The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-04-21
LYING TO CHILDREN.
Alexander Dumas the Evils of EVading
Children's Questions.

LYING TO CHILDREN.
Alexander Dumas on the Evils of Evading
ChiIdren's Questions.
Pail Mall Gazette.
Alexander Dumas has been coming out in
the character of censor morum, and the
theme chosen in the paper which he has con-
tributed TO the periodical rejoicing in the
title of Nouveau Ne, is the familiar one of
the neglect shown by parents in the train
ing OF their children, especially in very early
years. The grand offense of parents lies In
Sinking the difficulties presented by the
curiosity of children. The first beginnings
OF that inquisitveness are to be seen, accord
ing to NJ. Dumas in actions not generally at
tributed to any such cause. when you see
child spoil and destroy Immediately and
deliberately the playthings that have
of the flowers it has gathered
and even the wings of insects
which it has caught, yen say: Children are
destructive; childhood is merciless.' 1t is
mistake. The child is not destructive; it is
not cruel. IL is curious. 1t does not want
to destroy; it wants to know" But with
the very first appearance of the desire for
knowledge, with the first utterance of the
often embarrassing but ineXorciSable ques-
tons. "how?' and 'why?' the gravest
responsibilities fall Jpn the parent, and
these responsibilities he either shirks or seeks
W QtleSdle 10 ObnSTS. NJ. DuDldS $ uGSCFlp-
ton OF the latter process is very forcible.
The mother who has married not knowing
why, and brought forth child not knowing
how, makes haste to hand over the care OF it
to Others The wet-nurse and nurse to pro-
vide for the body; the bonnie, the governess
and the convent or in case OF boys,
the tutor and the school to train
the mind; the minister, the priest,
or the rabbi to look after the soul-each
teaching something which the other calls
false, and all equally condemned by nature,
history and science-these are all instances
of that delegation of parental duty against
which NJ. Dumas inveighs. And all this be-
cause the man and woman want to have all
the pleasures, all the rights, all the recon-
penses 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 paternal
duties is followed, in the case of the boys a
least, by their absolute neglect. The young
mans desire to know the world is allowed to
lead him into all sorts of excuses, at which
the parents wink. I'll faut que jeunesse Sc
pasSe," ard 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 grand
children.
AS for the girl, she is kept as carefully
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 rlade to meet a man
more or less young, more or less intelligent,
more or less rich, more or less disillusioned,
whose character, antecedents morals rela-
tons and health are all imperfectly known,
and whom she marries, because she is OF the
age to marry" IT, after this highly intelli-
gent preparation of the young man or woman
-
life, these difficulties and temptations prove
too much for them, there is great cry OF
injured surprise "How does this come
about? l have given him Tor her) so much.
The child was well sucked by the nurse,
we'll cared for by servants, well taught by
masters, well grounded in morality by the
priest | cannot understand it at 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 a lifetime. The lesson of life,
if it has lesson, cannot be impaired. Each
human being must learn it by his own ex
perence. The problem in every case is how
10 give the child provisional code to guide
it while the experience is being gained, and
to save it 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 little. But there
is one point on which he dwells which NOR
dIiSlS no Wcll W IUSiSb UPON IL IS Iue
Nervousness of the time-honored practice of
lying to children. That practice has indeed,
as we all know, the highest philosophic au-
thority. But the lies that Plato recommend
ed we're intended to embody the truth.
The lies that most men tell to escape the per-
plexities occasioned by chidren's questions
are lies that not only do not embody the truth,
but render true and healthy attitude of
mind on certain subjects forever impossible,
We are not now speaking of disputed ques-
lions of faith, but of plain physical facts, of
the habit of exciting an unnatural curiosity
in children by evading their natural ques
tons, of investing with a halo of unwhOle-
some 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 not old enough to
understand. But says NJ. Dumas. and he
says well, "Lenfant n toujours rage DIES
questions quill fait." There may" he con-
tinues be children who owing to physical
causes are imbecile. But there is no such
thing as a stupid child. A child may have
a more or less prompt intelligence,
1t may develop special aputudes or
antipathies. But you will never hear it say
a silly thing (dire une betise) as long as You
nave not deceived it, as long as you have not
told it lie" There can be no doubt that of
all the humbug practices in the world there
is none which on the whole is attended with
more ruinuous consequences than the decep-
tons to which parents constantly have re-
course, and that with perfectly easy con-
science, to evade the troublesome curiosity
of children. II am convinced" says NJ.
Dumas, that the greatest reyolutonares in
the world of ideas, those who have most hor-
rified mankind, who have caused the she'd
ding OF the most blood and the most tears
have been children to whose first questions
men have not replied as they ought to have
replied"