Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-08-11

Of 1nVaIl1 men ana women Tor tfe .Gkurt. ~
that in many places by the the time the
child's education is finished the child is fin
ishedi In many places. in many cities OF the
country. there are large appropriations Tor
everything else and cheerful appropriations,
but as soon as the appropriation IS 10 De
made for the educational or moral interest OF
the city we are struck through WIN an econ
omv that Is well nigh the death OF u.s.
In connection with this / mention what /
might call the examining system OF the COM
mon schools and many OF the aca1e
children of delicate brain compelled 10 tasks
that might apnalI a mature intellect. chill
drer going down to school with a strap OF
books halt "a high as themselves. Inc TACT
Is. in some Of the cities parents do not allow
their children to graduate for the simple
reason, they say. I'VE cannot anord 70 aLlow
our children's health TO be destroyed in
order that they MAJ gather the honors Of an
institution"
Tens of thousands of children educated
into imbecility. 80 connected with many sucn
literary establishments there ought TO be
asylums for the wrecked. It is push and
crowd and cram and stuff and jam until the
childs intellect is beyildered, and the
memory is wrecked, and the health Is gone.
There are children turned out from the
schools who once were full Of romping ana
laughter and had cheeks crimson with
health. who are now turned out in the alter
noon pale faced, irritated. asthnatic, old be-
fore their time It is one OF the sadoest
sights on earth. an old-mannlsb boy or an
old-womanish girl.
Girls 10 years of age studying algebra!
Boys II wears 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! And
you doctor them for this, and you give
them a 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 delirium, all night
long. she was trying to recite the multiplied
ton table. In my boyhooi I 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
u.s. 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 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
night. The parents and the teachers made
him an idiot.
You may fatter your pride by forcing your
children to know more than any other chill
dren. but you are making a sacrifice of that
child if 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 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 and dead. alas ! for them
if through the wrong system Of education
which you adopted, they have no swarthi-
ness or force of character to take care of
themselves. Be careful how you make the
childs head ache or its heart f1utter.
l hear q great deal about black mems rights
tn ~ffpL,&
and 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 EARNS 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 it 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
a fascination and a hilarity about the styles
of education of which 1 am speaking, but it
is only laughter at the moment of sacrifice.
Would God there were only one Jephthaths
daughter.
Again, there are many parents who are
sacrificing their children with wrong sys-
tens of discipline-too great rigor or too
great leniency. There are children in fam
lilies 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-
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
ity. 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."
old chap" or their mother as 1.-The
old woman?" They are those who in youth,
in childhood. never learned to respect au-
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
to his taste, and the driving rains that
drip through the roof of the sepulcher are
sweeter than the wines of Helbon.
Inere 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 will
overcome her. Her voice is little softer;
her hand seems better fit to pull out thorn
and sOOthe a pang. Children wanting any
thing from the mother cry for it. They hope
to 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 subiugation of a
chllds 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 If the
child triumphs in that hour, then he will
some day make you crouch. It is a. horrible
scene. [ have witnessed it-a mother come