The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1893-08-04
Letter From Battle Greek.

Mention has been previously made of
DIR. Mary Wood Aliens sojourn in this
institution. She has delivered several
lectures for the benefit of our guests and
from a recent one take the liberty of
making extracts from my shorthand |
notes. She will be remembered as Ma
tional Supt. of the Social Purity Dept. of |
the w. G. T. u.
After mentioning ways by which dis |
obedience and dishonesty are taught, |
she instanced untruthfulness, and then
mentioned the following incident to
illustrate her statement
A mother told her restless little girl,
when riding on the cars, that when the
conductor came along he would cut off
her nose. AS the conductor came in
sight with his cleaning punch the child
grew more and more frightened and hid
her face behind her mother, when the
conductor merely took her mothers
child raised her head, and said, mother,
you lied"
We teach our children to be tyrants
by giving them what they want if they
cry long enough for it. For instance /
saw a child crying for a pickle; he was
told first that he could not have it, but
after he had cried while, pickle was
handed him, but it was not the particu-
lar pickle he wanted, and so he Kept on
crying until they handed him the plate
and let him pick over the pickles until
he got one that suited him. The father
turned to me, and said, "You see we
purchase peace at any cost" And the
mother added very sweetly, "That is
scripture, is it not?' Sometimes the lit
tie tyrant is consulted as to whether
mamma may go up stairs to make the
bed, or down cellar to get mess of po-
tatoes, and yet the mother does not see
that she is teaching her child tyranny
and selfshness which will bring grief to
her and trouble to him.
We teach our children cruelty. The
baby is sometimes taught to pull his
little sisters hair, and the little sister
pretends to cry and everybody else
laughs. He is taught to strike his mother
little blow in the face, and while she
makes believe cry, the rest laugh, and in
this way he is taught to take pleasure in
the pain given to others. By and by, he
slaps his mother in the face in fit of
anger, and perhaps the mother turns
around and whips the baby. and thus he
is given a lesson in retaliation. Or, it
may be in falling, the child hurts his
|
child, the mother says, Naughty table,
to hurt the baby" And perhaps she
strikes the table back. Queen Victoria
was wise enough to dismiss a nurse
whom she caught teaching one of her
children retaliation in this way.
A child who is bullied will turn
around and bully others who are weaker
and younger than himself Parents who
are domneering are often surprised at
the manner in which their children
treat others, and yet, they are only doing
what they have been taught by practical
lessons.
We teach our children vanity by the
attention which is given to dress. A
little girl is sometimes taught to know
the difference between real and imita-
ton lace, or diamonds and paste at q
time when she should know nothing
about either laces or diamonds. A child
likes its freedom, and should be dressed
so that it is not required to take any
thought for dress. 1t is very difficult to
keep pretty child from being made
vain by the remarks of visitors who do
not take into consideration that child
has ears and hears all the complimentary
things which are said. "What beauti-
full little girl p "And what lovely eyes,"
say the admiring visitors, and the little
girl is taking her lesson in vanity. /
came upon such little one in a garden
saying to herself, ooh, my bright, pretty
eyes p "My sparkling eyes !"-praising
herself because there was no one else to
feed the flame of vanity. And, l knew
also little boy who had been called
pretty SO much that when asked his
name, he replied, "Pretty Arthur"
| A mot bar mo do for har oh;lJ 4,
little paper cap, and after adjusting it,
said, "Now, 60 look in the glass and see''
not how pretty the cap is-'but see
how pretty you are with the cap on"
And then the mother brought rings and
ribbons and she and her friends spent
two hours in what they considered
harmless diversion, but it was a lesson
in vanity which the child would never
forget.
A child was asked if she did not want
, a new cloak. She did not care whether
she had a new cloak or not at first, but
the mother says, "Olive has new cloak
and you want cloak nicer than Olives,
| don't you ?" and the child had its lesson
7 in emulation. Children should never be
: taught to display themselves for prizes OF
praise, yet, children are continually
called upon to show off, not only how
g well they can do, but how much better
S they can do than somebody else.
q Again, plain children are often tor
mented and made to suffer keenly by
unfavorable comments on their persona
appearance. One child hears so much
about her "peeled-onion eyes" anC
Shovel teeth" that she is at perpetual
disadvantage in the company of strang
f ers; or another may be leased continual
g ly about her red hair, and thus made
S painfully self-conscious.
e Children are always taught jealousy b,
e their parents. One mother threatens he
S little boy in this way-"Now, if you
don't mind me, will take cousin Dicl
: to be my little boy ~ and the mothe
>. wonders sadly why it is her little bo'
y does not like cousin Dick. when tn
> child continually sees in his cousin
possible usurper Of his place and hi
: rights in his mothers affections and care
. HELEN l. MANNING.
y | -
Bucklen's Arniea Salve.
n | The best salve in the world FOR cuts bruis