Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-08-11

institution"
Tens OF thousands OF children educated
into imbecility. so connected with many such
literary establishments there ought TO be
asylums for the wrecked. II is push and
crowd and cram and stuff and lam until the
child's intellect IA bewildered, and the
memory Is wrecked, and the health is gone.
There are children turned out from thu
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, asthnaiic, old be-
fore their time. Ii Is one OF the saddest
sights ON earth. an old-mannish boy or an
old-womanish girl.
Girls 10 years OF age studying algebra
Boys ~ years OF ago racking their brains
over trigonometry Children unacquainted
with their mother tongue crying over their
Latin, French and German lessons All the
vtvncity OF their nature beaten out of them
BY the heavy beetle o; Ia Greek lexicon! And
you doctor them for this, and you give
them q little medicine for that, and you
wonder what Is the matter with them. |
will tell you what Is the matter with them
they are finishing their education.
In my parish in Philadelphia a child was
so pushed at school that she was thrown into
a fever. and in her dying delinum, all night
long. she was trying to recite the multiplica-
In our class at school there was zone lad who
knew more than all OF US put together. II
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 to his fathers house, and he
was almost always brought in as a prodigy.
At IS years OF age he was an idiot. He lived
10 years an idiot and died an IDIOT not know
ing his right hand from his left, or day from
a4.lN -. -. A
him an idiot
You may fatter your pride by forcing your
children 10 know more than any other chill
dren. but you are making a sacrifice OF that
child II by the additions to its intelligence
you are making a subtraction from its fu-
ture. The child will go away from sucn NAL
treatment with no exuherance to fight the
battle Of life. Such children may get along
very well while you take care OF them, but
when you are old and dead alas for them
HthrouSh the wrong system Of education
which you adopted. they have no swarthi-
ness or force Of character 10 take care Oi
themselves Be careful how you make the
:hild's head ache or its heart fiutter
hear a great deal about black men rights
and Chinamen's rights and Indians rights
and women's rights Would God that some
body would rise to plead for children right !
The CaUhRCinians 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 II was the art OF the mothers
20 keep the children smiling and laughing
until the moment they died. There may be
4 fascination and a hilsrity about the styles
ot education of which am speaking. but il
u only laughter at the moment OF "a 'rtice.
Would God there were only one Jephthath >
daughter
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
lies who rule the household. They come to
The aui hority. The high chair in which the
infant sits is the throne, and the rattle IS the
scepter, and the other chihien make up the
parliament where father and mother have no
vote! Such children come up to be mis-
.reants.
There Is no chance in this world FOR child
hat has never learned to mind. Suth peo-
pie 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 author
ty. Children will not respect parents whose
authority they do not RESPECT. Who are those
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. tho
old chap" or their mother "a "the
old woman They are those who in youth,
in childhood. never learned to respect au-
lhority. Eli, having heard that hts sonS had
died In their wickeV,nass, fell over backward
and broke his nsck and died Well he might
What Is life TO father whose sons are de
bauched? The dust OF the valley Is pleasant
- h.a a 81. Nhaf
drip through the roof OF the sepulcher are
sweeter than the wines OF Helbou.
There must be harmony between the
fathers government and the mothers gov
ernmeut. The father will be tempted to too
great yigOr. The mother will be tempted TO
too great leniency. Her tenderness will
overcome her. Her voice is little softer
her hand seems better III to pull out q thorn
and soothe pang. Children wanting any
thing from the mother cry for IL. They hope
10 dissolve her will with tears. But the moth
er must not interfere, must not coax off,
must not beg for the child when the
hour comes for the assertion of parental
supremacy and the subjugatlon OF a
child's temper. There comes in the history
OF every child an hour when II 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 will
some day make you crouch. II IL a horrible
scene. have witnessed it-a mother come
to old age, shivering with terror in the pres
ence OF o 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 ssrpents tooth 1t "a
To have a thAnkless child.
But, on the other hand, too great rlgor
must be avoided. II is a sad thing when do
nestle government becomes cold military
lespotism. Trappers on the prairie 6ght fire
with fire, but you cannot successfully fight
your childs 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. II
tradition be true when We were children we
were not all little Samuels, and our parents
were not fearful lest they could not raise u
because OF our premature goodness.
! You cannot scold or pound your children
I into nobility OF character. The bloom OF q
! child's heart can never be seen under u cold
drizzle. Above all, avoid frettlng and
scolding In the household Better than II
years of fretting at your children is one
good, round, old fashioned application o
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 arithmetics cannot cal
culate how many thousands Of children
rave been ruined forever either through toe
great rigor or too great leniency. The heav
ems and the earth are flled with the groan o
the sacrificed. In this important matter seel
divine direction, o father. o mother. Som,
one asked the mother OF Lord Chief Justc,