Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-04-27
THE CHILD OF THE PERIOD.
Mother G0Ose,'' who has Written SO
Many Good Things in the Col
umns of The Appeal,
UfGeFs Some Wise Words Concerning
fhe Mental Pabuium and Physi-
cal Properties of Children.

cal Properties OF Children.
The world, regarded from pessimist'
point of view, is full Of mistaken notions
so full that it would be preposterous in am
one possessed of fewer than nine lives L
attempt bare enumeration of them. Mis-
taken notions permeste the atmosphere
flourishing with equal luxuriance in halls o
senatorial wisdom, or the domestic nursery
And speaking OF nurseries brings this prosy
Tnoralist to the question in point:
One who walks the streets to-day with an
observant glance for anything besides the dis
play Of elegant dry goods and stylish bon
nets, must be struck with the palior of the
little faces and the spindle leggedness OF the
children who swarm the promenades almost
extinguished under their huge mushroom
hats! The child of the period is either a
poor little puny-framed man of twelve or
| waxen-faced little woman of ten, TO whom
leap-frog, hop-scotch, hoops and graces are
remnants of barbarism, fit only to be ranked
| with the old gladiatorial combats or bull
| fights of yorel Some of this undoubted mis-
chief, think without being pessimisl),
is traceable TO the superabundance of chill
dren's books. Baby book-worms we have,
| infantile saruns, who know twice as much al
eight as their grandmothers did at eighteen
| (about books, but TO whom the making of a
daisy chain or weaving of larkspur wreaths
are unsolved mysteries not worthy the atten-
ton of little ladies and gentlemen who are
relieved of all necessity for inventing enter
tainment by half dozen or more periodicals
for young folks.
When l was a child land it's nobody's
business how long ago that may have BEEN
| used to hear the axiom, "Meat for strong
men and milk for babes, " but now it is meat
for all. The only difference is that the meat
is hashed and seasoned somewhat mildly for
the modern babe who digests it bravely.
Far be it from me to detract from the good
ness and wisdom of those who have striven
so successfully to brighten the dull routine
of the school-room that the schoolbooks of
to-day are as fascinating romances compared
with the schoolbooks of my time My
recollection Of those old -as-dusts-Web
ster, Pinnock ard Cornstock-high priests in
the temple of learning where my poor child
ish brains were tortured out of me, is still
too agorizingly vivid for me not to appre-
ciate the McGuffeys and other benefactors of
to-day. But the mistaken notion think SO
mischievous in its tendency is the deluge of
childish literature, weeklies, monlhlies, \
papers and magazines under which our little
ones are being submerged. Is it well that
so many wise (2) men and women are en-
ployed in the task of diluting literature
until the child of the period is seduced from
all interest in the great book of nature and
is made sadly independent of all her sweet.
allurements? 1t is literature made easy that
has given a death blow to all those innocent
delights and fascinating outdoor sports that
made the days SO short and Gods sunshine
so precious in the elden time when children
were children.
Poor little soulsl If they want to keep up
with the literature of the day land what
child of the period does not?) they have no
time to play. What with dozen new books
month and half dozen young folks peri
odicals, II is busy brain work. j can fancy
sneers of contempt curling the baby lips and
looks OF compassionate superiority cleaning
in the baby eyes at the notion of there ever
having been time when there were no chill
dren's books. Yeti though not quite an octo-
genarian, dears, can recall such a time.
When / was child books meant school, and
after our duly-appointed tasks lad been dis
posed OF not moment of the bright, long
day was voluntarily wasted indoors. We
could not afford i'll There was too much to
be gotten through with before the setting sun
should drive our tagging feet homeward.
There were chestnuts to hunt, and chinqua-
pins to string, and birds to trap, and ''coonsn
to ''tree," and the dear knows what besides
to be done-Bithout wasting time over
prosy books about such marvelously good
children that sure-enough flesh and blood
children, recklessly despairing of ever emu
lating their Projections, turned from their
shining examples in simple disgust. That
was the only kind of child that ever got into
print in my day, ss sa7
| am, afraid | was not very smart little
girl, and / feel sadly sure that / shall never
be great woman, because 1 notice in all the
biographies OF great people we are told that
they had read Bunyan's Eil9ria,'s Progress
before the tender age of six. Now, doubt
very much whether / knew my A B Cs be-
fore | was six, in fact, doubt whether Mr..
Bunyan himself did, but cannot help think
ing, in these days of diluted literature that
it would have wholesome effect to put the
child Of the period at Banyaa's Pilgrims
Progress. | can't fancy any quicker mode of
driving baby book-worms out into the pure
fresh air to lark-spurring, daisy claiming
rope-jumping, to recovering, in short, one and
all OF those lost arts that made life one long
glad holiday IN the good old days when
children were children.
Either children must be of a great deal |
more Importance than they used to be or
grown folks are vastly more complacsnt |
Behold their wondrous toys! How my |
daughter, the nonchalant possessor of Paris. |
ian, wax, biscuit, china dolls by the score, all |
regular Miss Flora McFlimseys in the mat
ter OF wardrobe, would have laughed to scorn |
the stiff jointed, lantern jawed, rigidly up
right little wooden affair, my precious
'tClarisSa," the doll so fearfully and wonder |
fully made, upon whom lavished the tender |
est devotion and for whom / shed the bitter |
est tears of regret when a malicious rat |
nibbled all the paint off her dear old nose,
her placidly amiable countenance TO |
take an expression of low cunning, harrow
ing in the extreme to me, her heart-stricken |
mother.
/. Maybe, if / had had half a hundred |
wise people to'write me into sensible frame
of mind, shouldn't have so much minded |
Clarissa's ribbed nose. As it was, / ..outdid
Rachel in my obstinate refusal to be COM
forted. There Is one ancient custom that
holds its own in spite of time and inneva-
The child of the period eats;
even condescends to play at eating; has regu-
lar make believe parties served off the cost
Hest China; liiliputian plates and cups and |
dishes never dreamed OF save in Arabian
night dreams in nay way off childhood. When
was child the giving OF a tea-party was a
solemn and stupendous undertaking, fer it
involved not only the cooking, of the viands
but the diggingof the dinner service.
Every inch of the well-trodden premises
had to be gone over with'bent backs and bowed |
heads, so that no glistening bit Of broken
crockery should escape the eagerly peerIng
eyes. And OH the wild delight when cur /
trores, under the purifying infu-
ence OF soap and water, displayed to our
glad view blue willow tree waving stiffly
over a blue goose, sailing grandly on a blue
pond, or a crimson gentieIn an IN very Tall |
hat, pronenading with crimson lady along
4 crimson garden walk.
And yet were happy in simple, old
fashioned way, that would be really ridicu-
ous in child of-the period. The idea OF nos
ing around after bits of blue and pink
crcckery when you might be sitting in the
house reading a magazine written expressly
Tor you.
In the language of Domini Samson
prodigicus. MOTHER GOOSE.
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