The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-12-30
The Rod and the Lad.

of Riverhead, Long Island, tor there
was imminent danger threatening that
citizens son. This lad had incurred ;
his fathers displeasure, and the stern
parent was about to correct him with
the rod, which was suppose to be good
for him and to have tendency to make |
him q better boy. So many attempts |
had been made at improving the |
morals and manners of this lad that he |
seemed to be getting continuously worse |
and worse. He feared his father and :
hated him, which, under the circum- |
stances, does not seem strange Hav- |
ing endured thrashing after thrashing
and finding no salutary result from
them, the poor boy naturally wanted to
fee away and be where thrashings are
no more. So when the last thrashing
was announced, and he was b.dden to
prepare himself for it. he did SO by
swallowing a dose of corrosive CUB
Innate, just as if he had been a cockroach
or bedbug. The poison nearly carried
him beyond the reach of the parental |
rod, but not quite. The child survived
in agony, with the prospect of speedy
death. Perhaps man has right thus
to terrify a thirteen-year-old son to the
brink Of suicide, but it must make him
feel badly if, owing to the exercise of
that right, the poor child is driven to
sorrowful death. To exercise such
right is brutal A father can always
get along better with his boy by
treating him as friend and companion
than by keeping MIN down as slave
or lording 1t over him as if he we're q
conquered enemy. A rebellious boy
may seem to be subjugated by fear.
He yields sullen obedience. which ia
totally lacking in respect and which has
not spark of affection in it. This may
pass for compliance with parental de-
mands, but it is wretched substitute
for that cheerful and loving regard
which child should show toward parent
Many parents make sorry and
troublesome mistakes in the way they
treat their boys and girls. Thew are
not necessarily as cross and severe as
the Riverhead man, and yet they man
age to in6ict on the young ones of their
families q great deal of needless worry.
They regard the children as interiors,
which in some respects they are. They
are interiors as to age, but Oh that they
will in due time mend. Socially they
are interiors, for the parents crowd
them down like puppies. As to
muscular strength they are also the
interiors of the o d folks and are sorry
for it, too. They long for the time to
come when they can knock their per-
secutors fiat in the dust as some slight
compensation for indignities committed.
Instead Of feeling penitent when pun
ished they are. simulated to deeds of
their lives is to study methods by which
| thor, vynou ofo ho p,,pr,rcoo ,ft th NJ
unlovely parents and to execute VEN
geance upon them. Asa matter of mere
economy, the parents who work their
offspring into this frame of mind sadly
miss 1t. As 10 the helpful service these
children might render it is not 1.-THE of
what it might be if the children gave il
chserfully.
The need for the use of the rod is
sadly and mischievously overestimated.
There are some children who have no
more need of it than of coats of tar and
. feathers. There are others who need
it but seldom. The boys and girls who
. need it frequently are rare exceptions.
; In many instances they seem to need il
. because injudicious parents have hard.
:. ened them by its use. Many a mar
, who owns q horse will needlessly and
rudely pull and jerk the bit in the
mouth Of the suffering animal under the
mistaken impression that he is improv.
ing the creatures manners, or hit
= mode of travelling. In this he is wrong.
3 He is hardening the delicate and sensi.
. tive tissue of the horses mouth. He il
irritating the beast and doing him NJ
n good whatsoever. A chfld's moral anG
4 physical makeup is infinitely more del
4 icate than that of horse. 1t is easy t.
& irritate and worry and frighten chile
q almost to death. Most children. ever
e if they come of brutal parents, are wor
: thy of better treatment than this. 4
i boy is none the less manly when grow
d up because kindly treated and with de
h cent consideration when small enough
n to thrash. The parent who will cruel
: thrash twelve or thirteen vear-old bo,
= is a coward, who dare not lay hands ol
{ the same boy when grown to eighteen
: lest he should himself receive tn
a thrashing he intended for the waywar,
n youth. The law of love ia q capita
i thing in its way. and it will bear OK
q perimenting with in thousands Of case
q in which it has not been tried-Phild
:. delphia Times.