Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-16


and usefully employed. He viii know
that it is earthly salvation, mentally and
physically.
1t is not that one can manage to 'keep
busy" by "putteriog" aboi he house, or
running in to gossip with the neighbors,
or doing useless jobs of various kinds. En-
gage in some III of work which the world
needs. Heaven Knows that there is plenty
of it to be done; the field is white to the
harvest, and the laborers are few. Do
something in which you can feel some en-
thusiasm, and which you will exult in do
ing well.
Get work, get orb Be sure that it is
better than wha, ycd work TO get. Too
much work is misi, rtune, but it does not
begin to compare, as q calamity, with too
little. Hasn't some great writer said-he
ought to have said it, il he HASN'T Labor
is Heavens best earthly gift to men and
women ?"
A Massachusetts philosopher, recently
deceased, used to divide the poor into
three classes-the Lords poor, the devils
poor and the poor devils. He claimed
that the last classification was the most
numerous of all.
/ A lady III Portland, Or, spoke to
Chinamau about finding her good cook.
Soon after she received this letter: Mis-.
Lady Friend She: When you at there told
me to want to boy cooking. | had have
boy is good man and honest man he neat
and clean and doing nicely that this one
best one never you have before like he
does wish could take him to stay with
I L..
him to come to she."
INDIVIDUALITY OF CHILDREN.
"What more can 1 give my children
than l am giving them ?" asked an anx-
ious young mother of a matron who had
successfully reared large family. Il
think, my dear, they would be benefited
by little wholesome neglect" was the
reply. 1t was the result of keen observa-
ton and recognition of the fact that the
children in question were kept in a con-
tinual state of worry by being watched.
The mothers eye and care were so omni-
present that their spontaneity was checked,
and, as one remarked, life for them was
one eternal don't"
Said another, in recalling "reminiscences
of childhood: "When | was a child l was
reUuGr6u ulS6TdOi6 D1
watched and trained. | was very fond Of
being alone at times. | could give no
reason for it, but | loved to stay in unoc-
cupied rooms or find hiding-place among
the bushes in the garden, there to amuse
myself with my own plays and fancies.
My mother was suspicious that this meant
evil of some kind, and constant surveil-
lance and reprimand for going off by myself
is one of the unpleasant memories of my
childhood"
Nothing should be more carefully re-
spected and guarded than the individual
ity of child. The atmosphere of home
should be that of love and safety, in which
all the natural inclinations of children
should be allowed to act spontaneously.
Their wishes for employments and posses
sions of their own should be respected,
their tastes in matters of food and dress
consulted in so far as is consistent with the
convenience of those around.
INJUSTICE TO CHILDREN.
We have heard of grown-up people tell
ing of the dislike they had when children
to certain kinds of food which they were
compelled to eat or certain kinds of
clothes which they were compelled to
wear. 1t used to be rule in many fam
lies brought up in the Puritan style that
a child must eat all the crusts of his bread,
or all the fat on his meat, or all the food
on his plate Such rules are barbarous,
and We trust nearly obsolete, yet children's
taste in food ought to be more considered
than it is Food that is distasteful should
never be forced upon them, and to procure
fer them food which they enjoy will in
most cases be to procure such food as their
systems require So of taste in dress.
Children will sometimes have an antipathy
to particular colors, or particular garments
and preference for others. If possible,
these tastes should be always respected,
guardiAg, of course, against encouraging or
fostering vanity.
So of the occupations and employments
of children; as far as possible, they should
be left to follow their own inclinations
when harmless. If your little girl would
rather play with hammer and tacks than
with her dolls, why, let her have them,
and see that she has a board or a box or
a place where she can drive them without
reproof If your little boy always wants
to hitch the chairs up for horses, and can
enjoy himself happily as an imaginary
stage-driyer, why, set apart certain chairs
for him, and let him drive unmolested and
unmatched. If he begs for tools, let him
have them if he wants pencils or paints,
procure them for him. The only way by
which parents can secure the confidence Of
their children is first to show confidence
in them. Confidence must be won; it can
never be forced, not even from the little
ones who play around our knees.
HAPPY CHILDHOOD
Is the greatest heritage parents can give
to their children. Its memory viii brighten
and cheer the whole of life. To be happy
it must to certain extent unrestrained.
The home playground must have no dam
gerous places from which children must be
forbidden and guarded. And in the shell
ter of the home and the playground, let
the young spirits develop freely, spontane-
ously. happily. Let them have their lit
tie secrets, their own possessions that no
one shall interfere with, their own plays,
and. so far as is consistent with the welfare
and comfort of Others their own way.
Life will discipline them harshly enough
when parents can no longer shield them
from sorrow. Happy the home and happy
the child who can look back and say, as
does beloved English author:
"Well, have once been happy. have
been child. | have been in heaven. /
have stood in the smile and lain in the
arms Of one of Gods angels. l was the
happy child of a gentle, loving mother.
"0h, that garden of my early home,
where l and the flowers grew up together
1 and Time were playfeliows then; feared
him not.
'But the light of that garden, and the
light of all the world to me was my
mothers love, my mothers smile"
EYE's GREAT-GREAT-
GRANDDAUGHTER.