Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-11-26
The Moral Education of Children.

i
and delicacy, is discussed by DIR. ELIZA
BETH BLACKWELL in a little treatise entitlet
The NOrat Education Of Children u
Relation to Ser (frentano.) No one CHI
read this essay without cordial respect f1
J the authors motives and ab lities. d
without a conviction that their stricture'
and acute suggestions will be turned q
large, immediate, and beneficent account 10y
thoughtful men and women. Here is boob
which examines in a sufficiently plain
spoken, vet clean and wholesome and pro
foundly earnest way. questions which per
pick and occupy the mind Of every mothcl
Questions of vital import TO the well-be
ing of youth, and of decisive bearing on
education and society. We know of nc
other work on the same urgent, bui
awkward, topic which combines so much
substantial worth with chpurity of form
Ii would be well for the community if the
authors cautions and counsels could lie
pondered in every household.
What practical steps can be taken to ele-
va;e the lax standard of sexual morality
which, it cannot be disputed, now too ge-
nerally prevails? Onr author submits that
the following points bearing on the moral
education of childhood and youth must lie
considered by all parents who recognize
the fundamental import of sexual morality.
These are: Observation of the child during
infancy; requirement of the child's conf
dence; selection of young companions; care
in the choice of a school, and of studies
which will not infect the mind; the fOrma-
| tiOn of tastes; outdoor exercise; compan-
ionship of brothers and sisters; the choice
Of physician; and, finally. social inter
course and amusements.
The capital duty of the parent is TO
watch over the infant child; but obviously
two things are needed in order to fulfil this
function, viz, clear and full knowledge
of the evils to which the young being may
be exposed, and tact to interpret and aye-t
the faintest indications of danger, without
| allowing the child to become alive to them.
Few parents, we are told, are aware how
very early harmful habits may be formed,
nor how injurious may be the influence
of the nurse. Unnecessary handling, says
the author, should be studiously prevented,
and she states, in appendix, that she has
herself traced the ill-health OF children in
wealthy families to the habits practised by
confidential nurses, who apparently were
quiet, respectable women. No details, size
insists, are insignificant to the watchful
mother, whether these details relate to tie
shape of the child's nightdress, to the man
ner of washing and attending to its natural
wants, or to the answer returned to the
questions of awakening curiosity. Ard
every thOughtless breach of delicacy Shou d
be checked with gentle gravity, which
will not repcl or abash, but will impress
the child.
In connection with this branch Of her
theme, the author reminds US how essen
tial it is from the outset Of family training
to select servants who will not iniure the
atmosphere of home. Tie very difficulty
of doing this should carry grave moni-
tion, implying, as it docs, a widespread
want Of pure feeling and clean speech in
certain strasS of society. The more care
fully this problem is considered, the more
intimate the relations of the rich and poor
will seem TO be, the more vital their rela-
tions in respect to the maintenance and pro
motion of morality, and, we may add, the
more imperative the duty OF every mother
to take personal interest in her servants.
to exert a healthful influence upon them.
and to consider the children of her poorer
neighbors as well rs her own, if only for
the sake of her own offspring. DIR. Black
well pronounees it not only wrong, but a
gross blunder, to retain young servant in
a household without entering in some Ce-
gree into her joys and sOrTows, forming
some acquaintance with her family and
friends, providing her with wholesome
amusement, and helping her to grow in
self-respect and self-control.
Naturally our author deems it an indis-
pensable condition of success in fanny
education that the parent should become
the first and closest friend Of the child. II
is only when this trustful, sympathetic re-
lation exists that the parent can enter into
the life of infancy or youth and exerc SO
a gentle, fruitful, and unresisted influence.
Moreover, If the parent be the friend ald
comrade of his child, he can also be the
friend of the latter's young companions.
1t is of the first consequence that he should
know who these companions are, and only
by tact and sympathy can he hope to
overcome the barriers Of Juvenile reserve
and discover their true characters.
The youths entrance upon school life is
his first plunge into the outside world h:-
yond the family circle; his first Contact
with new thoughts, customs, and standards,
with new code of morality-not, OF
course, the formal ethics of teacher or pro-
fessor. but the confused, cropping, practical
morality Of his schoolfellows. Our autlor
believes that this school microcOsm, unlike
IL Il 1a.a word i- .is~rs ix-|
amenable to parental control. What pa
rents as body require, the teachers will
endeavor 10 provide. II proficiency in
classical literature or the possession Of
snowy accomplishment are reckoned of the
highest consequence, other things viii be
subordinated to their attainment; but if the
formation of an upright and pure charae .er
and healthy frame are demanded as
prime, indispensable necessity, then the
means ot securing those ends will be care
fully sought for. This application, how
ever, of the law of supply and demand
rests upon two conditions, viz, such a re-
laiion of confidence between parent and
child that the former may really know
what the latter is learning, and a serious
consideration of the moral and hygieHic
arrangements, by which school life may be
made the sound preparation for admit lu-
man existance.
1t is plain that the nature OF the studies
imposed upon the young, and the way IN
which classical literature shall be thought,
call for anxious examination. 1t is a mis-
take to suppose that the advantages OF
classical education canuot be secured with
out employing works whose tendency is to
degrade and corrupt the young mind. We
can afford to disregard Byron's sneer at
expurgatcd editions when we consider the
effect of placing Ovid or Catullus or PetIo-
MUS Arbiter in the hands of a school boy
of Is. The permanent and far-reaching
mischief wrought by vicious literature OF
any kind is signally attested by what we
now know about the structure and work
ing of the human mind. Physiological in
quiries have shown us that nutritive
changes take place in the cerebral tissues
under the impact of sensations, so that Ger
tain states or tendencies resulting from such
sensations remain stored up in the brain,
capable of recall or presenting themselves
in most unexpected way. Indeed, all