The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-04-17
CHILDHooD's CARES.

There is a common way of talking Of the
period of childhood as if it were one of per.
petual happiness. Grown-up people are So
far removed from their early days that In
many cases they seem to forget what they
endured as children. They think of them
elves as having been happy, strong, free
rom care, light-hearted-at least in con.
trnst with the various conditions of life and
thought in which they now find themselves,
II seems as if they had been so-and they
peak of happy childhood rs If entire happi.
ness were the normal condition Of human
beings in the early stages Of their existence.
Il is probable that there are some persons
who can look back upon an uninterruptedly
happy chirdhood, and, when that is the
case, they have memories to be stored up
which are, indeed, priceless in value. But
1t is true, in far more cases than the popu.
lar reckoning allows, that childhood Is .
period in which there is very little of posi-.
tive happiness and very much of actual
unhappiness. Not only are there the small
griefs incident to the discipline necessary to
c.ildhood-the petty disappointments
which seem SO keen, the small self-denials,
which appear SO great, the restraints as to
the exercise of will which the necessary
rule of home or school imposes-but there
arc far keener sufferings than these. There
are the cases of children whose whole life
IL one of suffering. of actual or impending
illness, who may perhaps, by constant care,
grow up to be men and women in tolerable
health, but who never can look back on o
time when, in their childhood, they were
strong and well People are apt to think
that such children az these have their com.
pensations in the extra care and love given
to them but let any one who has had ex-
Perience of such q childhood look back to il
and say if the u~nhappiness of illness did
not render life very sad. There is, above
all, the u~nhappiness of mismanaged and
misunderstood children. There are chill
dren of peculiar temperaments, whose whole
lives are rendered n burden to them by the
fact that the persons set over them, either
parents, guardians, or teachers, nave been
destitute of sympathy for them, and have
not thought it worth while to try what q
change in the plan of managing would do.
Harriet Martineau and the young Brontes
seem to have been children misunderstood
and though their strong natures struggled
through into brighter lives, yet there are
hundreds, nay, thousands of children, set
down as s%ullen, logged, obstinate, and
treated with ~harshness, who live lives OF
dull wretchedness because they do not
know is wrong with them, and no ona
takes pains enough to try to set things
straight for them and make them happier.
Again, there are clever children weighed
down by utterly unintellectual surroundings,
forbidden to read because reading is .
" waste of time" kept to mere mechanica,
work and never allowed to indulge fully
their love of study. At one period of her
childhood Mrs. Somerville seems to have
suffered a good deal from this.
Of course, nothing could be more unwise
than to allow all the whims and fancies of
children to have their way unrepressed.
Such n course of action would merely add
the misery of u~ndisciplined will to the |
Others which children suffer. But that |
childhood is often n time of great, even Of
morbid u~nhappiness, is a statement that no
rejecting persons, especially those who
have had much to do with children, can
deny.
The lessons for parents, and for all who |
have to do with children, are obvious. Chill
dren are as different in their natures and
temperaments as grown-up people are, and
they are infinitely more sensitive, making
them easier both to manag anu mis-
manage. Children cannot be governed
by any stern, unvarying rule; they must
be treated according to the differences
in their characters. Above all, chill
dren who appear morose, obstinate, I'M
happy, should not be made more so by
punishment-they are wretched enough