nancy, which is
embodied for them in the policeman
and The hangman, who catch muir
derers and whose powers are unlimit-
ed. If a man cannot escape this ter
rible power how shall a child fail to
be crushed By it? He knows but one
way his only resource is lie. The
BOY comes to believe that this 'Bogle,
this Raw head and Bloody bones Of
whom he has heard in the nursery, is
real and terrible being. If the child
has been brought up tenderly except
in this respect his dread OF the law
and his exaggeration OF what it can
do are only the more intense, when
suddenly he imagines that he has
committed a terrible crime the tension
on his mind is enough to snap and
ruin it forever. Imaginary horrors
are not the proper pabulum for babies.
IN. Y. World.