Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-03


and temper of children, they would come
nearer to a radiance of it, which is the great
point after all.
The first bad boy I remember was a small,
Informed wretch of 8, perhaps, yexing the
life out of his grandmother in the Rochester
depot, % years ago. The malcontent fasci-
mated me for hours-people had to wait for
trains then - with his malignant misbe-
havior. He climbed and straddled the back
of seats, hid the old lady's parcels. hooked
things from her satchel when her head was
turned, made faces to scare an imp, cursed
when she lectured him, and retorted impu-
dence worse than cursing, mopped and
moved at people whom he caught looking
at him, snarled and leered with such gal
lows fitness in every turn, that l have
wasted some speculation as to the crime for
which ere now he has probably suffered.
That his father has been hanged and his
mother was a drab was evident genealogy,
and the respectable bag, his mothers
mother, who transported him, was fit dam
of such a brood.
ABAD L LADY.
Harshness and stealthy villainy pene-
trated her. She was one OF those hard old
women common In country places, who with
out ever losing caste by open acts against
social laws, seldom lose the chance of COM
hitting meannesses which would make
devils blush. When we drop the amiable
fiction that the good in humanity lies
just under the surface, and look at facts as
they are, that nine-tenths of the world are
cankered spirits Of evil, preferring it, relish
ing it, laying it up in store, the first step is
taken to the regeneration of the world. You
can't cure cancer by treating as a cold sore.
Every village, if not every circle, has its
trial in shape of an cratic boy, whose mis-
chief is the grief of his family and wonder
of the neighbors. Lawyers and doctors know
the cases, which are usually hushed up as
much as possible by the friends and talked
about all the more by the public. The trial
usually belongs to a respectable family, and
outrages all its traditions of honor and re.
pute. Aaron Burr was a type of such evil
apparently born without a soul, and want
ing all moral sense. In the life of Haw-
thorne by his son is an authentic story of
such a nature in a young and beautiful
woman of the best New England family, who
almost throws herself into the arms of one
man who cares nothing for her, and in re-
yenge tells her betrothed that this man, his
bosom friend, has insulted her, tries her
best to bring a duel between them, and is
the death of the man who loved her, if re-
ueIuDeT TlRul. II Is u WOnu6Ilul SGuuY IOT
a novel, but let anything less than a master
hand beware such material; It may consume
the unskillful hand. These are characters
of high tragedy, but the eommonest type is
vexatious, rather than outrageous depravity.
JUVENILE KLEPToMANIACs.
The kleptomaniac is a nuisance suspected
in every neishborhood. A lawyer tells me
of one school girl, II years old, who steals
continually, and has taken $500 from her
parents. Her mother goes to him with tears
to know what-to do about it. She ought
to go to a doctor and put the child on tur-
key rhubarb and mustard baths, to hasten
the obstruction of a digestive or other sort
which clogs the immature brain, and pre-
vents the clear sight of good and evil. This
depravity as the appetite for slate pencils
and clay.
A curious case, well known to me, was a
bright boy of Is, the son of a minister, of
stainless ancestry, who for ten years stole
everything he could lay hands on. His
mothers spoons and parlor ornaments went
to the village jeweler, to be sold for any,
thing they would bring, and the jeweler
regularly returns them to his mother. Books
lent to him or tools were found in q second
hand shop, or traded with other boys, who
at last grew shy of dealing with him, not
liking to have to return pilfered goods.
Nothing seemed to have any effect on the
boy, the entreaties and warnings of friends,
sharp talks from teachers and punishments,
or loss of his own property. He did not
seem much mortified at being found out,
and the theft was repeated at first chance.
He was sent away for training, and I hope
that assisted development has awakened
with uooro fas he xrno N Is,.11- 1ra1-1 IL |
well liked, and the sympathy Of everyone
was with his mother, who felt his weakness
acutely.
II EXPLOSIVE GIRL.
know girls of good family, more than
one, rather brilliant girls, of fine manners
when serene, who at times 60 fanctic, in
sulting their relatives, defying parents, and
being outrageous in words and actions. A
modest, quiet CIR, at a nervous crisis throws
her scizzors across the room, filings her books
in a corner, smashes a watch, or a vase
anything to make a crash or explosion.
Friends are outraged and mortified unex-
pressibly. 1t is, doctors tell us, due to an
accumulation of nervous force, which,
like electricity must have vent in a shock
of some kind. 1t belongs to the class fin
cipient epileptic disorders, which include
ali tuScC Nuuo Cflolos 1Ou GU Y reason
such a case into selfcontrol, any more than
you can argue away toothache. Reason is
set aside by nerves. And healthy outside
wills must do their part to control the en-
feebled nature.
Satire, brief but cutting, acted contempt.
cool authority, even corporal punishment, ]
must be used to bring such cases to control. .
Friendliness unfailing such a girl must
have to draw upon, but the deepest regard 4,
will most i~nfexibly arm one to visit her
lapses with such punishment as will prevent +.
repetition. Punishment should be instant. j
and sharp enough to be felt, not heavy nor !
%offense, till seventy times seven. The in {
sane and wild animals learn to refrain from
~offenses which bring certain pain, and !
children of unsettled mind learn self-control {
in the only way they can learn it, by dread
OF some deprivation or suffering. Demon s
strative affection, tender rather than pas I
sionate and sympathy, the child must have, {
in full measure, to live by, but not upon oc- {
casion of such faults. No cruelty Is SO cruel &
as misguided kindness in such cases, and as
long as tender-hearted people will regard ]
nervous girls and boys as exempt from dis I
cipline, SO long will evil extend. {
NERVOUS DISORDERS. !
DR.. Wier Mitchell, whom nobody sus- 8
poets of want of feeling, speaks very plainly
on this subject in treating OF nervous dis
'As a rule" he says, mo children 8
need so infexible discipline. Indulgence t
as regards them" i. e., indulgence to faults.
not in favors-"is only another name for i
Do as we may, they are apt to be-
morally perverted, and require the ut
most frmness and the most matured and i
intelligence to train them wisely. t
Even the milder cases are hard to manage. i
| rarely see one which has been i~ntelligently !