Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1893-08-03
NO "a

SCHOOLS, Wnltn nlONluc lor our cnllufcn
teachers of largest calibrc, are themes
upon which eyesy Ihilauthroplst
ought to hc congratulated But this
herding of great multi tudes of chill
dren in ill.ventilatcl school rooms and
poorly equipped halls of instruction is
making many If the places OF knowl
edge in this country huge holo aust,
Politics In many of the cities gets
into educational affairs, aud while the
two political parties are scrabbling for
the honors, Jephthah's dauguter per-
ishes. II is 50 much 50 that there are
many schools in the country to-day
which are preparing tens of thousands
OF invalid men and women for the iu'
turc; SO that in many places by the
time the childs education Is finished
the child Is finished. In many places,
in many cities of the country, there
are large appropriations for every
thing else, aud cheerful appropria-
tons; but ns soon as tho appropriation
is To be made for the educational or
moral interest of the city, we are
struck through with TN economy that
is wcllnigh the death Of MS
In connection with this ! mention
what | might call the examining sys.
TEN of the common schools and many
of the acadp mics; children of delicate
brain compelled to tasks that might
appal mature intellect; children
going down 10 school with strap of
books half as high as themselves The
fact Is, in some OF the ties parents do
not allow their chi drcn To gradu ttC,
for the simple reason, they Sny, I'VE
cannot afford To allow our child ems
health tn be DESTROYED IN order that
they may "a her the honors OF An in.
stitution Tens of thousands of chit.
dren educated Into imbc riIity: 50, con,
nccted with many such literary estuh.
lishmcnts u ere ought To be nsylums
for the wrecked. II Is push, and
crowd, and cram, and stnif, and jam,
until the child $ intellect i Eewildered
ana the memory is wrecked and the
health Is gone There are children
turned out from the schools who once
were full Of rompingand laughter, and
had cheeks crimson with health, who
are now turned out IN the afternoon
pale irritated, asthmatic old
before their time. IL Is one OF the
shddcst sights on earth I'm old-mnnnish
boy or an womnnish girl
Girls ten years OF age studying al
zebra Boys twelve years of age rack.
ing their brain over trigonometry
Children unncquaintcd with their
mother tongue crying owe the + Latin,
French and German lessons, All the
yivacity of their nature beaten out of
them by the heavy beetle of u Greek
lexicon! And You doctor them for
this, and you give them u little medi-
elmo for that, aud you wonder what Is
the matter with thcm, ! will tell you
what Is the matter with them, They
are finishing Tia, ir education,
In my parish In Philadelphia u tile
child was SO pushed ut school That she
was thrown into fever, md | her
dying delirium, all night long, she
was trying to rc'i,e the multiplication
table, In my boy ood'l remember
that in our class ~ school there W :
one lad who knew mo e than all of us
put together " we were fast in our
arithmetic, he extri,ated Ms, When
we stood up or the spelling lass, lac
was almost always the head of the
class, Visitors came tn his fathers
house, and lIe was almost always
brought in as prodigy, At eighteen
Years OF age he was an idiot. lie
tih'' WI y 'tilN ihb iNt'l Hh
IDIOT, not knowing his right hand from
his left, or day from night, The
parents and the teachers made
him an lido.
You may hatter your pride by fore
ing your children To know more than
any other children, but You are max.
ing "a sacrifice of thai child, IL by the
additions 10 its intelligence you are
making u subtraction from its future,
The child will go away from such
naltrcatmcnt with no cxubcrunce 10
fight the battle of life. Such children
may get along vary well while you
take care Of them, but when you are
Old OF dead, alas! for them, IT, through
the wrong system Of education which
you adopted, they have no swarthi.
ness or force of character to take care
of themselves. BE careful how you
make the child's head ache or its heart
tiutter hear IA great deal about
black mems rights, and Chinamen's
rights, and Indians rights, and
womcn's rights. Would God that
somebody would rise TO plead for
children's rights, The Carthaginians
used to sacrifice their children by put
ting them into the arms of an idol
which thrust forth its hand. The
child was put into the arms of the idol,
and no sooner touched the arms than
10 dropT ed into the fire. But IL was
the art OF the mothers to keep the
children smiling and laughing until
the moment they died. There may be
fascination and a hilarity about the
styles of education of which | am
speaking; but IL is only laughter at
the moment sacrifice. Would God
there were only one Jephthah' s
daughter
Again; there are many parents who
are sacrificing their children with
wrong systems OF discipline = too great
rigor or too great leniency. There are
children in families who rule the house.
hold. They come To the authority
The high chair in which the infant
sits Is the throne, and the rattle is the
scepter. and the other children make
up the parliament where father and
mother have no vote. Such children
come up TO be miscreants,
There is no chance in this world fol-
Il child that has never learned to mind.
such people become the botheration
of the Church Of God and the pest OF
the world. Children that do not learn
10 obey human au thority are unwilling
to learn TO obey divine authority.
Children will not respect parents
whose authority they do not respect.
Who are these young men who swag'
ger through the street, with then
thumbs in their vest, talking about
their father as "tbe old man, the
governor" "'the squire" "the old
chap" or their mother as 1.-THE old
woman" They arr those who in
youth, in childhood never learned To
respect authority. Eli having heard
that his sons had died in their wicked
ness, fell over backward, and broke
his neck, and died Well he might.
What is life to n father whose sons are
dcbauched? The dust OF the valley is
pleasant TO his taste, and the driving
rains that drip through the roof of the
sepulchre are sweeter than the wines
of Ilclbon.
There must be harmony between the
fathers government and the mot err
government. The father will be
tempted to too great rigor. The
mother W II be tempted to too great
leniency. Her tenderness will over.
come her Her voice is little sof err,
her hand seems better fit to pull out q