The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-11-09
Childish Children.

Born with the old weariness of the
world stamped upon its baby brow, what
chance has modern childhood of ever 4
being child-ike or childishp IL it come
of poor parents, then, whether boy or
girl, the fact that the population was
excessive without its being added is
soon pressed painfully upon the young
idea Work it must, almost as soon as
walk; nor is the education through
which it is often hurried by any means
light or loving labor. Very soon old
age, with all its care and cunning, be-
gins to settle upon the head and shoul-
ders, and such children become, men,
tally and morally, men and women be-
fore they have left off being boys and
girls in physical formation. What time
have such as these to be childishP What
chance is given them of enjoying the
sweet time of childhoodp The struggle
for existence has become hard fact in
their lives long before they have ceased
growing. They may indeed often regret
that they were ever born, as bitterly as
did their parents, when they came to
crowd the wretched dwelling and share
the scanty food. But in the ever-grind-
ing mill of poverty there is no room for
grace or beauty. All is ugly, sordid,
and old; childhood has to be scrambled
through as if it were merely few years
Of existence that must be got over as
soon as possible, in order that the time
Of making money may the more quickly
come about.
To the poor there is thus an unan-
ywerable excuse; for childhood and
.hildishness are far from being profita-
BILE. But the well-to-do have no such
reason for their conduct. Yet, for the
sake of fashion, they bring about much
the same result. Vain mothers and
foolish fathers will not let their children
be child-hke, but persist in making them
into little men and women. The mod
ern girl baby IS taught to feel how fine
she looks in new frock almost as soon
as she is born. When hardly able to
toddle, and still less able to talk, she is
instilled with the vice ofvanity, and will
coquettishly display her pretty little
dress and person to an admiring circle
of silly friends and still sillier relatives.
As she grows up this baby girl becomes
very focus of the fashions. Every
passing phase of folly in the way of
clothes is nowadays reproduced upon
tiny scale, and may be seen in the dress
alike of dolls and little girls. 1t is q pit
iful and pitiable sight, and one which
to the philosophic few can not but be
saddening. Growing children need the
full play of their arms and legs; yet
they may be found painfully strutting
the streets, tied up in the last new skirt,
or trussed like chicken in the very
latest mantle. There is nothing we
laugh at so heartily as the ugly old fash
ions OF our ancestors; but when our turn
comes to be ridiculed by posterity, there
will assuredly be ample food for mirth
in the way in which our poor little pets
of children are dressed nowadays.
Sothe seeds of vanity and the love Of
dress for the sake of display are sown in
girlish babyhood, and certainly they
bear fruit a hundredfold. The child is
never allowed to forget her own imPor-
tance, and thus that Inconsistencies
which Is the chiefest charm of childhood
is blotted out by personal pride. She
can not go to party of little children
without getting agitated by that great
question of clothes, which appears to be
the first and only thought of many wor-
display are impressed upon her as the
two leading doctrines of society, without
believing in which there is no chance of
being distinguished. This is perhaps
even worse among the middle classes
than the higher circles, but it is bad
enough everyYhere, There, is, how
ever, one comfort. Girls do often go to
school, and apart from their fond and
foolish mothers they stand a good
chance of having some of their vain nom
sense shaken out of them or ridiculed
away. But for these schools there would
in too many cases be no time of child
hood in the lives of modern girls. With
| boys the case is different-staying at
home is the exception rather than the
rule, while the word ssprig" has ac-
quired singing sound and a sharpness
sof sarcasm that act with good effect
upon every boy.
1t would seem, indeed, as II the world
were getting old, and that every being
born therein comes under the intuence
of its age. Yet is the earth forever
fresh and child-like at each recurring
spring. So should it be with our babie;
and our children. 1t sounds strange tc
say that there is no youth in the young
nowadays, though 1t seems to many .
fact, and one to cause sadness rather
than to raise rejoicing. Why need we
hurry our little ones into the worry o
the worlds Why must their very era
dies conform to fashion, Why should
their infant intellects be stuffed witt
scraps of science which can be appreci
ated only by master mindsP Why, il
short, do we strive to push every poo
little baby along the path of progress
before it has the least idea whittier il i
going Those who are now past th'
prime of manhood, OF of womanll
beauty, look back often with longinl
and loving eyes to their happy, inno
cent, unconscious childhood. To me i
seems as if the children now growing
up will have no such resource in futur'
years, for they have had no time il
which they were allowed to be childisl
according to their nature. They viii
never be able to remember period be
fore the battle of life began, before the,
lived but for show and for society
Should this be- so,. even the good oil,
days may come to be regretted, thougl
now they are only laughed at, as is tn
fancy of an old maid, who is SO silly a
to lament the loss of childishness in chill
dren,-Aqrper's BGzGr.