The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-03-18
acts :s!:1'.s and a '.''.s'l's|'. tor QQa oInsnH

OH pshaw. Whats the harm2 She
cheats the old man and / cheat her-it's
all on the square.
l looked in perfect wonderment at the
young man who uttered these words, be-
ing acquainted with his. proud. doting
mother. who has always considered him a
perfect specimen of hoyhood and young
manhood. 1t was a shock to discover that
his principles of honor and right were
SO far from what l had been led to expect.
The impatient exclamation was not in
tended to be overheard, but meant only for
the ears of the friend who had remon-
strated will him concerning some decep-
ton that he had practiced on his fond
mother. and a closer acquaintance with
the family left but little room for sur
prise at the principles which guided the
young mans life.
1t was the same old story of maternal
deception. and how often do we find it
running the children whom it is supposed
to benefit; and how little thought the
average mother seems inclined to give to
the harmful results. Ever since Rebecca,
the prime actor in maternal deception,
played off her successful plot upon her
blind and aged husband. the patriarch
Isaac. the world has not been destitute
St< WIZ AilIlSuS Will their sons
against the husband and the father.
Sometimes the plot is to secure a greater
portion of the paternal estate for a favor
lite son, but more frequently in matters of
smaller amounts. The son wants more
money to spend that the father is willing
to furnish. and the mother plots to obtain
it. She may honestly think the father. is
too close listed with the boy and does not
give him the amount which he ought to
have. and so, impelied by her love. she
seeks to make up the deficiency by some
scheme which will outwit the father and
get the money out of him by deception.
Such a course is detrimental in the
greatest degree. It tends directly to in
jure the object of her 1--we by breaking
down all nice distinctions of honor and
honesty. II the bay may deceive his
father for selfish ends, that father whom
he should be taught to love, honor, rev.
erence and obey above all other men,
and does this with the appreciation and
assistance of his own mother, how can
that boy be expected to have any fine
sense of honor and honesty toward other
men? The inevitable result of all such
practice of deception will be to destroy
in the mind of the boy all high respect
for truth. and lead him TO seek to obtain
his ends by any means. however ~unjusti-
fable, which seem TO promise success.
And thus he grows up to manhood with
a character noticeable. for being tricky,
dishonest and dishonorable, although he
may be enabled to hide the fact from
his mother. who is responsible for this
state of affairs.
But it Is not necessary to wait until
bn arriyeS af a rtn1d ~ sea tho fn,.te
Of such training. Having learned, by
his mothers ass stance, to deceive his
father, he soon contrives similar plots
against his mother After a time she
may be greatly surprised to find that
same boy playing off the grossest decep-
ton upon herself. At first she is aston
ished above Measure ard grieved beyond
expression. She cannot conceive it pos
sfble that the son for whom she has done
50 much should turn against her with
such ingratitude. She does not stop to
think that he is only practfc:ng on her
the very lessons that she has taught him;
that she herself has been the means OF
destroying in her favorite san all nice
sense Of honor and all true parental re-
spect. And yet such are the exact facts
of the case; and 1t is not surprising,
after all, that the boy inquiries, Whats
the harm?' when caught in acts of de-
ceptien.
Too great care cannot be observed in
maintaining the strictest honor and hon
esty in all home transactions. Every
hin done and said in the home, espe-
c.afly where there are young children,
should be the very soul of truth. More
boys-and girls, too-are morally ruined
In their homes. and by home influence
and example, than anywhere else or IN
any other way. It is done by the false
lessons there taught them, and by the
loose ideas there engendered in their
minds; by the receptions there practiced;
and by the little WHITE lfes' there
spoken and enacted. Under the influence
of these they grow up with no high sense
of honor, with no staunch adherence to
integrity and with no firm principle suf-
ficient to inc them to the right and to
barricade them against the assaults of
temptation.
-Js the father deals by trickery and seeks
#by fraud n wins by intrigue, how
ken the son reasonably be expected to do
any better? Brander Matthews is giving
a wonderful lesson in this in his latest
novel. His Fathers Son. If the mother
deceives her neighbors: Is glad beyond ex-
preston to see visitors when speak .ng to
their faces. but is ready to ~criticise them
as soon as they leave the house, and thus
practices before. her children the thousand
and one enacted lies of social and domestic
life. how can It be expected that her
daughters will be guileless and truthful?
It IS useless for mothers to suppose that
it will be possible to claim greater love
and obedience from thair chi1dren hoaonra