The morning times., 1896-11-08
0.d-EashiOned One Was Meek,
New One InheritS Earth.
MODERN IMP OF SOCIETY
Little Girls Have Ceased to
Play With Dolls and Now
Have Social Duties.
Copyright. 1860

run, let me hastily disclaim all intention
of saying anything more about her. There
has even been !, feeble attempt cn the part
Of the opposition to remind us that there
is vet another sex by circulating ruIDors Of
a New Man Possibly we do not hear
very much of the New child as a theory.
because as Il fact he makes himself bOth
seen and heard To such an overpowcrng de-
gree that words seem po"r things WIFI
which TO describe him. If you say very
much about him since tits impossiblet To say
anything strictly complimentary you are
accused Of hating children aud wishing 10
cloud their young days with cruelty anu
oppression As if you or ] or anyone else
could get a chance to do the latter II We
would while the New Child IS around 10
protect himself.
Not that he is necessarily Dad-Wnere
would the novelty come in there? The new
Child may be good or bad, as II happens
but lie is always different. The old theories
of children, To which the children OF all
ages but our own have most obliSingiy
lived up, were grateful and comforting
i'll their simplicity. A child was Il creature
to be fed on Jam. That there was To he bread
uLueE llle Jam went WitHOut lHE. nv"
the bread has gone, with OF without Remarks,
and it is clear Jam. He was to be taught To
be good, and II he was not good he was
spanked. He was to play outdoors or ill.,
doors or wherever he was told To play, and
defer to his elders and he meek generally.
Now, instead Of being meek, lie lnhcrits the
earth.
There is a world of sarcasm now in the
definition OF a child which George Herbert
wrote two centuries ago:
Small to myself, to others mild"
Neither one nor the other was child Tour
years old-or four years New-who sat op-
posite me i'll Il car the other day and roundly
scolded her Mother for crOwdinG up against
her The more meek the maternal apollo
gies the more tue wee mentors reprimands
increased IN severity. But, mamma. you
hurted me-" she snapped out in answer to
an humble plea that she would speak more
gently to the erring one. An OlC-tifne
mother would have grrinly observed that she
would be hurt still worse un arriving home.
But here was the attitude Of the New
Child IN a nutshell Il perfectly honest and
sincere conviction Of the dignity OF Me
and of the uBiledrd-Uf presumption OF mere
grown-up in discriminating 50 important a
parsonage.
Yet n- really is not respOn sible fer any
thing or | would not be w:-;ing this, for
the New child would not read il If he
could. He does not bring Up hiusclf-that
is. not quite yet. The true culprit is the
New Parent, who is either So frartically
anxious for his child's well being or ~
stoIidly Indifferent to it as 10 he unable
To realize that NJ is quite as unius. and un-
kind as il he sen him to bed supperleSs for
speak ing a!oud at the table Or WHIPPED both
participants in Il childish quarrel without
waiting to hear explanations. The new
gospel Of child training is a bewiidcring
maze OF moral suasiOu and Christian SCI
ence; Of responsibility yours aud irrespoa-
sibility the dear child'si, out OF which ona
central fact can be extracted -ict child
alone and he VIII bring you up in the way
you should go
\ case in point is a book by Ada Marian
Hughes. called Talks with Parents -
which is very sensible III spots. but leaves
10 roeIn whatever for natural depravity
The implores Ms, as though wenceded
TO be coaXed into it, TO treat the child
as a gin from the center Of all love and
good. and not representative of evil"
and tells of a four -year-cld boy whose uTi-
wise parent had severely punished him for
drawing charcoal pictures on the rariUr
wall
This, according to Mrs. tor, as one is
tempted To think, Miss Hughes. was en-
tirely the fault OF the neither for not sup
plying the little ''gift from all love and
good wi h plenty of paper and pencils,
and she rashly- goes ON To say that had
he heen given these that parlor frescO
would not have Eeen executed
Oh, had she but brought up few boys.
or even one. and seen them turn cheerfully
from reams OF paper and stacks of pencils
to carry out their decorative fancies on
parlor walls or the polished footboards
of beds,
If the malisn influence OF the New
1l,.
agreeable to other people it might be
borne. Perhaps it is not so rad to be
bad, il you are only happy. But they are
not happy They are fretful, restless,
blase. satiated with pleasures unsuited 10th
in kind and degree for their years. Do
children play as they once did? Instead
they read or NOPE. on pleasant summer
evenings, when twenty or even ten years
ago the streets were filled with chill
dren playing the uid-fashicned ring" and
''roTnG'' games. they now fern into phiF
lanxes of three OF four, each sex by itself.
and walk the street up and down, sedatel Y
or gigglingly. as the case may be, occa-
| sionally varying the program with little
precocious Irritation
AS for toys, they grow more elaborate
and less appreciated each year. The simple
things which used TO please children do not
meet the complex wants OF the present un-
1
| do we meet a little girl with dell in her
arms today. They keep them at home, not
| to play with so much as to dress. as object
| lessons in the all-inIportant branch OF
Clothes; but to tn kethem abroad W ould look
"silly," so you are informed. With what
distlain would modern small boy, on VIII ON
| n watch. bicycle and pony have already
| begun to pail, regard the treasurelove of
| Coventry Patmore's small son:
"A box of counters and a red-veincd stone.
| A piece of glass abraded by the beach.
| And six or seven shells,
| A bottle with bluc-bells,
And two French copper coins, arranged
with careful artH'
| Then there is the society imp-sorry l
| can't give him better name. but society
| child'' sounds as absurdly incOngruous as a
| married bach elor or a awealthy pa uper. .Re-
1 ceptiuns for tots are the latest fads among
l fasnionables we areimpressivelyin Informed
| by Il writer on modes and manners, and
| one doesn't know whether to laugh or TO
| cry. What touching scenes they must
\ present OF the careful removing or the
| bloom from the peach, oil the ceremonial
introduction to Pomps, Vanities and suite
| of round-e eyed babies just at the niud-pie
| age! What in the name OF mortal common
| sense have tots and receptions to do with
| one anoth er?
! And las ly, lest they should not hav,
| enough amusement OF the artificial ant
| vitiating kind, we allow them to "Show
| off, TO their (ana ourl hearts content
posing in tableaux, shrilling most inap
propriately ingenious little hymns ant
| pieces at concerts and Sunda V schoo
\ ertainmentS, or tending counters ii
public fairs and baZaars.