The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1886-04-16

ghAG = Their Are, $40 Bvsry Thing =
sshservieae - Their Wlshs&
There Is story told o. Prof. Wilson.
that one day, listening 70 lecture on
education by DR.. Whatcly. he grew
manifestIy impatient II the rules laid
down. and finally slipped out Of the
room, exclaiming irstely 70 . friend
who followed him II always thought
God Almighty made man, but ~ says
Il was the schoolmastcr.
In Nike manner most Of us have won.
dcred from time 20 time whether chill
dren are made Of such ductils material.
and can be as readily nodded 70 our
wishes. As educatora would have ~ be-
lieve. II Il be true that nature counts
for nothing and training for every
thing, then what . 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 70 decorum have dwindled
TO . silver thread that snaps under
every FESTIVE movement. To have
perfectly natural" children seems to
be the outspoken ambition Of parents
who have succeeded in retrograding
their offspring from artificial civiliza-
ton to that pure and wholesome saw
agery which Is evidently their ideal.
1T Il assumed nowadays declares an
angry critic. that children have come
into the world to make 4 noise and Il
Is the part Of every good parent TO put
up with ii, and to make all household
arrangements with q 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 an
asily-acknowledged fact. We are not
now abiding to those spoiled and over
INDUCED little people who are the rec
ognized scourges Of humanity, but
merely TO the boys and girls who have
been allowed from infancy that large
degree Of freedom which Is deemed ex-
pedlent for enlightened nurseries. and
who regulate their own conduct on the
vast majority Of occasions. They are
a. a rule light-hearted. truthful. affeo-
tomato and occasionally amusing; but
1t can not be denied that they lack that
nicely Of breeding which was at one
time the distinguishing mark Of chill
dren OF the upper classes, and which
was in great measure born Of the
restraints that surrounded them. The
faculty Of sitting still without
fdgeting, Of walking without rush.
ing and Of speaking without scream
ing can be acquired only under
tuition; but il is worth some
little trouble to attain. When Sydney
Smith remarked that the children Of
rank were generally so much better
bred than the children OF the middle
classes, he recognized the greater need
for sclf-restraint that entered into their
lives. They may have been less nat
ural, perhaps. but they were infinitely
more pleasing to his fastidious eyes;
and the unconscious grace which he adj
mired was merely the reflection Of the
universal courtesy that surrounded
them Nor Is this all. 1.-The necessity
Of self-repression. says q recent writer
in Blacksco0d. makes room for
thought, which those children miss who
have no formalitiey TO observe, no GUS
toms to respect, who blurt out every
irrelevance. who interpose At win with
question and opinion as it enters the
brain. Children don't learn to talk BY
chattering to one another. and saying
what comes uppermost Mere listen
ing with intelligence involves an cxer-
else Of mental speech, and observant
silence opens the pores of the mind IS
impatient demands for explapation
never do"
This is true, inasmuch as il is not the
child who is encouraged to talk con-
tinualiy who in the end learns how to
arrange and express his ideas. Nor
does the fretful desire to be told at
once what every thing means imply
the active mind which parents so fond
" suppose. unable 10 DECEMBER the
simplest causes for itself. Yet where
shall we turn to look for the ''observ-
ant silence" 80 highly recommended?
The young people who observed and
were silent have passed away-little
John Ruskin being assurcdly the last
Of the species and their places ara
filed by those to whom observation
and silence are alike unknown. This
Is the children's age. and all things
are sub<ervient to their wishes.
Masses Of Juvenile literature are pub
lished annually for their amusement;
conversation i reduced steadily 70
their level while they are present;
meals are arrange to suit their hours,
and the dishes thereof to suit their
palates; studies are made simpler and
toys more elaborate with each succeed
ing year. The hardships they once
suffered are now happily ended. the
decorum once cxacted Il fading rapid
~ away. We accept the situation with
and only now and then,
under the pressure OF some new devel-
opment, are startled into asking our
selves where it IS likely to end. Agnes
RcPpiier, IN Atlantic.
The Fox and the Hares.