Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-09-10
The Disadvantage Of Wealth.

We have no doubt whatever that, III
this generation especially, tue wcllto-
do have much more difficulty in brilg
ing up their children than the strug
glers have. Formerly this WAS not so
much the case, because the necessity
for strong discipline vas SO thoroughly
acknowledged that it WAS maintained
almost without All efi,rt, and the habit
Of obe.lt zee Was enforced by practical
" irresistible authority. But the spe
cIalty of to-day Is TO cOncedc freedom
III all directions, and especially free
uon to children and those who are sub
ordinate. Discipline III any strong
firm is, among largt classes, and over
great tract, Of the world, nearly dead,
Ihe btu elect Of that change We do
not mean the change from severity to
kinG.tness, tut the change from studi-
Gus government to comparative lnatten-
ti0n-is very great, bat Is partly con
eealel by the fact that poverty acts as
d discipiiniug atmosphere. 1t fixes
conditions rigldly. The girl must learn
to do her own dress making or SO un
tidy. Tie boy must go to work, or
there will not be enough, and to that
particular work, for only the rich have
much choice OF occupations. Economy
is imperative, for the money is not
there, and no training in self -sacritice
acts daily, hourly, momently, like com
puIsory economy. The will is com
pressed by the facts of lie, and be-
comes at once strong and pliablo like
leather. VIII the rich, that discipline
is absent, aud cannot be artltlclaiiy pro-
duced; and the young have only con q.
scious traiulns,' III the athlete 8
setse, from direct authority, which, as
we said, IL ~ t4e tendency ot the age to
relax. The result is not only that the
passions. especially the passion of self
VIII, grow too strong, though that Is so
clear as to have become truism; but
that among both good and bad a Ger
tain bOnclessness of character is APP
parent, y certain indlspositIun 10 en-
dure, or To form strong purposes as to
the work of II life, certain want not SO
much OF energy as of decision aud per
tinacity. The children of the strug-
glerS very often Iail utterly, either
from Inherent defects of character or
from insuperable obstacles OF position
but more of them WIN than the children
of the well-otf, and, taken as body,
they have stronger anu tiuer characters.
AS their children grow up the we'll to-
do find them more hurdensJmc, more
ditt to manage, more troublesome
to settle, than the poorer do; are
more ANXIOUS for their future and more
displeased with their defects of charac-
ter and conduct, which, indeed, from
the absence of the pressure OF circum-
stances, are much greater. With the
very rich, anxiety about their children,
crosses Of different kinds inflicted b.,
them, and their frequent total failures,
make up, we believe, definite and
separate source of pain; and even with
the well-off, greatly increase the bur
den of life, just at time when bur
dens are most anxiously avoided. A
man has not gained much in the strug-
gle OF life whose children are prohi
gate, bAbyish, chrracterless, or given
up to selhshness; and that is far more
often the lot of the rich than of the
poor, aud constitutes at least one true
pinch of wealth. "-LOadoa Spectator.