Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-23


little feet and hands
must be employed all the time, else the
still more active brain will be at work con-
cccting mischief, to be carried out as soon
as the chance offers Almost every other
word my friend said to me was interlarded
with don't, Ethel" and when Ethel asked
Why, as a child always does, the invaria-
BILE reply was, because" Etheps mamma
said her don't In a calm dispassionate kind
of a way, like water dropping OF a roof, it
being just as easy to say that as to say
something else. Her manner Of saying
because was just as colorless, and when
the child. cut off from all sources Of
amusement, had to sit on an uncomfortable
chair and hold her small hands, the un-
reasonableness of it all came over her with
such force, that, after thinking profoundly
for moment, she announced her fell de-
signs on Noah Webster and the Century,"
with a good deal of emphasis.
"They makes me misuble," she added,
nodding her curly head. land I hasn't got
any use for EN-"
Poor little Ethel! And there are so many
Ethels in the world. This particular one
had been shut out from the nursery, be-
cause the baby was i'll, and she found her
stately mother but Indifferent company.
She loved pictures, but the books in the
parlor were much too splendid for her to
handle, and the selfish mother never once
thought of getting a magazine from the
stack in the library, just through the cur
tanned arch. 1t was SO much easier to say.
don't, Ethel" than to get the child some
thing to interest herself with. Then Ethel
climbed up to look out of the window, but
a beautiful palm occupied most Of the space,
and 1t was easier to say don't, Ethel"
than to move the plant foot or two, to
keep it from being broken. Ethel went to
the piano and touched the keys lightly,
playing with one finger, the tune she had
been praised SO inordinately for learning
by herself. She had every reason to believe
overjoyed to hear it. But her mamma had
no desire to show off the accomplishments
of her small daughter that day, So again,
she heard that odious don't. Ethel" And
her treatment. asked why" and each time
had to content herself with the stereotyped
because"
No Place for Them.
Every mother admits that healthy chill
dren should be amused, but 1t is little
sir gular that every mother also, looks to
somebody else to do the amusing act. HUI
man nature Is the same no matter where
you find 1t, or the age of 1t after it is found.
The man of affairs has to be amused, and
seeks 1t at the club or where he will be
most apt to see his friends. The swell
young sprout requires just about the same
then he sucked his thumb, now his cane
fills his mouth and his requirements. The
school girl eats pickles and confides her
small affairs to her seat mate; the youth
devours half dime blood and thunder trash,
and plays ball; the literary woman buries
herself in the last review, and the society
woman looks up a new victim upon which
to practice her wiles. All this in the way
of amusement.
But the poor little weans, who are too
big to lug around under the arm like a
poodle. yet are not big enough to take
pleasure In doing forbidden things, are the
most disconsolate creatures on the face of
the earth. They are too large for the
nursery. and too small to go with the older
ones. Mamma doesn't want them about
her when she has callers, because little
pitchers have large ears. Cook won't have
them around under her feet, wanting to
taste things, and scrape the cookie pans,
and nurse can't have them upstairs, be-
cause they will waken baby with their
the logic of all this, but there ought to be
some common serse mixed up with the
logic, or it isn't worth the title. I guess If
Ethels mother had been quiet for two
whole minutes, say. when every nerve in
her body was jumping and clamoring for
something to do, and an enticing book of
engravings tempted her to look at them.
she would have got indignant. too, If some
body he'd said Don't touch that" and
given because" as the only reason why.
You often hear mothers of restless little
ones say that they believe that they are
possessed" OF what, pray tell? A simple
desire to do something, to be kept busy. to
have hands and brains occupied. That you
have a reason. and presumably good one,
for refusing your little one certain things
is the best Of all reasons why you should
be able to tell the child why it must be de-
MED. Children get SO used to the don't"
and because that they actually get the
impression that the two words are only
used to thwart them, and that no real rea-
son lies back Of the oft-repeated words. If
mothers would but reflect, they must GER
tainly see that when child arrives at the
why" period 1t recognizes that there are
certain results from certain causes. When
it questions your refusal 1t Is beginning to
reason, and right there is where many pa
rents fail to do their duty. They tyrannize
over their small subjects, and thus teach
their subjects to do the same thing, in
smaller way. and also give inquiring minds
a backset.
They Can BE Useful.
When your little one begins to get med
dIesome requiring a constant repetition Of
the tiresome words, you may be sure that,
like a scandal monger, it has got to the
limit Of its occupations, and its energies
are bound to overflow in mischief. Then it
must be amused somehow, either by inter-
esting 1t in some new play, with story, or
by putting it to work. People who have
no employment prey on their kind and get
to be a nuisance. If this is so with people
who have, or ought to have ripened judg-
ment and expanded powers. how much
more it is likely to be true of the child,
who for the first few years of its life is
only initiative and has few mental re-
sources-resources that too many parents
dwarf by refusing to cultivate.
In the first place, it is a mistake to sup
pose that children cannot be interested in
little pieces of household work. A child Of
four can save its mother many steps each
day. If taught thus early in life to make
itself useful, and that its efforts are appre-
ciated, 1t gradually gets accustomed to the
idea that 1t is of some Importance in the
world, and you have probably saved your
self many anxious moments. Children who
have any realizing sense of their parents
love, and of their own responsibilities as
factor in the home life, are not liable to get
very far from the right path, and even If
the old Adam in them does rise to the top
occasionally, they subdue him much more
quickly than the children who are never
given reasons and are never taught to use
their own reasoning powers, or to utilize
their superf1uous energies.
Children should be taught to amuse them
selves in a rational way. It is my firm be-
lief that they should never be left long to
their own devices, and that the moment
they tire Of an occupation or amusement,