News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-05-18
HOW TO RAISE. CHILDREN.
Gentleness and Patience Recon-
mended in the Treatment of Lit
tie Ones-Discourse by Rev. Mr..
COIIyer

The Rev. Robert Collyer discoursed
Sunday on the subject of Chow to
Raise Little Children" He said:-It
was one of the secrets of my craft, in
the old times, when I wanted to weld
iron and steel and make good ak and
hammer, to begin gently, for found
out in time that if began to strike hard
at first might make bad job where I
ought to make good one. So found
it was the first condition of good work
to begin gently, then by and by I could
come down with m ore forcible stroke.
And used to notice this trouble in the
great iron mills, and found that the
reason why the great hammers could
come down 60 gently as not to crack an
egg and then come down like an earth
quake was that there must be in the
machinery combination of force and
gentleness to be effective. Mr.. Collyer
argued that machinery in the hands of
the mechanic was his child in certain
sense. II there was screw loose he
got little purchase to turn it to the
right, and so at last it worked well and
there was no trouble. Gentleness was
master of the situation. So, said the
preacher, have taken note of this as [
have watched the development of little
children. There must be right way
and wrong one to train little children.
They must not seem to us like wrought
iron, or brutes that we can break to will.
Children are tender; you must lead them
tenderly on. Solomon's doctrine,
''Spare the rod and spoil the child" is
an abhorrent doctrine to me-a doctrine
that will not have about my house. l
took it out of my eldest son when he
was little fellow, thinking he had told
me lie, and fel 20 if some one would
take it out of ne and found at the end
of the week that the child had told me
the exact and simple truth. We should
cultivate the virtue of the wisdom of
infinite love with little children. Chill
dren are not things, but human beings,
possessing power we cannot even guess
at. We bend over these little ones and
seek our image in them. If we detect
fault we probably say, ooh, he has
taken that from his mother" We always
walk softly when we don't know our
way, and particularly when we walk in
shadows. The child is tender, we should
lead on softly. Hold your hand : if you
must whip somebody turn the lash on
your own shoulder. Don't sap the
flower in their lives by trying to pluck
out the weeds. A great many fathers
and mothers lay heavy burdens upon
the backs of their children. remem.
Der when was child how glad l used
to be to get half day to go into the
woods to cut hazel rods for our master.
We knew what they were for, but we
didn't care. Children will sometimes
get into little mischief. Now, I have
known children when they did wrong
to go and tell their father and mother
! Well, I was never addicted to that
Children, no more than grown up PEG
pie, like to be caught IN naughty set
Sometimes parents are inhuman wher
they detect their children in wrong do
ing. I said to Lucretia Mott once
Chow do you manage your children 2
"Well," the old lady said, 'T never
touch them with my hand, but tell them
to go into the room, and, after refec
ton, tell me what they think about it.
In all our dealings with little children
we must be gentle, patient and forgiv
ing win them with our love mud no
terrify and repel them with harshnes.
az ssver:ty.