The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-05-02
Pail Nall Gazette

entirely fail.
The Lies Told to Children.
lPall Mall Gazette.J
Alexandra Dumas has been coming out
in the character of censor morum, and the
theme chosen in the paper which he has
contributed to the periodical rejoicing in
the title of Nouvesu Ne, is the familiar one
of the neglect shown By parents in the
training Of their children, especially in
very early years. The grand otfsnse of
parents lies in Sinking the difficulties pre-.
sented by the curiosity of children. The
first beginning of that inquisitiveness are to
be seen, according to n Dumas, in actions
not ger orally attributed so any such cause.
"When you see g child spoil and destroy
Immediately and deliberately the play
things that have been given to it, pull of
the petals of the flowers it has gathered
and even the wings of insects which it has
caught, You say: Children are deetruct-
i've; childhood is merciless.' 1t is mis-
take. The child is not destructive: it
is not cruel 1t is curious 1t does not
want to destroy, it wants to know" But
with the very first appearance of this desire
for knowledge, with the first utterance of
the embarrassing but inexorcisable ques-
possibilities fall upon the parent, and these
responsibilities he either shirks or seeks to
delegate to others. NJ. Dumss's description
of the latter process is very forcible. The
mother, who has married not knowing why.
and has brought forth child not knowing
how, makes haste to hand over the care Of
it to others. The wet-nurse and nurse to
provide for the body; the bonnie, the COVER
ness. and the convent. CT. in the case OF
boys, the tutor, and the school, to train the
mind; the minister, the priest, or the rabbi
10 look after the soul-esch teaching which
the other calls false, and all equally con-
demned by nature, history, and science
these are all instances of that delegation of
parental duty against which M. Dumas in.
weighs. "And ali this because the man and
woman wsrt TO have all the pleasures, all
the rights, all the recompenses, of paternity
and maternity, while transferring as far as
ever they can its duties and responsibilities
to others" As the children grow up the
delegation of parental dutres is followed, in
the case of the boys at least, by their sbso.
Iute neglect. The young mans desire to
know the world ia allowed TO lead him into
all sorts Of excuses, at which the parents
wink. al faut que jennesse Sc passe, and
it is only when the vigor and the freshness
Of youth have both passed away that the
parents intervene to induce him to settle in
life, In order that they may enjoy the luxury
of being surrounded with grandchildren.
AS for tbs girl, she ia kept as care ully
away from all experience as the young man
is recklessly exposed to all, and is allowed
to grow up amid her dreams and those Of
her equally ignorant companions, 'until
one day she meets, or is made to meet, q
man more or lees rich, more or less disillu
stoned, whose character, sntecedents, morals
relations. and health are all imperfectly
known, and whom she msrries, because she
is of the age to marry" II, after this highly
intelligent preparation of the young man OF
woman to meet the difficulties and tempta-
tions of life, these difficulties and tempts
tions prove too much for them, there is 6
great cry of injured surprise. "How doet
this come about2 l have given him (ol
herr so much. The child was we'll sucked
by the nurse, we'll cared fer by servants
we'll taught by masters, we'll grounded in
morality by the priest. / cannot under
stand it st ALL
The difficulty remains that as has been
well said, the stupidest child can ask more
questions in five minutes than the wisest
man can answer in lifetime. The lesson
of life. if it has lesson. can not be impsrt
Cd. Each human being must learn it by
his own experience. The problem IN every
case is how to give the child q provisional
code 10 guide it while the experience ia be
ing gained, and to save it from losing ell
that makes life worth having in the process
of learning TO live And to the solution OF
that problem N. Dumas contributes very
little. But there is one point on which he
dwells which moralists do well to insist up
on. 1t is the Nervousness of the time
honored practice Of lying to children. ThR
practice has indeed, as we all know,
the highest philosophic authority
But the lies that Plato recommended
we're intended to embody the truth
The lies that most men tell to escape the
perplexity occasioned by children's ques.
tions are lies that not only do not embody
the truth. but render a true and healthy at
tilude Of mind on rtsin subjects forever
impossib Q. We are no. now speaking of
disputed questions of faith, but of plain
physical facls, of the habit Of exciting an
unnatural curiosity in children by evsding
their natural questions, of investing with q
halo of unwholesome mystery matters that
both can and ought to be kept in the clear
daylight of science. The excuse for such
lying always is that the children are Lot
old enough 10 understand. But. ssys NJ
Dumas, and he ssys well, "L'entant tou-
jours Page des questions quill fsitl" "There
may" he continues, "bs children who ow-
ing to physical causes are imbeeile. But
there is no such thing as stupid child. A
child may have more or less prompt in
telligence. It may develop special spti-
tudes or antipsthies. But You will never
hear it say silly thing (dire une betise) as
long as you have not deceived it, as long as
you have not tsld it a lie." There can bs no
doubt that of all the humbug practiced in
the world there is none which on the whole
is attended with more ruinous conse sequences
than the receptions 70 which parents con-
stantly have Iecourse, and that with a per
fectly easy conscience to evade the trouble
some curiosity of children. 81 am con
vinced," says NJ. Dumas, "thst the greatest
revolutionaries in the world of ideas. those
who have most horriied mankind, who
have caused the shedding of the most blood
and the most tears, have been children to
whose first questions men have net replied
as they ought to have replied