Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-06-21
The Folly, Danger and Sin OF Frighten.
ing People.

frightful mask over his face. The siobt
was so sudden and fearful that I fell 10 The
floor with q shrek of terror that must
have gone through the halls. The man
who had thoughtlessly, foolishlv and
wiekediy put this joke upon me aed. If
he had stopped TO see If was injured, be
would have frightened me out of my sen
ses. After lying some time 1 recovered
my strength. but have never recovered
from the impression of that moment.
though the thing happened more than hall
a century ago. never 20 into the dark
without seeing the mask and rarely ooen
a door in tn night without thinking of a
terrible object the other side Of it."
Only a few nights ago some Young men
determined to put to the test the COURAGE
Of oompanion who boasted of not believ
ing IN ghosts; He kept loaded revolvst
l,ine near bis bod, and In the evening Y! s.sss
IInfnased e get i and draw the .haaail
~ efshs salio sTass staa nd aaal spszsal
'ssIasssd llke As shosl sp}6red !. lbe ! Tpoin. |
The Young man fired at HIM End again
and again till he had emptied all the
chambers OF the pistol, and finding that
none Of the shots took effect. he was over.
whelmed with terror, and went stark
mad.
Only recently ono of the young women
employed as q weaver in cotton mill
took a small snake with her. and after
frightening several of her companions,
threw the reptile upon girl named Welsh.
The latter was so frightened that she fell
down in convusons and to the next day
had not regalned consciousness.
could multiply these examples to any
extent. Not a week passes without the
record of similar instances in the news
papers. Many persons will remember
Impressions made upon their minds in
childhood by frightful objects, sometimes
accidentally seen, and at others put before
them in mischief, Just for fun There is
great difference in the nervous tempera-
ment of individuals. and some are far
more easily frightened than others. Many
children are very sensitive to ST. hts and
sounds. They may have strength enough
to conceal their emotions when others are
present, and they are perhaps ashamed
to appeared scared when others are only
amused, but they carry their impressions
into their beds, sleep is driven away from
their pillows. or when it comes. bad
dreams come also. and the little sufferer
tosses all night in constant fear of what it
has seen. The child shuts Its eyes, but
the image is there and is rs visible and
terrible In the dark and to Its closed eyes
as If the sun were shining. And more so.
because with the return Of light, more
than half the horror dies out In my
childhood nurse shut me up in dark
closet by way of punishment / remem
ber keeping close to the door in awful
horror of what might be in the back part
Of 1t, every moment trembling lest |
should be seized by some fearful being
dwelling in blackness of darkness. There
is no one thing which parents
should more carefully guard against when
they trust their children 10 the care of
nurse, than this sin of frightening them.
The shock given by one fright, when the
system Is delicate, frail and exquisitely
sensitive. may be fatal in early life if
spared long misery.
| Yet this cruelty is inflicted on children
and young people, not by nurses only, but
| by parents and teachers, without mo-
ments thought of the dreadful conse
quences sure to result Perhaps it is we'll
| that we do not understand the exceeding
delicacy of the human frame and especi.
ally those parts of /. which form the mex
plicable connection of mind with matter,
the body and the soul. The fact of such
connection we know. The nature and
manner of 1t are unknowable. Why sor-
row should come in drops of water from
the eye, or JOY cover the face with smiles,
who can say? The sense of fear. even
when not sudden. is often followed by
great physical suffreings. | have seen
convicts brought out to be Aogged. and the
apprehension of anguish was attended
with complete prostralion. Reason does
not help to resist the effect of fright.
There IS no time for argument. The
shock comes like 4 stroke OF lightning
The blood seems to rush back on the heart
or with increased violence, it presses on
the brain. The normal revolution of the
wheel tat the cistern Is disturbed. do not
know where the throne of reason IL. but I
know that it is desered and its empire
msde desolate by sudden fright. Among
the ancient Greeks the utmost care was
taken with children that they should not
BIZ excited. They were guarded agains,
noise and stirring scenes, that in infancy
their delicate brain work might not be sub.
mitted to any disturbance. This was s
part of great system OF physical ant
mental training. 1t was philosophical. W.
pursue no such plan in our day. but reverse
it. Children are stimulated, reused, excit
ed in their cradles, and all along the carl,
days of childhood, ut the very time wher
they ought to be kept quiet and suffered
to grow. The nervous eXcitability of the
men and women OF our time is largely
due to the in essant stimulus of the mind
! In ,,htllhna1 ApA tka iS
worse and worse with each generation
Children at parties, children at balls, chill
dren out of bed and away from home al
midnight, must become, If they live. rest
less, fidgety. nervous and unhealthy mer
and women. They cannot have q sount
mind in sound body. Peace, rest cqui
librium, are essential to the perfect regu
lation of the mysterious machinery tha
runs tho human body with the soul at
taohed.
This is getting away from the poiut
but it is all in the same line. The mos
dangerous excitement is that which Is pro
duced by sudden fright. Who can tel
why it sometimes turns the black hair O
a strong man white in single hour? 1
does, and there are men In every commu
nifty who will carry those white hairs t.
their graves as witnesses Of the power o.
fear. 1t may be imagination that does 1t
as when man caught hold of the edg,
of pit into which he had fallen in tn,
dark and hung there all night; when res
: cued in the morning it was found that h,
. was only two inches from the bottom, bu
bis hair was as white as snow. You maj
not blanch the locks of others by fright
ening them, but you run the risk of doing
them far greater harm than that. If th,
mischief were confined to the hair, 1t wer,
not worth speaking of. But it is the brair
that suffers. And the evil wrought ther,
Is often far verse than death itself.-Ire
nous, In NeW York Observer.