The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1889-08-10
CHILDREN OF TO-DAY.
Why Parents Are Getting to BE Nervousl,
Afraid Of Their Onspring.

man was observed to get into horse
car and take a seat beside a couple OF
bright-looking little school children.
OF an evidently amiable turn of mind.
he at once began to beam on the chill
dren, and to put to them the following
questions: (Which would you say, if
asked, seven and five is eleven, or seven
and five are eleven?" Il should say
twelve" at once replied one OF the
pair, and did it in very superior man
ner of his own. "Oh! ali! yes! / think
you are right" answered the discon-
certed questioner, who for the
rest of the ride held his peace.
Evidently he had been so anx-
ious to show himself ''booked
up in modern point Of grammar that
was never thought OF in his own early
schooldays as to have quite lost sight of
the multiplication table. But the funny
thing to note was the air of lofty COM
placency with which the child of seven
manifestly felt himself entitled to look
down on the man of sixty. His little
frame dilated with the sense of what
Milton calls 1.-THE formidable independ-
ence begotten of converse with truth"
He felt his feet planted on a rock OF
scientific authority, against which all
the traditions of age and life experience
would beat in vain; and, so, that no
had settled" that old gentleman.
Now, the mischief of it is that q
specimen brick of this little chap is in
all our households of to-day. Boy or
girl, it makes no difference. The con-
servatively orthodox father, perfectly
sound himself on Noah's ark, suddeBly
finds his child putting coutemptuoas
questions about the cubic contents OF
oxygen needful for the respiration Ofso
vast a number of beasts; the unsteady
inclined mother. brought up on ''Kath-
leen Mavourneen" and robin Adair,"
equally finds herself regarded as Curl
Gus and interesting survival" of the
antediluvian epoch of music that pre-
coded Schubert and Chopin. In one
way or another, this phenomenon is so
perpetually manifesting itself that faith
ers and mothers are actually getting
to be nervously afraid of their children.
Naturally, no parent likes to live in an
atmosphere of intellectual and aesthetic
contempt, and yet it is too late in life for
him to go to school again and learn all
the new-fangled ropes in gram mar, pro-
nunciation, theology, science and art
What, then, shall be done?
In the direct line OF American evolu-
ton, as it is so vigorously going on to-
day. it would seem vain to look for any
help in this sad plight from parents
themselves. Their day is evidently
over. So long as they could keep up
decent semblance of superiority to
their children. they could command a
certain degree of respect. But this is
no longer possible. 1t counts for moth
ing now that parent was well edu-
Gated in his day and generation. So
was Hipparchus before Copernicus
came along and turned all his ideas
topsey-turvey. No, it is from the
children alone that any prospect of re-
lief can be looked for. More and moro
are they manifestly destined to become
the superiors of their fathers and
mothers, to see it so clearly themselves
that wide range of new duties and re-
sponsibilities will ultimately be de-
volved upon them. Why, then, should
not advancing education seek to devel-
op in children thoughtful, and even
chivalrous, sense of these new duties
and responsibilities? Contempt for
interiors is not the necessary and in
evitable accompaniment of superior
position and attainment. "Noblesse
oblige." Why may not, for example,
the fuller development of the sentiment
OF pity-a sentiment so deep-seated in
the human heart-furnish solid ground
for the hope of a brighter future?
Poor father! why should he not, in
compassion, be suffered to still play
with his Noah's ark? Poor mother!
why should she not be left to enjoy her
romantic tears over Robin Adairp'
Is it simply millennial to prophesy Of
the future, fully-evolved American
child, so merciful and gracious, rec
ignition of the real situation as this?
Surely, il the whole data and doctrine
of evolution go to show that it re-
quired the sacrifice of long generations,
whose lives amounted to nothing in
themselves, to eventuate in the quin-
tessence OF the American boy or girl OF
to-day. it does not seem overbold to hope
or even believe in the coming of time
when these boys and girls shall be led,
by the great stream Of tendency, to the
acknowledgment of the duty OF patience
and forbearance with their unhappy
parents. No longer will it seem right