The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1897-04-02
asper COURIER.
CHILDHOOD.

The happiest period OF human
life, if we only new it, is that of
childhood. This is the golden age
repeated in every generation, which
comes once to all unless prevented
by parental deprayity or misfortune.
An age of innocense, of beauty, and
of natural enjoyment, when mind
and body are soft and plastic, and
all around is full of freshness and
loveliness. No pleasures are so
sweet as those of childhood, no
imagination SO strong, no faith so
perfect. Its widest credulities are
as substantial as sober realities, and
it dwells perpetually in the fairy
realm of wonderland. All great
minds have reverenced childhood.
All tender ones have regarded it
with infinite love, for part of its
own sweetness, and absolute de-
pendence, endear it to every feeling
heart.
The noblest poets have sung its
praises, the deepest philosophers
have given to it their worthiest
thoughts. The wisest legislators
have provided for its protection.
Painters represent cherubs as
children, and the infant Cupid was
the God of love. Even Christ him
self said of the little ones, while He
took them in His arms and blessed
them, that of such is the Kingdom
of Heaven composed. But when
we contemplate society with the
passions which rend and the crimes
that disgrace it; its sufferings, its
tears, its wants, its wretchedness,
its lack of sympathy and of true en-.
joymen., when we see the nations
ruled 10y the sway of "blood and
iron," and Astraea driven from the
earth, it appears almost incredible
that all the world was once a little
innocent child. Milton said: =
"The childhood shows the man,
As morning shows the day"
If this be so, why are so many
fair promises betrayed?
Why should not the golden state
of innocence be prolonged into ma.
turity and agel 1t cannot be tha
vice and misery are necessary con
lcomitants of adult humanity. Is i
because we are wise over much, be-
cause we forget that the majority
of mankind are always "children oi
a larger growth" and "instead oi
expecting them to be self-governing
patterns of wisdom and virtue we
should rather look for the ignorant
simplicity of children and treat
them accordingly. Or is it because
that with every year we 60 farther
astray from Nature, and pin our
happiness on conventional life and
conduct instead OF a childlike obe-
dience to her eternal and universal
laws? Harmony with Nature is all
that God requires from all His
creatures to make their happiness
and salvation sure. And however
much we may change, Nature is
constant, among the faithless,
faithful only she!"
The infant was worshipped as the
semblance of the Godhead thous-
ands of years before the Christian
era. The celestial Virgin and Child
of Paganism were adored from
Africa to India. The Virgins
names were innumerable. In
Egypt she was Isis; in Babylon,
Ishtar; in Assyria, Ri; in Greece,
Ceres; in Cyprus, Venus; in Hindo.
stan, Sara; in Persia, Artemis; in
Syria, Astarte. The people of
Mexico also worshipped the Mother
and Child ages before America was
discovered. AS we write there lie
before us reproductions of some of
these; Ishtar of Nineveh and her
child with a shaven head; Ansitis,
"The Mother of the Child" who
lies swathed in her lap, Isis suck
ling Horus; and Devaki, Christina.
Davaki and Christina are repre-
sented as they were in India six
hundred years b. c., with aureoles
around their heads like the Virgins
and Christs of the MEDIEVAL paint
ers. The Virgin, although a Phal-
lie divinity, was emblematical OF
Time, in whose fertile womb all
things lie hidden-the mother of all.
For among mankind the beau ideal
Of mother was one in whom were
united the beauty of virgin with
the tenderness OF a mother.
The production of a child, al
though a natural marvel in itself,
is so easy that an idiot or a luna.
tic may become parent as readily
as any one else. But prudence re-
quires that the number OF offspring
should never exceed the means Of
comfortable subsistence, and JUS