The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-08-17

into imbecility so connected WITH many such
literary establishments there ought 70 De
asylums for the wrecked. II IS push ana IN
crowd and cram and stuff and jam until the
ehild's intellect is bewildered, and the
rnamorv is wrecked. and the health is gone.
There are children turned out from the
schools who once were full OF romping and
laughter and had cheeks crimson with
health who are now turned out in the after
noon pale faced, irritated. asthmatic, old be-
fore their time. 1t is one of the saddest
sights on earth, an old-mannish boy or an
yrs 10 wears OF age studying algebra
BOYS II years of age racking their brains
over trigonometry Children unacquainted
with their mother tongue crying over their
Latin. French and German lessons All the
vivacity OF their nature beaten out OF them
by the heavy beetle of a Greek lexicon, Aud
you doctor them for this. and you give
them a little medicine for that, and you
wonder what is the mJ.tter with them. L
will tell YOU what is the matter with them
they are finishing their education.
In nv parish in Philadelphia child was
90 pushed at school that she was thrown into
4 fever. and in her dying delirium. all night
long. she was trying to Pecite the multlpllca-
lion table. In my boyhood | remember that
In our class at school there was one lad who
knew more than all OF Us put together. II
we were fast in our arithmetic. he extricated
as When we stood up for the spelling class
he was almost always the head OF the class
Visitors came to his fathers house, and he
was almost always brought in as prod1gy
At 10 years of age hs was an idiot. lie llved
10 wears an idiot and died an IDIOT not know
ING his right hand from his left, or day from
night The parents and the teachers made
aim an idiot.
You may natter your pride by forcing your
children TO know more than any other chill
iren, but you ara making sacrifice OF that
3hild if by the additions to its 1ntellgenc'
5ou are making subtraction from It's III
rlre. The child will go away from sucn NAL
treatment with no exuberance TO light the
Battle of life Such children may get along
yery we'll while YOU take care OF them, but
when you are old and dead, alas for them
through the wrong system OF education
which YOU adopted. they have no swarthi-
aess or force Of character to take care OF
themselves Be careful how you make the
,hild's head ache or its heart hutter.
| hear q great deal about black mems rights
ind Chinamen's rights and Indians rights
md women S rights. Would God that some
BODY would rise to plead for children s right
The Carthaginians used to sacrifice their
children by putting them into the arms OF an
dol which thrust forth its hand. The child
was put into the arms of the idol. and no
sooner touched the arms than 1t dropped into
the fire. But it was the art of the mothers
20 keep the children smiling and laughing
Until the moment they died. There may be
fascination and hiarity about the styles
If education of which am speaking but it
6 only laughter at the moment of sacrifice.
Would God there were only one Jephthath's
laughter.
Again. there are many parents who are
sacrificing their children with wrong sys-
ems OF discipline-too great rigor or too
great leniency. There are children in fam
dies who rule the household. 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 childen make up the
parliament where father and mother have no
vote Such children come up to be mis-
creants.
There is no chance in this world for child
that has never learned to mind. Such peo-
ole become the botheration of the church OF
God and the pest of the world. Children
hat do not learn to obey human authority
are unwilling to learn to obey Divine author
ty. Children will not respect parents whose
authority they do not respect. Who are those
goung men that swagger through the street,
with their thumbs in their vest, talking
about their father as 1.-The old man.
''the governor" ''the squire" ''the
Did chap" or their mother as the
old woman?" They are those who in youth,
thority. 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 father whose sons are de-
bauched? The dust of the valley is pleasant
20 his taste. and the driving rains that
drip through the roof of the sepucher are
sweeter than the wines Of Helbon.
There must be harmony between the
fathers government and the mothers gov
eminent The father will be tempted to too
great vigor The mother will be tempted to
too great leniency. Her tenderness VIII
overcome her. Her voice is little softer !;
her hand seems better fit to pull out thorn
and soothe pang. Children wanting any
thing from the mother cry for it. They hope
20 dissolve her will with tears. But the moth
er must not interfere. must not coax OFF,
must not beg for the child when the
nour comes for the assertion of parental
supremacy and the subjugation oil a
3hild's temper. There comes in the history
Of every child an hour when it is tested
whether the parents shall rule or the child
shall rule. That is the crucial hour. Ii the
child triumphs in that hour, then he VIII
some day make you crouch. Ii is a horrible
scene. / have witnessed it-a mother come
to old age. shivering with terror in the pres
ence of Il son who cursed her gray hairs and
Knocked her wrinkled face and begrudged her
the crust she munched with her toOthless
gums
How sharper than a serpents tooth it is
To have a thankless child
But, on the other hand, too great rlgor
must be avoided. 1t is "a sad thing when do
nestle government becomes cold military
despotism. Trappers on the prairie fight fire
with fire, but you cannot successfully fight
your child's bad temper with your own bad
temper We must not be too minute in our
inspection. We cannot expect our children
to be perfect. We must not see everything.
Since we have two or three faults of our own,
we ought not to be too rough when we dis
cover that our children have as many If
tradition be true, when we were children we
were not all little Samues, and our parents
were not fearful lest they could not raise us
because of our premature goodness.
You cannot scod or pound your children
into nobility OF character. The bloom OF a
childs heart can never he seen under cold
drizzle. Above all, avoid fretting and
scolding in the household. Better than IL
years OF fretting at your children is one
good, round, Old fashioned application OF
the slipper That minister OF the GOSPEL o
whom we read in the newspapers that he
whipped his child TO death because he would
not say his prayers will never come to can
onization. The arithmeties cannot cal
culate how many Thousands of children
have been ruined forever either through too
great rigor or too great leniency Thc heav-