The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-09-15
VANITY AND CRIME.

1t is an admitted fact that one of the
most fruitful sources of crime is the de-
sire for notoriety; and it seems to matter
but little to many persons in what shape
the attention of the public comes, so long
as there is a reasonable amount of it
shown to these morbidly developed indi
viduals who violate the laws of the land.
They can endure anything better than
obscurity, aud to be passed among the
rank and file Of humanity with merely a
glance is an objectionable insult and in
jury. This disposition, writes n. S.
Stowell, in the New Rork Ledger, which
is often traceable to errors in the early
training, is much more common than most
people imagine. The child is cOmpli-
mented or praised in it's own hearing
and, through the weakness and injudi
cious fondness Of some parent or guard
ian, learns 10 attach undue importance to
itself and its doings. After awhile it
grows out of the immediate fostering
care of home, and when it comes in con
tact with the world in the school and
among its playmates, it is constantly an
moved and irritated that no one takes
any notice of it. Its parents imagine it
a morbidly sensitive child, and probably
it is, in certain ways; but by their SYM
pathetic attitude and constant endeavor
to make things pleasant for it, the diff
Guilty is increased rather than remedied
and the youngster grows up with a firm
belief that it is misunderstood, and that
the world is in some way at fault ON &C
count of it. Such children either become
criminals through their unnatural thirst
| for notoriety, a thirst that discovers a
means of relief in the inordinate atten
ton given to unnatural crimes, or else
they become utterly demoralized in mind
and develope a form of lunacy frequent
ly characterized by great cunning and
cruelty. Children should be taught from
their earliest years that they are merely
atoms in the great mass of humanity, and
that while they are of considerable i'm.
portance to their own family, they must
never expect the attention of the com
munity or world until they have in some
honorable way earned it. A nan who
ended his days in a felon's cell once sale
that he took his first step in crime wher
his mother became angry with a neigh
Dor for paying no attention to her little
son. He hated the woman eVer after
ward because she almost ignored him and
had his vanity fed by ipjudicious mater
nal chatter mingled with praise of those
who were supposed to appreciate thu
boy and criticisms of those who wer'
said to be either too stupid or too jealout
to see or admit his brilliant qualities. I
is a fatal mistake when parents ALLOW
their children TO ~mOnOpolize the CONVEX
sation or the attention of guests. 1t in
variably results in spelling the child
disposition, in flling his mind with ex
aggerated ideas of his own importance
and a jealous craving for notice. Brough
up with a mind full of such notions, it i
not at all remarkable if he resorts TO a
most any means by which he can obtair
the pleasure of having the eyes of th
public turned upon him. Such peopl
are rarely of great mental caliber, an
are frequently almost destitute of hig
moral sense. Naturally, they may hav
been such that it not only fails to cult
vate these characteristics but tends d
rectly toward destroying Whatever i
good in the original cast of mind. 1t
a very serious mistake TO make such q
{ ado over violators and violations of Law
The latter should be promptly checke
aud the former punished with severit,
But much less public attention should /
; attracted by both, unless it is intende
to increase the crop of criminals or th
perpetrators of various acts of evil.