, 1897-11-24
CHILDREN'S IDEAS.
EXAMPLES OF THEIR CURIOUS VIEWS
OF LIFE AND DEATH.

How Young Minds Take Hold on Great Mys-
tcries-so.ne Afraid to Die. Others With
out Such Fear-The Life That Would
P~leaseand the Death They would Choose.
The Riyista Italianu Gi Filosotia con-
tains an article by DR.. Marpillero on
children's ideas of life and death. de-
scribing how he questioned a number
of young children on these subjects at
an elementary school at Rovigo and the
answers he received. We quote some of
the most curious. In answering the
question, what is lifc::' the boys were
much more bold than the girls. Many
children, boys, defined life rs "a spirit
that runs away Us soon as we die \
boy of 8 years philosophically observed.
Life is II sea Of troubles, which one
may cross well or with great unhappi-
ness \ boy Of 10 said. Life is IL
thing which is never distinguished -
another, Life is Il good work to cat
WE'LL another, Life is an invisible
thing. which vanishGs when it likes and
never returns" \ little girl of 10 said,
oNA tiiV 10 - iuii. ~ HIiltlI tILI VI
poor condition, aged s, said. life is
paradise. A very general answer was.
Life is beautiful" or the opposite,
Life is ugly and most Il the chill
dren who thought life the last were of
well to do families. To the question,
What is death!' many replied mega
lively, especially the girls. Very few,
aud these only boys. noted the phcnom-
enon of death, and one gave as
Death is Il pure spirit. Tic blood dries
up; one neither moves nor feels"
Another boy of s years gave an an
swer bordering on popular superstition,
Death is a thing that, when | die,
pulls my feet" Another boy of s had Il
tinge of medical knowledge and replied,
death is when one has more than AZ
degrees of fever" Another said, Death
is a thing that Il never sees again,
never again.. To the question, "Arc you
afraid of dying:' 81 children, all boys,
gave no reply; G2, of whom ! We're girls,
replied negatively; all tie others-that
is, a large majority-said, Yes" \.
little girl Of 10 of well to do parents
gave the answer, II am not at all afraid
Of dying because am tired Of living
All the orphan replied i'll the following
sense, Il am not afraid OF dying because
| want to see my parents again" a lit
tie girl of 8 said, Il am not afraid Of
dying because it is Il thing sent by
Cod A boy of IL replied, Il am not
afraid of dying because l am healthy
and have no disease" Another. Il am
NOT nfvail hppn11En prn str,nu mud
healthy" a little girl of II said, Il
fear death because it might come ut
night and pull my feet" Another little
girl said, Il am afraid of death because
it seems that it is my mother who is
dead a girl of II. who had evidently
been told some CHASTITY stories, replied,
II am afraid of death because it is so
ugly, and one day Bernard went to bury
adead person, and it got hold of Bernard
and gave him IL kiss"
Another boy of 8 said, II am afraid
my sister any more" Another we'll to
do boy said, Il am afraid of dying be-
cause when Il is dead one cannot see
the men gathering the harvest Of grapes
and SO many nice things a little boy
Of 6 answered. Il fear death because I
shall not be born another time after"
The majoritr of answers to the qucs-
tion, do yC want to grow Gld:' We're
in the negative. i well to do li:tlc boy
Of 0 years answered, II should not like
to grow old because l should have no
strength to work and might die Of hun
GER"
A little girl of Q said, mo, because I
should have to work hard for my chill
iren, to feed and clothc them" Many
girls feared to become ugly, saying,
No, because l should he without
teeth" and, mo, because l Should be
ugly" or gray, or STOPPING. y little
girl said she would like to grow old
and have grandchildren. \ boy said,
Yes, so that might 20 to paradise. -
Another of 10 years said, Yes, because
| should have finished almost all my
wishes" When asked. ''fIow would
you like to live:' most Of the children
were very modest and did not give way
to fancy.
Many poor children wished that they
might live "on broth and breao, ION
rice ION polenta." or said, II don't
want to suffer cold and hunger A
child of G. Il boy, said, Il should like
TO live with my father and mother
Another poor boy of 10 said, Il should
like to live content i'll my own home, be-
cause then l am happy Another poor
orphan boy of 10 said, II should like to
have enough to live on and go and he
with my father and specially my moth
ar, of whom | am always thinking
Very few expressed II wish to live i'll a
class superior to their Own, but a boy
IF ! said, Il should like to live without
working and lie a gentleman Anoth-
Or of G years replied, Il should like to
live well dressed and have IA hat and 80
put walking" A little girl of 0 said,
Il should like to live like a lady and
never work and always be served To
the question, How would you like to
hie?" the answers frequently alluded to
family life. A boy of 6 said, Il should
like to die in bed with my mother
One of 10 answered, Il should like to
die at So years, with my parents by my
SIDE" One boy of II would like to die
with the hope of finding my parents
and brothers and sisters" A boy of 10
said, 81 should like to die all alone,
leaving no brother or any Il else on
earth There were some small boys
| who wished to die on the field of battle,
and others who did not wish to grow
old because they would have to serve
-, a.. r,, F',.Fn or fhrpn Hyisl,ll RI