The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1880-12-18
The Children's Hour.

AA0 AOAfN'sy o0s>SOA AAeS oOSoAAAS va
Children's Kingdom. For them is thu
clear winter air made fragrant with thu
spicy breath of Christmas trees. Fo,
them love lab0rs for precedent week!
and months at manifold creations. Fo,
them the music swells, the tapers glance
the mummers play, fairy.land is made
visible. To them NIL the delight which
unsated childhood can know is offered il
the name Of . child.
Best of all is the new atmosphere o1
love which they feel. In some house.
holds the expression of affection is neg
lected, the little observances Of tender.
ness fall into disuse. In others, alas!
the tenderness itself is absent. The
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children might reach its humane hand
into very handsome houses, and rescue
from very decorous parents the wounded
spirit and starving heart of many little
one.
There is a multitude of fathers to
whom the children are an amusement
for q leisure hour, . source Of pride and
pleasure when they are pretty and well
dressed and happy. But if the paterna|
humor changes, or the filial temper
clouds, then they are borcs, pests, dis.
turbers Of the peace, to be kept until re-
pentance in some prison-house up stairs.
There are mothers too many whose ma
ternal instinct il q conscience, not q de.
light; who hold that their duty is done
il the child wants for nothing and has the
proper guardian in nurse or governess.
But they are not interested in the little
individual soul that is daily facing some
new mystery Of life. It Is not on their
level. It wearies and disturbs them.
Yet on Christmas morning and on
New Years Day even these fathers and
mothers feel . new delight in their chill
dren from having tried 10 delight them.
The conventional greeting is warm and
sincere. There are kisses and sweet
words, and the little ones feel that never
was day 80 fair or lot 90 happy as theirs.
In their hearts, and sometimes with
their lips, they wonder why every day
might not be like these enchanted
mornings. And At this blessed Christ.
mas.tide may they not be answered
with the cheerful prophecy that 1t shall
be-? -s,
For every day is ss much the opening
of q new year to Us alias the radiant fes.
tival which va crown with honor, and
that Joy in childhood and reverence for
It which Christmas teaches US should be
. perennial mood. The child's native
air Is love and sympathy, constant,
cherishing, unquestioned, as the light,
without which there can DO no healthy
growth. Genueness breed, gentleness.
Il tho love OF children be- not q strong
instinct within Us, it viii grow a. = vir.
tue by careful cultivation.
And perhaps no virtue is 80 essential
" it, own reward. To look deep down
into the sweet trsnslucen: soul Of .
child, to put ones self In relation with
it, fresh, eager intelligence, to win it's
undivided, generous trust, is to know,
perhaps, the purest felicity which these
mortal limitations permit. Stupid and
troublesome and . vexatiOn have We
dared to call theml Oh, we Of little
thought! Where do We 90 In society
that The stupid and troublesome and the
yexatious do not gibe our heartsl How
do we not conceal our WEAKNESS, and
smile, and answer, and pretend that we
like the things We loathea
And We do this that we may not give
the pain which an honest yawn, . frank
obiurgation, . genuine snub, would in.
fiet II. then. we can tolerate the imam.