New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1897-11-17
CHILDREN IDEAS.
EXAMPLES OF THEIR CURIOUS VIEWS
OF LIFE. AND DEATH.
h 1w Young Minds Take Hold ON Great Mys-
teries-some Afraid to Die, Others With
out Such Fear-The Life That Would
Please and the Death They Would Choose.

Please and the Death They Would Choose.
The Rivista Italiana di Filosofia con-
tains an article by DR.. Marpillero on
childrenIs ideas of life and death, de-
scribing how he questioned 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 life?'' the boys were
much more bold than the girls. Many
children, boys, defined life as "a spirit
that runs away as soon as we die. y A
boy Of years philosophically observed,
Life is sea Of troubles, which one
may cross well or with great unhappi-
ness. A boy Of 10 said, ''Life is q
thing which is never extinguished;'
another, Life is a good work to eat
WE'LL" another, Life is an invisible
thing, which vanishes when it likes and
never returns. - A little girl Of 10 said,
"Our life is fuid.'' A small girl Of
poor condition, aged 8, said, 'Life is
paradise. I" A very general answer was,
Life is beautiful - or the opposite,
Life is ugly" and most of the chill
dren who thought life the last were Of
we'll to do families. To the question,
What is death?' many replied mega
lively, especially the girls, Very few,
and these only boys, noted the phenom-
enon of death, and one gave as answer:
death is a pure spirit The blood dries
up; one neither moves nor feels. -
Another boy of 8 years gave an an
swer bordering on popular superstition,
death is thing that, when / die,
pulls my feet. - Another boy of had
tinge Of medical knowledge and replied,
Death is when one has more than 40
degreesof fever" Another said, death
is a thing that one never sees again,
never again. % To the question, Are you
afraid Of dying?'' 81 children, all boys,
gave no reply; So, of whom were girls,
replied negatively; all the others-that
is, large majority-said, Eyes - A
little girl of 10 of we'll to do parents
gave the answer, II am not at all afraid
of dying because l am tired Of living"
All the orphans replied in the following
sense, II am not afraid Of dying because
want to see my parents again. - A lit
tie girl Of said, Il am not afraid of
dying because it is a thing sent by
God A boy of IL replied, II am not
afraid of dying because am healthy
and have no disease" Another, II am
not afraid because I am strong and
healthy" A little girl Of II said, Il
fear death because it might come at
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,
Il am afraid of death because it is so
ugly, and one day Bernard went to bury
dead person, and it got hold of Bernard
and gave him kiss"
Another boy of said, II am afraid
Of dying because I could not play with
my sister any more" Another we'll to
do boy said. Il am afraid of dying be-
cause when one is dead one cannot see
the men gathering the harvest Of grapes
and SO many nice things" A little boy
Of answered. II fear death because
/ SA2sAA AOU w UO1A e1AOVA401 OAAu0 &11O0I
The majority Of answers to the ques-
ton, DO you want to grow old?'' were
in the negative A well to do little boy
Of 8 years answered, Il should not like
to grow old because should have no
strength to work and might die Of hun
ger" - r. 49,
I A little girl Of 9 said, mo, because I
should have to work hard for my chill
dren, to feed and clothe them" Many
girls feared to become ugly. saying.
mo, because I should be without
teeth, - and, mo because I should be
ugly" or gray, OF stopping. A little
girl said she would like to grow old
and have grandchildren. A boy said,
YES, so that might go to paradise !"
Another Of 10 years said, Eyes, because
l should have finished almost all my
wishea - When asked, How would
you like to ive?'' most Of the children
were very modest and did not give way
to fancy: s....s
Many poor children wished that they
might live ION broth and breao, y on
rice " ION polenta,," or said, II don t
want to suffer cold and hunger. A
child Of 8, boy. said, II should like
to live with my father and mother. 7
Another poor boy Of 10 said, II should
like to live content in my own home, be-
cause then l am happy" Another poor