The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-09-11
The Sorrows of Children.

1t is the fashion to think that children
and young people can not know any
/ thing about real trouble They have
no responsibilities, say the old folks,
''no cares. They are seeing their best
/ days" This is a great and almost uni
versal mistake The fact is, childhood
and youth are particularly trying sea-
sons. Our best days are when we are
sure of ourselves. When we know what
we are, to some extent, and what we
can do; when we have learned the
world in the true sense, and have found
out that it is our beautiful school-hOuse,
and that the Maker and Ruler of it is
our tender sympathetic Father Ar
rived at this stage of our development,
we are independent, and independence
is the first condition of happiness-real
independence, 1 mean; the kind which
! a slave may possess and a king may be
| entirely destitute of. 1t is the depend
ence of children that constitutes their
strongest claim upon Our sympathy and
tender consideration. The loneliness of
a sensitive child placed in unsympathet-
ic conditions no one can imagine who
j has not experienced it. His sense of
helplessness is crushing. He is a little
stranger in a vast unmapped country,
and who so forlorn if his guides be for
him no guides at all.
The passionate love and gratitude
which children give to those who are
truly " good - to them shows the rari-
ty of that kind of goodness. The child
is not grateful to those who yield unduiy
to him, but to those who really help
him. Every child is in a certain sense
the victim of himself The true lover of
children helps the little warriors in their
inevitable battles, and loves them all the
time, and pities them in proportion as
the naughty spirit gets the upper hand.
But these generals of the army of child
hood must be heroic self-conquerOrs,
and alas, how few they are.
But without being able to do the best
for children, it is a great thing to have
our eyes open to the fact of their needs.
In the first place, we do not half appre-
ciate what little things they are. We ex-
pect far too much of them. Neither do
we half appreciate their quality-their
tenderness, their pride, their generosity,
and their sensitiveness.
81 would do any thing to please my
mother,'' said bright 10-year-old girl,
her face flushing, and the tears coming
to her eyes; - but of course I am care
less, and forget, and then she scolds,
and-and-you know
Yes, knew The child was warm
hearted and generous, but she was a
child. The loving heart, the eager de-
sire. the pent-up tenderness went for
nothing; the carelessness, the folly, the
childishness were made much of. Two
years after, this same girl said: Il have
made up my mind that my mother
doesn't love me. She couldn't help
showing it sometimes if she did, But
the mother loved her child, only it was
an ideal child-she had neither patience
nor faith for the real one.
We must love our children in their
childishness, and in spite of ii, and show
that we love them, or their tender hearts
viii weary of being hurt, and will close
to us, and open elsewhere.
To be understood is the sweetest thing
in life. When the right time comes for
us to truly - find God, - how exquisite is
the JOY of giving the heart to one who
loves us as we are-whO can see the
breadth with the littleness, the intention
with the expression. The heart opens
to the uttermost in that great indUlgent
, Presence, because we are certain that
whatever may be exposed the love will
suffice for all.
So to a child that friend is dearest who
lets him be himself, and often the sweet
ness of confidence betrays the unsus-
pecting child-heart into fatal dangers.
- School-days at Rugby -" contains a
mine of wisdom for every one who has
to do with children. When - Tom
Brown - and his friends get lost AT
q hare and hounds,' and coming to the
schOoI-quarters, after hours in q desper-
ate plight, are sent up to the good Doc
tor, he meets them with a dear, fatherly
face, and % Well, well, my little fel-
lows and sends them to supper com
forted. Afterwards - Tom - disobeys g
rule of the school with malice afore,
thought, and is sOundly punished by the
terrible Doctor.
The beloved master of Rugby oh.
l tanned his wonderful empire over the
5 hearts of hundreds of rough, daring
English boys, because, being the manli
r est of men, he could fully sympathizt
r with the most boyish of boys; because
5 also, he sets his foot with terrible earn.
= estness upon evil, first in himself an6
! then in those under him. But with
2 faults incident to immaturity he had un
\ firing patience. He expected a boy tc
4 be boy, and, while he was the master
= he was equally the friend. And this i,
r one of the grievOus sorrows of youth, t.
be pushed off, and held in disgrace fOl
1 being what God made them. You dc
= not hold an animal responsible for dep
n relations in your lush clover and wei
; grown corn, and what is a bOy-wha
are most children, but bundles of emo
0 tions and desires-unknOwing animals
e swayed by blind impulses? Potentially
g they are much more, but not practically
: g I am willing to be punished when
+ do wrong" says my bOy-friend, hi
e bosom heaving with the feeling that h
e is determined shall not rise to his eyes
o In other words, he is willing to be pun
D ished when he means wrong. % But,
# he adds, - it's all the same to father /
Y there's any mischief done, no matter
L how good a feller's intentions are.''
n Sometimes a boy is no more blame
n worthy for being careless than the Marcl
: wind. Carelessness is elemental in tn,
V boy nature. Are you going to gain an!
e thing by quarreling with the elements
5 If you will not have the spring neithe
shall YOU have the summer. Be patien
with the clustering temper of March
and YOU shall be repaid by the roses o
June Sacred is the unTipe fruit 70
what it shall be. Do not cause it to fal
. aforetime through your impatience
:, God created the tree and the sun for thi
I same acrid, gOOd-fOr-nOthing fruit, anC
- all things exist for these little ones will
: whom YOU are sometimes at such crue
= odds because they are not at once mel
= and wOmen.-fTs. II. F. Butts, III tb
; Christian Union.
q RHODE ISLAND SUCCoTAsH-Goo