The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-07-14
HOME AND CHILDREN,
NELSON'S UHY BOYs md Girls DIS
APPOTNT THEIR PIRENTs.
Influence Of the Domestic Circ1e-Ihe
House IL Something More Than
Mere Abiding Place.

II don't believe that the American
home life Is just what 1t was when | was
boy" said q father 10 me recently. IL
was the continuation Of talk on the
subject OF interesting ones Children IN
the hone end It's surroundings. when
had grown out Of a remark Of one or
his younger daughters. sChcoi was
closed for the summer and MS daughter
was rostltss and lonely. She had asked
for permission TO 81 10 the other size
OF the city TO spend the night with girl
friend OF her own agc-aboaf fifteen-and
had been very properly refused. since u
was late. ana she would have TO go I'M
attended.
you might stay at home with us one
evening" infcrpOscd the mother gently
80 her dau, hter moved GROSSLY about
some liitle duties The only reply was
a slan,ming about Of chairs, and hasty'
Il hate this dull old louise at night Papa
is meyer at home, the boys have TO 20
ont or the streets or be snubbcd AMI
fused at for making noise, ana the
girls ali have some place to where there IS
some fun But you just make me STICK
here til bed time. with not soul 10 taiK
10. 1t wouldn't be so bad If there was
some one who wasn't above taking 70
| just q girl
Then the mother sighed like narlyr
fine father laughed at Laura's ebuiliton
OF temper. while the daughter. only a
child in feeling. went off 10 have a hltie
fretful weep all by herself II was Then
that the father referred TO the decadence
Of home life. and / thought about 1t long
after we had all separated for the night.
His boyhood was a sheltered one. Ifere
were but two children, and they were
| both studi0us, fonder OF book tnan
bail bat more Interested in science than
| street scenes. and devoted 10 father ana
mother whose sunlight OF existence they
were, Their life was ideal. in its easy
round Of quiet pleasures found between
the four walls of home
AWAY FROM THE HOME.
Marriage with a ''village belle gave
life new side for the studiOus man, and
he rather liked the change for time, but
soon got tired Of it, and leaving social
duties TO his wife he began TO seek quiet
in his Office which could not be found at
| home. Sons and daughters came. six in
all. and the fashionable mother became
fashionable invalid who must not be
! 'wOrrie1.' 80 the older girls began 10
| look out for themselves; the boys, glad
10. be freed from home restraints, found
| cOngeniai companions in the street, and
the last OF the flock. so many years the
| junior Of the others, pettish, spoiled
Laura. was the only one left 10 them.
the others being old enough TO select
their own companions and pleasures as
| Anne rican young men and women are
] largely left free to do after certain
age.
II was rather late in life for that man
| to find out that his home. though hand
somely furnished. was not all that was
necessary to make a pleasant abode FOR
| his children. His library was unattrac-
| tive 10 his children, because never IN
] his life had be tried TO interest one OF
them i'm a single book on its shelves. lie
had taken pains to have them well edu-
Gated. but knowledge Of books does not
breed desire for them. That is a plant
! Of another growth entirely.
His parents had read. too, and with him,
nearly evcryt thing that was worth read
| ing. and their interests became his, but
he selhshly chose 10 read his own books
and think his own thoughts undisturbed
by the superficial questioning of the UNI
trained minds of his children or the pro-
| fame Interference Of the new class OF
thinkers with his preconceived and set
tied opinions and beliefs. His fine piano
was seldom used. except to show off the
mechanical perfection Of his daughters
who were brilliant" players but utterly
lacking in sympathetic execution.
His mother had been a good musician.
and listening 10 her perfect Interpretation
Of great masterpieces had been one Of the
| delights of his bOyhoOd's home. His wife
was also a good pianist, but she stopped
pratiCe when the first baby came. and
| the girls got no stimulus from her, and
the one sentiment they held regarding
her was TO keep her out Of the way, and
not make her nervous" or spoil her
rest by undue noise. OF excite her with
contention.
DOMESTIC LIFE NEGLECTED.
Now. you know that is not a healthy
kind Of atmosphere for children TO grow
up in. If the boys and girls of whom l
nave spoken had been at all viciously
inclined they would every blessed one CT
| them have gone to the bad on a gallOp
under such treatment. Home with them
was simply a place 10 eat and sleep in,
and all their pleasures were 10 be derived
| from sources far removed from the home
circle. instead Of originating inside OF
| il.
The home should be a place that the
! children love and are 10th to leave under
any circumstances. They should be able
to find in IT, veryrlng that appeals to
the better nature, and solace for all the
| ills outside OF n.
| American home life is not just the
thing it ought to be, and we have to
acknowledge II. We live too much in
public, and the characters OF our children
are developed in an atmosphere of ex-
| cftafnenf uoftrfshc1 IN artinqialitV hoist
cred on show and taught that domestic
life is a secondary matter. They are led
10 regard every other phase Of life more
| important and fuller of enjoyment, than
anything that is connected with home
and its environments That IS why
American girls grow nervous and color
less at twenty-five, and American boys
are blase at twenty-one. And all this
accounts for the lack of repose in Ameri-
can manners and the lack OF moral SIAM
| ina.
Il hate this dull old house." was
| Laura's plant. and with the directness
Of a thunderbolt she struck straight
] home. The house was dull, despite its
evidences Of taste and refinement / had
listened TO the ailments and ills of my
| friend Laura's mother until / found my
| self suffering out Of pure sympathy for
| her. The piano was closed and the gui-
| tar, banjo and violin were shut up in
| their cases, the girls all being off on
pleasure bent.
THE NEGLECTED BOYS.
| The book cases were as 'spick and span"
as though they had never been opened,
and l confess 10 liking for books that
look as though they held some interest
| for human beings. even though they 40