New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-22

with grandchildren. Arfor the girl she i kept as
carefully away from all experience as the young
man IA reoklessy exposed to all, SUd 10 allowed to
GROW nm amid her dreams and those Ut her equally
Ignorant ompanlOns until one day she meets, or
Is made to meet, man more or less young, more
81 less intelligent more OF i0 sntscedep morals
relations and health arc all imperfectly KNOWN
and whom she marries, because she Is OF the age 70
marry" If after this highly fntell,gcnt prepaTa-
ton Of the young man or woman to meet tho dhs
culties and temptations Of life these dimcultieo
and temptations prove too much for them mere ~
cone aboutf / have gwen him Tor her) so much:
Ihe child was well sucked by the nurse, well
cared for by servants well taught by masters, wel
grounded IN morality by the priest. lcannos un'
All this is rather old wisdom. and more appli.
cable, perhaps, TO France than to England But it
is always wholesome to be compelled to realize the
full inlquity of customs in which habit causes US
to acquiesce without even bong conscious of thor
defects. But when it comes to the remedy NJ.
Dumas like all moralists. is less effective than in
denouncDg the evils 1t Is all very we'll to insist
that paients should from the first dawning Of curi-
Osty in their children from the first how " on
whyW prepare for the whole series OF questions
which are to follow. and realize the imGense i'm
poItance which attaches to their answers, The
difficulty remains that, as has been we'll said tho
stupdest child ask more questions in five miu-
utes than the wIsest man can answer in lifetime
The lesson of life if it has lesson. cannot be i'm
parted. Each human being must learn it by his
own experience. The problem in every case Is how
to give the child provisional code to guide 10
from losing all that makes life worth having in the
process of learning to live And to the solution OF
that problem NJ. Dumas contributes very NIUE.
But there is one point on which he dweiis, whlcn
more lists DO well to insist upon. IL 10 the heinous-
ness of the tme-honored practice OF lying 10 chill
dreD. That practice has indeed, as we All Hn9w,
the highest phosophic authority. But the lies
that Plato recommended were intended 20 emDody
the truth. The lies that most men tell 10 escape
the perplsxty occasoned by ohidTens 9mesSS pms
render true ana healthy attitude of mind on GER
tain subjects forever impossible. We are not now
plain physical facts, of the habit of exciting an
unnatural curiosity in children by evadng their
natural questions, of investing with halo vi ut.
ought to be kept in the clear daylight OF science
The excuse for such lying always is that the chit
dren are not old enough to undeistanc. But, SAYS
Page des questions quill fsit" "There may be
continues, "be children who owing to physical
causes are imbecile. But there is such thing as
stupid child child may have, moro or less
prompt intelligence. IL may develop special apti-
tudes or antipathies. But You Will never near u
say silly thing dire b6Sel as long as you nave
not deceived t, AS long as you have not tod II u
lien And here be tells good story when nus
trates for the thousandth time the constantly tor-
gotten fact of the great intelligence and quick Oh
sery alton of children even OF the most tender age
The heroine OF this story, little girl OF four, whom
her mother loved to attire IN low dresses, was in
the habit of coquetting with her shoulders when
people paid her compliments on their roundness
and whiteness. &" If you take so much pleasure IN
one day 81 will tell it to lie petit jesus" II
advise you to tell him" the child replied, who is
always quite naked" " II the mother" the writer
continues " did not begin from that day to mako
of her little girl most remarkable woman, both
intellectually aud morally she was very clumsy and
very culpable" BE that as /! may, there can DE no
doubt that vf all the humbug pracised In the
world there is none which the whole is attended
with more ruinous consequences than the decep-
tiOns to which parents constantly have recourse,
and that with perfectly easy conscience, to evade
the troublesome curiosity of children. am con-
WINGED saws NJ Dumas, that the greatest revo-
lutonaries in the world of ideas. those VINO have
most Mortified mankind, who have caused tho
shedding OF the most blood aud the most tears,
have been children to whose first questions men
have not replied as they ought to have replied