The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-31

preparation for school the next day. VIII
YOU tell me- how much time they viii have
for sunshine and fresh air and the OBJ
tanning of that CNubCrauCc which is ueCes-
sary for the duties Of coming life
No one can feel more thankful than do
for the advancement of common school
education. The printing of books appro-
pirate for schools. the multiplication OF
philosophical apparatus, the establish
ment of normal schools, which provide for
our children teachers OF largest Calbre,
are themes on which every phIlauthrOpst
ought TO be congratulated. But this herd
ing of great multitudes Of children in ILL
ventilated school rooms and poorly
equipped halls of instruction Is making
many of tine places of knowledge in this
country a huge holocaust.
Politics i'm many of the cities gets into
educational affairs. and while the two
political parties are scrabbiuL for the
honors. Jephthah 5 daughter pcrlshcS 10
is so much so that there are many schools
in the country to-day which are prepar-
ing tens of thousands of invalid men and
women for the future; so that, in many
places. by the time the child's education
Is finished the child is finished In many
places in many cities Of tho country
there are large appropriations for every
thing else. and cheerful appropriations;
but as soon as the Appropriation Is 10 be
made for the educational or moral inter
est Of the city, we are struck through
with an economy that is well nigh the
death of Us.
In connection with this ] mention what
might call the examining system Of the
common schools and many Of the acade-
mics: children of delicate brain com
PEELED to tasks that might appal mature
Intellect: children going dO"n TO school
with a strap Of books half as high as
themselves The fact is, in some Of the
cities parents do not allow their children
TO graduate. for the simple reason, they
saw 1--WE cannot afford to allow our chill
drens health TO he destroyed in order
that they may gather the hOnOrs OF an in
stitution." Tens Of thousands Of children
educated into imbecility; so, connected
with many such literary establishments
there ought to he asylumS for the wreck
ed 1t is push, and crowd, and cram, and
stuff and jam, until the child's intellect
is bewildered and the memory IS wrecked
and the health is gone. There are chill
dren turned out from the schools who
once were full of romping and laughter,
and had checks crimson with health, who
are now turned out in the afternoon pale
faced irritated, asthmatic, old before
their time. 1t is one of the saddest sights
on earth, an old-mannish boy, or an old
wOmanish girl.
Girls ten years of age studying algebra
Boys twelve years of age racking their
brain over trigOuOmetryl Children mac-
quainted with their mother tongue cry
ing over their Latin, French and German
lessons All the vivacitY of their nature
beaten out Of them by the heavy beetle of
Greek leXiconl And you doctor them
for this, and YOU give them a little med
icine for that, and you wonder what is
the matter with them. l will tell YOU
what is the matter with them. They are
finishing their education!
In my parish in Philadelphia a little
child was 50 pushed at school that she
was thrown into fever, and in her dy-
ing delirium, all night long, she was try
ing to recite the multiplication table In
my boyhOOd | remember that in our class
at school there was one lad who knew
more than all of us put together. If we
were fast in our arithmetic he eXtriCated |
us. When we stood up for the spelling |
class he was almost always the head of |
the class Visitors came 10 his fathers |
house and he was almost always brought |
in as prodigy. At eighteen years of age !
he was an idiot. He lived ten years an
idiot and died an idiot, not knowing his |
right hand from his left or day from |
night. The parents and the teachers |
made him an idiot.
You may tiatter your pride by forcing !
your children to know more than any
other children, but you are making a |
sacrifice of that child, if by the additions |
TO its intelligence you are making sub |
traction from its future The child will |
go away from such maltrcatment with |
no exuberance to fight the battle of life |
Such children may get along very well |
while you take care of them, but when |
you are old or dead, alasl for them, if, |
through the wrong system of education |
which you adopted, they have no swar- |
thiness or force of character to take care |
of themselves. BE careful how YOU make |
the childs head ache or its heart hutter. |
I "A IApl nh
rights and Chinamen's rights, and In |
dians' rights. and women's rights
Would God that somebody would rise to !
plead for children S rights The Cartha-
ginians used TO sacrifice their children by
putting 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 il dropped
into the fire. But it was the art of the
mothers to keep the children smiling and
laughing until the moment they died
There may be fascination and hilarity
about the styles of education of which |
am speaking; but it is only laughter at
the moment of sacrifice. Would God
there were only one Jephthah's daughter
Again: there are many parents who
are sacrificing their children with wrong
systems of disciplinc-too great rigor or
too great leniency. There are children
in families VINO rule the household They
COtllC " A4ib dulnOElb9. ne AlEn CndlH
in which the infant sits is the throne, and
the rattle Is the sceptre 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 for a
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 to
obey human authority are unwilling to
learn to obey divine authority Children
will not respect parents whose authority
they do not respect. Who are these
young men that swagger through the
street, with their thumbs in their vest.
talking about their father as the old
man, "the governor, the squire, 1.-THE
old chap or their mother as 1.-THE old
woman" They are those who in youth,
in childhood never learned to respect
authority. Eli having heard that his sons
had died in their wickedness, fell over
backward and broke his neck and died
Well he might. What is life to "a father
whose sons are debauched? The dust
of the valley is pleasant to his taste, and
the driving rains that drip through the
roof Of the sepuchre are swceter than the
wines of Helbon.
There must be harmony between the
fathers government and the mothers