Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1896-07-09
CHILDREN AND CLOTHES
To Effect Their Reconcilis2tion In Ia
Problem of . Lifettm0

10 GAocG 1ueAE 6eCOnClAIs4CAOh ~ tn&
Problem of . Lifetime
To mention the two things together
Is to scent battle in the air "a battle in
which most mothers spend a good part
of their lives. To patch III a peace be-
tween the lion and the lamb would be
| easier than to reconcile The average
healthy, d~irt-grubblng, play-loving
child to his clothes. There is only one
other sort of child, and that is the
little prinking peacock, who thinks
too much of them; and between the
two what is a distracted mother to L?
Clothes must be worn-t 9TH the law
and the climate require .; likewise.
they must be kept reasonably whole
and clean; also. the child en- must be
kept happy. To cap the limax, they
usually hate %pinafores vorse han
the clothes they cover, and that makes
things eve harder for ne children,
he parents, or the clothes, sometimes
for all three.
In Cuba they manag t lings beau
tlfuily. There tots under seven and
eight wander about clad n nothing
not a fgurative, but a lit raj nothing
and the nursery world t, rms merrily
on it's axis. The life of tre laundress
is n unenoing song and II others have
nothing to scold their children about.
But here, (which the s; me" is not
Cuba, such m insipid sta of affairs
will never be brought sbout while
there are Fauntleroy suits and French
gowns to be bought and i on help
less innocents, whom, wit the refine
tdent of sarcasm, we afterward bid to
"run out and play"
What on earth could a child play
save possibly the piano-af 1 how could
he rul in the elaborate costumes in
which the small u~nfocaunates are some
times a~rraycd? 1 had sttrted out to
define the duty of child--en to their.
parents and their clothes, Int, as usual,
the other side is more int resting and
| must say a small someth; lg as to the
duty of the parents and tie clothes to-
the children. It is hardly true, either,
that the juvenile martyrs to fashion
are found chiefly among tx Four Hun
dred, who are frequently iIr more sem
sihle ON this point than the u~nelect and
unselect four thousand, q whose off
spring it might be sale: BY their
frills We shall know them
Making due allowance IL the mother
pride, which SO dearly loves to see fine
feathers on her bantling, and fo- the
real difficulty of making a person of
thirty or whereabouts unG 4rstand the
feelings OF a person of five, or there
abouts, still I never see ne of those
disconsoiate little nortals n purple too
rich aII linen too fine to z .rmit of him
~erjoyin~ airlsclf. that tn unworthy
desire Zoos rot rise in &c to cntice
him aT~"y rom his guart3ian--or the
| 49,, II ,--+ - 81 ~ - =.
and the clothes to the possibilities of
mud-pie making, take him triumphant
II pack to MS unnatural parents and
run.
This is, however. far from being
what l intended to say t. good little
childrcn, who can (this Is a fact, not
airy theory a2d indeed should bs
t2ught to take reasora 10 care of
reasonable clothes. Tht youngster
wno deliberately wipes Z udGy hands
On a fresh White shirt, walks
into puddies with now boots, or
rolls down Kill in a SundG frock, has
the insti.c CT an an--chist and
should be "nippel in tn bud" like
Boylc's RAJ. "a put it t~erselv, in the
words OF one mother l E1ow: Chill
dren kick two sords of b ics in their
shccs-those made uninteT s~ionally and
those made Intentionally The rem
edy for the first is a new Z ir of shoes;
for the second, a spanking >
1t isn't necessary to frigiiten a child
with threats or worry HIN with the
sharp REM lder thai 'ctothes cost
money to teach him respect for prop
erty in clothes, as in o her things.
Simply oblice the most dc .tructive OF
e~,o11 ,DIc1r - l-,1,1 -, ~ ,;,- E..