Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-09-11
CHILDREN'S RIGHTS.

CHILDREN'S RIGHTS.
FAIR TREATMENT FOR TUE YOUNG
STEERS AT SUMNER RESORTS
Problems for Landlords-Boys and Girls
Should Have a Chance to Enjoy
Thsmselyes-Chrildren Parties
| The American Small Boy.
/ May Forney in Philadelphia Times
| 1t Is really astonishing at the average
hotel how little the pleasure. or even the
actual comfort, Of children is considered
They seem, poor little folks, simply to be
tolerated, not welcomed The more strange
is this since the majority of tie people go
out OF town in the hot weather more for
the sakes Of their children than their own.
! Observe the notices that hang conspicu.
ously in the corridors Of the leading resort
houses Surses and children ara warned
not to loiter there. The same forbidding
placards are placed in the entrances to the
parlors and reception rooms Go outside:
view from the broad piazzas the stretch OF
smooth lawn. No. little feet must not stay
| there. They would soon tread down the
even grass. Their youthful spirits must be
suppressed or else rules and regulations are
broken at every turn. Positively there
seems to be very few privileges, few ac-
| commoiations for children at a fashionable
summer hotel, unless we except the spots
that are beyond the reach of .I;oniface' and
his code Of laws
At the seaside there is the beech. but
there are hours through the day when the
sun tears down with terrible fervor on the
sands. There are q few pavilions, perhaps,
but they are apt to be taken possession Of
by excursionists with their lunch baskets,
and about the only shelter left for the little
ones is under the beams of those portions of
the piers which extend up the beach. In the
country there are the woods and in tn
mountains there are innumerable cosy hooks
sheltered under the rocks. What would the
children do if nature was not their friendl
Anyone who has been in the habit of
spending the hot months at one Of the popu
lar resorts will, think, agree with me when
i say that it is most exceptional for the chill
dren to be thought Of at all by the hotel pro-
prietor, except SO far as to enforce certain
regulations which will make them the least
expense to him. am not quite sure, but l
have a vague idea that if the proprietor
could, without reaping the whirlwind. refuse
unreservediy to take children into his house
just in many instances he does refuse to
take pc. dogs, be would do il.
Very rarely is anything gotten up for the
amusement Of the children other than the
so called juvenile balls and they are equally
for the pleasure Of the grown folks who en-
joy seeing the fancy figures danced by the
little sprites in their dainty costumes. / CO.
incide slightly with thtse stern moralists
who look upon these dances as unwholesoms
in many ways. There is to me something
really pitable in the spectacle Of child
dancing -pass-seul' in a crowded., ill-ven-
tilated hall room; her shapely little limbs
fully displayed beneath her short skirts OF
silk and lace; her baby face flushed with ex-
element: her whole form quivering with
delight at tho notice she is attracting. The
atmosphere Of the public ball room is no. a
healthy one for children of either sex.
In making my plea for the children an
aware that the strongest argument in the
premises is that If some place were set apart
for their frolics and games the adult que Is
would find their pleasures wonderfully en-
hanced- 1t is well, perhaps that youthful
spirits are not easily controlled. 1t would
be a cruel wrong to crush out the natural |
gaiety which belong alone to happy, care
less childhood. to make of the little ones de- /
mure men and women years before they |
need shoulder the responsibilities Of the |
estates. The term "old-fashionel Is ap- |
piled to those small morsels Of department |
seen summer after summer at the hotels |
and it is not In the least correctly !
used 1t is not an old fashion; it is |
an entirely modern freak that dresses i
children like their elders and makes |
them their counterpart in manners and con- |
versation. There are no more little girls |
they are all misses. and they have all the !
formalities Of grown people in polite society,
even TO the extent OF an introduction being !
necessary to make them mutually &C.
Quainted. They are so well dressed that |
they move about cautiously. fearful of dis
arranging their draperies and furbelows |
Their speech is studied, their voices modu-
lated and genuine, hearty child's laugh |
Is something have not heard in its spon-
taneity for some time. @Don't be bolster |
Gus" is the Gliding. As have said, it is
not easy to crush q child's spirit, but it can
be done to this extent The hotel man is
not entirely responsible for the metamor-
phose, but it is to meet many of his views
that it has been accomplished.
With the American small boy, however,
it is quite another matter. Up to the |
cigarette and cane period little effort is
made to restrain him He is noisy, he /,
obtrusive. he is rough; yes, he is all that,
but he is delightfully."- natural at the sams
time up to a certain point, and that point
comes with q strange suddenness. We pat |
the boisterous youth on the head one sum-
mer in the vain attempt to quiet him, and
the next he appears before US altered, sub |
duei, dressed to a nicely, tiny cane in hand,
,,.x 4, f.lr.. -.
has changed in brief month into the bur
lesque of q man. Short-skirted little girls |
are altogether beneath his notice. He is an /
extremist The woman who pos esses IN /
told fascination for him Low 1 cid enough |
to be his mother. and he lavishes his funny |
little attentions upon her, blind to the smiles |
he is provoking. Before he reaches this
to-be-pitied stage admire while yet have
. horror OF the small boy. l know very |
well that while he is yelling like an indian, |
making me think that life in boiler-hous |
would be preferable to one hour in his So
ciety, that it is all an evidence Of sturdy |
health, and that there is the making # q |
man in him even in these dude days When |
l contrast him-all rough and noisy as he is |
with his smaller sister, moving about Sc |
dately in her stiffened skirts. / cannot but |
note the difference, cannot but condemn the |
rigid school in which she is being educated |
She, too, ought to be running around shout |
ing and giving us all bad headaches. in |
stead Of sitting and anticipating days OF |
dignity that come all too soon; and there |
comes TO me a certain little prayer that the |
man Of Jewish faith offers daily, thanking !
God that ne was born a man
There are two sides to every question. OF |
course. and it is, grant you, terrible when /
you go up stairs for your after-bath nap for |
the small boy to make the corridor outside |
your room a race-course II Is almost be- |
yond endurance too, that in the alleged writ I
ing and reading room be makes his circus: /
and we likewi-e may 30 excuSed for object \
ing o. his playing "horse-car,' monopolizing
all the chairs and space on the porches. /
But honestly, what is the small boy tn doi
Where is he to got Plainly there is no place |
for him in the hotel: he can not trespaSs on
the hotel lawn
And Vet, they ought TO go away in the 1
summer. these little onss who seem to he |
wanted nowhere. Their studies during the 4
school terms arc as ariuoIs TO them as is |
our work during the work term TO us Just |
surely as we require rest and crave |
change, 50 do they.
N-fl'V