The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-05-03

When we see parents working early and
late, scarcely taking an hour in the year
for recreatiSe pleasure, in order that they
may do 'hIore for the children, who are
growing upi iabout them in comparative
idleness, we feel impelled to say, your
parental love is natural, and we would be-
the last to advise its restraint, but are you
certain you are letting it work !
I'M the fright Y direction; are you
sure that all, this self-sacrifce on your
parts not directly injuring instead Of
benefiting your children; are you not
killing them by your Kindness and de-
ing In their youth 10 depend upon their
own sxertions? Look at this matter fair
", and see if you really believe you are
doing them service, or If, in the struggle
for life, they will be able to successfully
compete with others who are in their
youth doing something toward earning q
living. ....., 49,,
Solomon says "trasn up a child. I"
When we train vine we bend it, and
twist it and force it to take such position
as we believe will best insure its growth
and healthy maturity. Without this train
ing it would lie on the ground and be
trampled under foot, or if, perchance, by
force of its nature 1t reached out and
caught some support, lifting itself thereby
into the sunlight and air, it grows at ran
dom, and will never attain the position
either Of use or beauty of its more fortu-
nate sister that underwent the training.
Set two trees side by side; give one
proper attention by Strengthening its stem.
cutting out and shaping its branches and
pruning in its shoots, while the other is
left unattended, and the difference will be
noticeable the first year. while the bene-
fetal effect becomes more and more ap-
parent as the trees grow older. Had
vines and trees voices they might cry out
against this hard treatment, as boys and
girls do when compelled to work or study,
and the kind-hearted gardener Nigh, be
induced thereby to let them have their
own way, to their future injury.
Inquire into the history of men emil
nent for their success in life, and you
will find that nearly all Of them were
children of poor parents, and that from
their childhood they had their duties to
perform, and early learned to work in
some field of profitable labor, by which
habits of industry were fixed that aided
largely in ensuing their future prosperity.
An indulgent father and kind-hearted
mother who listen to the solicitations of a
boy to be excused from labor are doing
him an injury, for which both he and
themselves will suffer in after life. We
would not have a child overworked, nor
put at labor that is particularly distaste-
full, but he should do something. If he I
will not choose for himself, and few chill
dren can choose properly, choice should
be made for him. Even if he be designed
for scholar, that is no reason why indo-
lence should be tolerated or physical Ia
Dor excused. A boy should not be put.
to study as business before he is fen OF =.
twelve years old, and there are many
weeks and months in every year thereaf-
ter when physical labor of some kindwill
be of direct advantage to-him, and par
ents should see that he has it.
If child be not strong in health, it is
reason why his labor should be gradu-
ated to his physical condition, but not
that he should be entirely excused from
ii. Many a boy has gone to ruin because
he had not been obliged to earn a portion,
at least, Of his own living from the time
he was old enough to work and there is
no fact in the whole economy of Nature
more patent than that it is for the best in :,
terests Of each Individual that he should
earn his bread by the sweat of his brow,
and man is the only animal created that
allows his neighbor to subsist on the
fruits of his labor. With all others the
invariable rule is, "Work for YOURSELF"
or, as it is sometimes less elegantly ex.
pressed, "Rcot, hog, or dier'
The idea that the world owes living to .
anyone who has done nothing TO enlitle
him to it,. is a fallacy, DR.. Johnson's
reply to one who, importuning him for as
sistance, said, "I must live, you know"
was directly TO the point. He merely re.
marked that he couldn't see any necessity
for it; and there are many to day, spong-
ing upon their relatives, friends, and the
world at large, getting subsistence with
out rendering any equivalent, OF whom
the same may be truly said. H5 G5s g
Parents seem TO forget that they owe a
duty to society. They have brought chill
dren into the world, and they should so
educate them that society shall not be the
worse for their being. There Is still an
other duty they owe, and it is ITO thera-s
selves There is no sadder sight than to
see parents mourning over the ineffciency
or ruin of q child, caused principally, if
not entirely, by their own neglect to train
it up. '.Just as the twig is bent the trees .
inclined;" but when the tree has matured,
it is too late there is nothing left but re-
morse and sorrow end if they would not
have these, they must see to it that they
keep their affections controlled by their
reason, and do not kill both their children
and themselves by kindness.-Rurat NeU
Yorker. : :