Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-09-01
OUR CHILDREN.


There is story told of Professor
Wilson, that one day, listening to Il lee
turc on education by Dr. Whatcly, he
grew manifestly impatient ut the rules
laid down, and finally slipped ont of the
room, cNc,aimng irately TO II friend
who followed him, Il always thought
God Almighty made man, but he says it
was the scho0-nlnstcr.
In like manner many OF us have won
dcrcd from time 10 time whether chill
drcn are made of such duc!ilc material,
and can be as readily moulded to our
wishes, rs educators would have us be-
lievc. If it BE- true that nature counts
for nothing and training for everything,
then what II gap between the boys and
girls of two hundred years ago and the
boys and girls we know to-day! The
rigid bands that once bound the young
to drcorum have dwindled TO silver
thread that snaps under every FESTIVE
movement To have 'pcrlectly natural"
children seems to be the outspoken am
bition of parents who havo succeeded in
rcirogradIng their offspring from artli-
cial civilization to that pure and whole
some savagery which is evidently their
ideal. I'll is assumed nowadays" de-
clarcs an angry critic, "that children
have come into the world TO make 4
noise; and it is the part of every good
parent to put up with it, and to make
all household arrangements with II view
to their sole pleasure and convenience.
That the children brought up under
this relaxed discipline acquire certain
merits and charms Of their own is IN
easily acknowledged fact. We are not
now almding to those spoiled and over
INDUCED little people who are the rec
ognizCd scourgcS Of humanity, but mere
~ to the boys and girls who have been
allowed from infancy that large degree
of freedom which is deemed eXpedient
for enlightened nurseries, and who re-
culute their own conduct on the vast
majority of occasions. They are as u
rule iighthcartcd, truthful, atlectionate,
and occasionally amusing; but it can
not be denied that they lack that nicely
OF breeding which was at one time the
distinguished mark of children of the
upper classes, and which was in great
measure born OF the restraints that sur
rounded them. The faculty Of sitting
still without iidgcting, of walking with
out rushing, and OF speaking without
screaming can be acquired only under
tuition; but it is worth some little trou-
bic to attain. When Sydney Smith re-
marked that the children Of rank were
generally so much better bred than the
children of the middle classes, he rec.
ognized the greater need OF self-rcstraint
that entered into their lives, They may
have been less natural, perhaps, but
they were infinitely more pleasing 10
his fastidious eyes; and the unconscious
grace which he admired was merely the
reflection of the universal courtesy that
surrounded them Nor is this all. "Ihe
necessity of sclf-repression," says re-
cent writer IN Rlackwood, "makcs room
for thought, which those children miss
who have no formality TO observe, no
customs to respect, who blurt out every
irrelevance who interposc at will with
question and opinion rs it enters the
brain. Children don't learn to talk by
chattering to one another, and saying
what comes uppcrmost. Mere listening
with Intelligence involves an exercise of
mental speech, and observant silence
opens the pores of the mind as impatient
demands for explanations never do"
This is true, inasmuch rs it is not the
child who is encouraged to talk contin-
ualv who in the end learns how to ar
range and express his ideas. Nor does
! the frctful desire 10 be told ut once what
everything means imply the active mind
which parents SO fondly suppose; but
rather langud pcrcipiencc, unable to
decipher the simplest causes for itself.
Yet where shall we turn to look for the
"obscryant silcncc,' so highly recon-
mended? The young people who OBJ
served and were silent have passed
U"uv,-littlc john Ruskin being as
Surrrly the last Of the species, and
Their places are filled by those to whom
known. This is the children S age, and
all things are subscrvicnt to their wish
O.. Masses of Juvenile literature are
published annually for their amusement;
conversation is reduced steadily to their
level while they are present; meals are
arranged TO .uit their hours and the
dishes thereof 10 slit their palates;
studies are made simpler and toys more
elaborate with each succeeding year.
The hardshirS they once suffered are
now happily ended, the dccorum once
cxactcd is fading rapidly away. We
accept the situation with philosophy,
and only now and then, under the pres
sure OF some new development, are
startled into asking ourselves where it
is likely 10 cnd.-dgncS ReppNcr in
dDrH jfIn1liic,