The San Francisco call., 1895-05-21

| The law of continuity, il claims, should rule
place is mediatorv: that there should be no
| rude transitions, no breaks in the chid's de-
veopment. 1t depends upon the scnool to
| continue uninterruptedly the work of uuiold-
| ing his powers, to aid him to control even
more skillfully all his modes and means OF ex-
| preston and to lead him to perform ever more
| consciously and joyfully the duties which
arise out of his relationships.
! The next stage of which this gospel treats is
| the preparation necessary on the part of
women for the work OF the preceding Stage
| In this respect it holds that while the inhu-
| ence OF both men and women must be felt in
education the theory and practice OF de-
| veloping children according to the laws of
childhood should be essential part OF the
education of every young woman.
Since the home, as this congress will show
| this week, is the center from which radiates
all human activities, all phases of human life,
the religious idea strikes its roots deep into the
| home heart, and in the home it expects to find
| its fruit in the fully matured young woman,
| yea. and the young man, who are qualified in
| mind, heart and hand to guard, to care tor and
| into right habits of thinking, feeling and will
ing, into right habits of doing, right habits of
living; qualified TO open TO their vision the
| beautiful rela tons and interdependence of all
| things, "that though apart things may stand,
| life has its unity inner and grand"
| This gospel makes no claim that all who
equally well or be equally effective in practice
| (what is brought TO the study is the measure of
| what is gained from it), but it does claim that
| each will find that the world holds more for
| her than ever before, and thereafter no child
| can ever be an object of indifference TO her
| her influence will to some degree be better.
| fuller for ii.
In conclusion, it must be said that this gos-
| pei that has been but family and incom mpletely
outlined TO you this afternoon does not claim
| that "wisdom will die with it,
There was more animation shown in dis
cussing this paper. Mrs. Cootes, lady in
| the audience fired the first shot by asking
"Is the mother always prepared to be the
| best companion to the chiid2" THAT de-
pends on the mother" answered Mrs.
| Laura de Force Gordon, and the reply was
received with laughter and applause. Mrs.
| Gregory said she thought it depended on
! the rapport between the mother and child.
| Mrs. Sparks added: ~ am so glad this
| paper has made us hear something about
| children's rights We are always bearing
| about the rights OF women, but nothing
about those of children" Mrs. Anna b.
Smith remarked: ~ think it is Emerson
who says, TO the well-born child all the
! virtues are possible and do not need to be
| painfully acquired In order to have
! well-born children we must have we'll
| born mothers, and until the mothers are
| industrially free they cannot have we'll
born children"
Rev. Mrs. Sprague said that though it
| was well to tell mothers what they should
| uO, buS IdluGTS u1uSC Uc ldkGn all interest,"
| in them too.
The time for discussion being ended,
| Rev. Ada c. Bowles came forward and
read the following paper on "Moral Educa-
| ton of the Young" by DR.. Mary Wood
Allen of Ann Arbor, Mich, who was un-
able to be present at the congress:
| Perhaps no moment in woman's life is so
| full OF q sacred joy as that in which he looks
for the first time into the face OF her child. That
little bundle of helpless capabilities its life
| TO her. From her it has received many of its
talents and tendencies. Upon her depends
very largely its moral and physical training.
| Will she prove equal TO the demand? is the
question which presses upon her with over
presents itself; yet. IN all probability, not with
| the same force nor i'll the same way. His
mind leaps forward toward practical success
| in maturity and sees in fancy the results of
| training rather than the processes by which
| these results are to be secured.
| The child who is guarded only by parental
knowledge finds that guardianship only too
| easily evaded, and outside of its pale he is
| greeted with voluntary proffers of the infor-
| nation so sedulously kept from him by his
parents, but clothed, alas! in the garb OF vile
words, and shrouded with veil OF evil mys-
| tery which stimulates his imagination and
arouses prurient curiosity to pry still farther
| into the fascinating darkness In all prob
ability if the same facts which he learns in a
| guilty and aliurlng manner and which con-
| duce to evil thought and conduct were pre-
sented to him by parent or teacher as sim pie
scientific truths, he would find in them no
| mysterious charm. The effect would rather be
| to strip them OF their fascination. This is nc
| mere theory. Experience has proven it TO be
| true,
| In this question of the moral training OF
| children, we must bear in mind the fact that
| we cannot keep them in ignorance until we
| have come to the conclusion that they are old
! enough TO be instructed; we must also remem.
| Der that their direct moral training begins in
| the cradle, and therefore It's inception is in our
hands. By the habits Of life which surround
| the infancy of the child are laid foundations
OF moral character. The regularity OF hours OF
| sleep or of feeding has more than physical
bearing, it is moral in quality. Felix Adler
| says that regularity is not in itself moral. but
| it conduces to morality. Rules NAV not be
| good, but the life of unregulated impulse is
| always bad. Those who are taught or allowed
| in childhood to yield ever to the demands OF
| the senses. be it only in so small matter as
| eating whenever the impulse seizes them, are
| being weakened in will power, and are thus
! being untitled to cope with the stronger tempta-
tons oil more mature life.
AS the child develops in intellect he begins
| to need something more than q careful guar
| dianship, and should have some direct instruc-
| ton as to the sacredness of his own body and
| the need OF himself protecting it from evil
| This does not involve frightening him with
| horrible delineations of the results of sim but
arousing reverence for his bodily temple
makes him instinctively shrink from the inva-
| sion of its sacredness in thought The limits
| OF this paper will permit only OF suggestions
which it is hoped the hearers will follow out
| in thought through their various ramiications.
| We are teaching the boys that they may treat
girls with familiarity If the girls will permit it,
and we are teaching the girls to permit it in
childhood and then later we try to undo this
| teaching, too often with little effect. Boys and
| girls also imbibe the idea from our foolish tests
that there Is no other relation between persons
| of opposite sex except that OF sentimentality,
| and q condition arises which furnishes one of
| the most perplexing problems to the teachers
OF our public schools. These teachers testify
| that foolish sentimentality pervades the school
and boys and girls are so constantly engaged
| in writing love letters, quarreling, making up
| and holding clandestine meetings, In fact
| are in such state OF emotional excitement
| that study is interfered with At first this
might seem an argument against o-education,
! but in fact it is not the association in the
| schoolroom that is at fault but the suggestions
! through jests and teasings of friends at home
| The girl in convent or girls school is apt to
! invest young men with ideal virtues and the
| glamour vanishes when she comes to compete
! with them in practical school life. And this
would be still more completely the case were
| she permitted outside of school to associate
with them on terms of frank comradeship.
| While we claim to be exceedingly retieent
concerning the facts of sex, holding it to be in
delicate to teach scientifically the truths of the
| body and its powers, we are actually stimulat-
| ing to consciousness of sex which embar-
rasses the association of young people with
| eacn other. What we need is, by accurate in
| formation concerning the DeculiAr nhysicaI