The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1897-12-10

which left his whole hi cher nature out Of the account"
CAUSE Of HooOlumsML hands i "A Ia large U' measure eUnr' to "nsv ' and m " e.
der the civilization of the future. The responsibility resting upon them is
very gcat-the influences excrted by them are eternal, working for the up
building of humanity Or the deterioration OF the race. The Glowing edto
rial from the Popular Science Monthly for December 10 .ucwith reproduced
Isl better expression Of our sentiments on the ubject:
1t may he doubted il ever In the history of this country complaints Of
hwlc~ncs, particularly of that kind known ashoodlumsm. were 50 bitter
and 50 universal. The cv' is not confined to the south, where the rayages
of the civil war left y deep mark of decentralization, nor to the far west,
where the rudcness OF frontier life is no stimulant to virtue. Even in the
east, II Sew England, the home Of Puritan order and virtue suffers from it.
So serious and widespread has it become in towns still inhabited by the de-
~cndants of the stern men and women that fled from the vice and intoer-
ance of the civil and ecclesiastical rulers Of England that Prof. Charles Eliot
Norton, a, tue dinner given to fellow professors at Ashfeld, Mass, "a few
weeks ago was moved to sound the alarm, taking as his text the shocking
murder Of woman at sheburnc Fails b, a village ruhaan of New England
birth.
The address, startling but not sensational has evoked very general dis
cuslon, 1t has stimulated the production of theories to account for this
food OF hwleSness, One is the absence of proper police surveillance to re.
strain the disordcrly instincts Of the ruhan. Another is the absence of the
civic virtue that compels people to take part in public affairs, and to see to|
it that life and property are protected. While both are doubtless worthy of
consideration neither Of them goes to the root of the matter We are still
in the dark as to the reason of the absence of civic virtue and the presence
Of criminal instincts. Why, after all our elaborate legislative efforts to
make people walk in the straight and narrow path, and to provide them with
all the educational advantages that money can buy, is it true, in the bitter
words of Alphonse Karr, that 'p"s ga chang, p@ cit Ia menu dos'f In
other words, why have all our efforts to promote civilization resulted only in
The revival Of barbarism?
We believe that the chief of the Massachusetts police hit upon one of
the most potent causes Of this depmablc state of affairs. "The root of the
trouble, ~ he said, when asked his opinion of Prof. Nortons address, "es in
the fact that so many parents are lax in bringing up their children.
In proof Of this, look at the streets of our cities after nlghtfal, swarmiug
with rude unmanner1y boys taking their first lessons in hoodlumism. Par
ens fail to realize their responsibility toward their children When this
is the case, what more can we expect than the prevalence of lawlcssness in
town as we'll as city, in the east as well rs the west, in the north as well as
the south? Children that have not been subjected to the firm but gentle
discipline of the home, that have not been taught by their parents the hab-
Its OF order dccency and virtue re n~t likely to grow up with a sense OF
their duty to themselves or to their fellows. They arr almost certain to
grow up IS loafers, or corruptonias, Or Is citizens indifferent to the dcmor-
alzaton around them. tt is still as true as it ever was in the old copy book
that as the twig is bent SO is the tree inclined,
But why are parents lax in bringing up their children? Why do they
fail to realize their responsibility toward their offspring? Nothing is more
;,,,rt,,t In Il, ,r~1lt l", ,r,,%b,nl ~ the l,,,, - ,o,.o.u ,l o-1: |
ztion, Nothing is better fitted to give pleasure We believe that some
German pessimist has. condemned it on the ground that as long as it prevails
the desire to live will never be extnguished. When men and women lose
their interest in the world itself, they cling to it because of their interest n
their children; and when their children have grown up, tits still maintained
by their interest in their grandchildren, ever hoping to see realized in the
lives of the new generation the dreams of happiness and fame that were
never realized in their own. However cynical and depressing this may be,
it has unquestionably much of truth. The survival of those children whose
parents took the best care of them has given birth to a set of powerful feel.
ings that can be gratihed only through papnthood. These feelings, sacre j
above all Others, respond to efforts to protect the child from harm, to dew Il.
OPP its intellect, to cultivate its manners, to intensity its affections in "a
word, to make t a good man o woman. capable and high-minded.
Yet how rcckessly and amazingly have parents strayed from the path
that will lead them to the greatest happiness youchsafed to any lunar be-
ing! How ceaseless have been the efforts to convince them that there is an.
other way for them to attain this bliss and at the same time hasten te ad-
vent of the millennium! So successful have these efforts been that it is now
expected that the public schools shall do all the work that Nature herself
designed. for more fit and tender hands. Only last summer the sup .rintend.
ent Of public education OF The state of New York set forth very deliberately
the new theory Of parenthod, or, rather, revived the old Greek theory with
slight notifications. "The state " he said, "has a right to demand from
the schools that children be trained. first of all. to a thorough mastery Of
the studies in the elementary course. But with these studies, " he
continued, demanding the impossible, "should be taught courtesy of man.
nr, pNitencss OF speech, refinement Of thought and genuine culture of life. |
The state has the right to expect also that pupils from the beginning Of
their course be imbued with the spirit Of honesty, with the love Of truth
aud purity, ind integrity Of thought and action. While it is never
the province Of the state to teach religious truth after the distinctive tenets
of any form Of belief. ii emphatcaly the duty Of the state to see that
children are taught the highest and purest morality. y
Is this not an assumption by the state Of most, il not ALL the dutiesl
that belong to the parents? Who better than they can teach courtesy Of
manner, poitcness Of speech, refinement Of thought, and genuine calture Of
lne'? Who better than they can inspire them with the spirit OF honest Il
the love Of truth and purity with integrity Of thought and action. !?
Who better than they can see to it that "chndren are taught the highest . nd
morality? The association Of parents with a child is constant and
over many years: that Of any pubicschool teacher, intermittent and
brief. There are the ties Of an affection that bind them to 1t and inn vel i'll
to obey them that do not exist, except seebly, between IT and the to- cher
These ties are Of the utmost Importance. Nothing should ever be aaid Or
done to weaken them. On the contrary everything should be said ND done
to strengthen them for use In the guidance Of the footsteps during imprss-
iouable years It was by the pursuit Of this course that Alphonse Daudet
ws enabled toenjy the complete and loving confidence Of his Oh ihfen asl
long - they remained under the parental roo. and to shape their li&s inAl