The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1888-04-04
Raising by Rule.

Hs haze Just had some VISITORS nj our
house whom asshcar,ily glad 10 see
depart. hope they won't come again
very soon--not, at least, until they can
come without bringing year-and-a-half-
1 old baby with them. II was not the baby
that made me lose my usual serenity of
soul. It was the father and mother. The
child was good enough-better than most
( i.abies would have been under similar
circumstances, better by far than | would
I have been had been in its place, know
I ing half as much as know now.
These parents were raising their little
Charles by rule. No one must dare call
the child ~Charley," or by any of the
~baby names dear to baby lovers. 1t was
against the rule" to do so. They had
called that poor little thing Charles"
since the day of lis birth. 1t lived and
breathed and had It's being according to
..rules" as unalterable as the law that
.'changeth never" of which we have all
read.
The trouble began the first night. At
exactly six o'clock they took the baby,
kicking rebelliously, away from my little
boy Of the same age, and one a year old
er, and carried him off up stairs, where
he sas undressed and put TO bed. His
parents Immediately rejoined us in the
parlor, leaving the child kicking and
screaming in actual fright in the room
above.
ave always put him to bed in the
dark,r said the child's mother complac-
emily. needless of the snrieks above.
But he may not feel quite well after
his ride Of a hundred miles to-day" said
my wife. "Then, too the little fellow Is
in strange room and strange house.
THAT makes no difference at all l
never 20 TO him after l put him to bed,
no matter how long he cries" said the
mother.
Mamma, mamma. mamma ~ shrek
ed the child. Baby 'fraid baby 'fraid"'
The father stepped into the hall and
CRED out harsniN
Charles lie still and hush right up"
Charles didn't 'hush up" He was a
delicate, nervous child, and had worked
himself into such an excited state of
mind that he could not control himself.
His cries were pitfu.
Charles - cried out the fathera second
time.
"Would you mind if | ran up TO the
poor little fellow for moment ?" asked
my wife, greatly distressed by the ehild's
cries
I'VE never have any one 90 to him.
said the mother, coldly. "IIe must learn
to obey Us.
They do not know il TO this day, but
| slipped out into the kitchenand ran mp
the back stairs and went to that baby
myself The poor little soul was fairly
quiyering with fear and excitement. His
little fingers clutched at me as | bent
over him, and when lay down by him
he clasped both arms tight around my
neck and lay trembling and sobbing in
my arms.
believe in rules and in systems for
raising babies, but there is not a rule or a
system that cannot sometimes be SET aside
to the advantage of the baby. / have
seen children whose every movement
was regulated by fixed andsunalterable
rule, and they We're not the happiest or
the most pleasing children in the world.
have known such children to break
away from the restraint and irksome
rules Of home at 4 surprisingly early age,
and, once free and rejoicing in their un-
restrained liberty; they did things they
might never have done had they not been
held with such a tight rein all their lives.
We need wisdom and the constant recol-
lection that we were once children and
like-minded with these little ones of
ours in the making and enforcing of rules
for their guidance and happiness.-Zeaas
Dane ~ BdbuiO0d.