Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-07-31

No one can feel more thankful than
/ do FOR the advancement OF common
school education. The printing OF
books appropriate for schools, the null
tiplication OF philosophical apparatus,
the establishment OF normal schools,
which provide for our children teachers
of largest calibre, are themes on which
every philanthropist ought TO be con-
graduated. But this herding OF great
multltudes Of children 10 ill-ventilated
school rooms, and poorly equipped halls
OF instruction is making many OF the
places OF knowledge in this country
huge holocaust.
POLITICS IN MANY CITIES
gets into educational affairs, and while
the two political parties are scraboling
for the honors, Jephthah's daughter
Derishes. It Is so much so that there
are manv schools In the country to-day
which are preparing tens OF thousands
OF invalid men. aud women for the fu-
ture; so that, 10 many places, by the
time the child's education IS finished the
child Is finished! In many places, In
many cities OF the country, there are
large appropriations for everything else,
and cheerful appropriations; out as
sOUn as the appropriation Is 10 Dc
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
academies; children OF delicate brains
compelled TO do tasks that might appall
a mature intellect; children going down
10 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 70 graduate for the simple rea-
son, they say, 1--WE cannot afford to al
low our children's heath TO be destroyed
in order that they may gather the non
ors OF An institution" Tens OF thous-
andsof children educated into moecii-
ity: so. connected with many such liter
ary establishments there ought TO be
asvIums for the wrecked. Ii 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 children
turned out from the schools who we're
once full Of romping and laughter, and
had cheeks crimson with health, who
are now turned out In the AFTERNOON
pale-faced, irritated, aSthmatic, old be-
fore 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 brains over trigo-
nometry! Children unacQualnted with
their mother tongue crying over their
Latin, French, and German lessons!
AN the vivacity OF their nature beaten
out Of them by the heavy beetle OF
Greek lexicon! And you doctor them
for this, and you give them a little
medicine 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
chill d was so pushed at school that she
was thrown into fever, and In her dy-
Ing delirium, all night long, she was
trying to recite the multiplication
table. To my bOyhOod remember that
in our class at school there was one LAD
who knew more than all Of US put to-
Rether. III we were fast in our arlth-
metiC, he eNtricated 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
prodigy. At eighteen years OF age he
wos an idiot. He liven ten years an
idiot, and died an idiot not knowing
his right hand from his left, or day
from night. The parents and the teach
ers made him an idiot.
You may flatter your pride by fore
ing your children 10 know more than
any other children, but you are making
a sacrifice OF that child II by the addl-
tious to its intelligence you are making
subtraction from It's future Inc
child will 60 away from
SUCH MALTREATMENT
with no exuberance TO fight the battle
OF life. Such children may get along
very we'll while you take care OF them,
but when you are old or dead, alas! for
them, If, through the wrong system OF
education which you adopted, they
have no swarthiness or force OF charac-
ter to take care Of themselves. Be
careful how you make the child's head
ache or It's heart flutter. hear a great
deal about black mems rights and
Chinamen's rights, aud Indians rights,
aud women's rights. Would God that
somebody would rise 10 plead for chill
dren's rights The Carthaginlans used
TO sacrifice their children By putting
them into the arms Of an Idol which
thrust forth It's hand. The child was
put into the arms Of the idol, and no
sooner touched the arms than it dropped
into the FIRE. But IL was the art Of the
mother to keep the children smiling
aud laughing until the moment they
died There may be a fascination and
a hilarity about the styles of education
OF which / am speaking, but il is only
laughter at the moment Of sacrifice.
Would God there were only one Jeph-
thah's laughter
Again: there are many persons 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 household.
They come to the authority. The high
chair ia which the infant sits is the
throne, and the rattle is the sceptre,
aud the other children make up the par
lament where father and mother have
no vote! Such children come up to be
mi SCreantS.
Children that do not learn to obey
human authority are unwilling to lear n
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 1.-THE old