The record-union., 1897-08-15
BESELENk'S PRATTLE.

| Especial Correspondence of Record -Union)
| PORTLAND (Or), Aug. lit seems
to me that mothers make such a grave
mistake in allowing their half-grown
daughters so much liberty of action and
so many privileges. I don't advocate
shutting a girl up like a cloistered nun
and giving her no arnusements or free
| dom whatever, but I do think that
many a heartache could be spared and
worlds of future misery If mothers only
troubled themselves more as to the do
ings of their daughters.
There is no period in a wonnan's life
when she is sweeter and more lovable
/ than when she stands ON the brink be-
tween girlhood and weHnanhood, anx-
/ ious, yet hesitating, before she enters
/ into the realm of womanhood, with all
| of its unknown, untried pleasures be-
| fore her.
/ 1t has always seemed such a very
| unWise thing on the part of mothers
/ to allow their young daughters, some
/ of them no more than school girls, to
go out with men and boys unchaperOn-
! ed l believe that a girl should not be
! allowed out alone until she has reached
! her eighteenth or twentieth year. So
much depends ON these growing girls.
Some day they are destined to be-the
mothers of a future generation, and If
/ their youth and energy is spent before
I they are fairly out of the schoolroom
in a frivolous round of pleasure, what
sort of mothers are they destined to
make? This is the most susceptible
period of a girls life. The influences
/ they receive at this time, the environ
ments by which they are surrounded,
/ hp cd To
keep--each and every one of these
things is destined to have it's influence
upon her future.
1 not only speak for girls, but for
boys as we'll. The average parent seems
TO have a mistaken idea that boy can
grow up rank and wild like a weed of
the field and become good man and
! respectable member of society. The
/ average boy is pushed continually III
| the background and is ignored ON ali
! occasions. He is treated more as an
| incumbrance than anything else. He
resents this, which is quite natural that
| he should, because boys, as a rule,
are sensitive little animals. I believe
in good, wholesome home training, and
| constant association with his sisters
is the very best thing in the world TO
bring out all that is best in boy. Such
influences are bound to bring out the
best that is in any boy, and help to
overcome his natural diffidence.
If much depends ON a growing girl,
| then equally as much depends on a
growing boy. Some day in the not far
distant future these boys are going to
| become mem, and some day, too, they
are going to have intrusted to their
keeping the future happiness of some
woman. You and I. my friends, don't
know just whose daughter she may be,
but his treatment of her will be a test
| of the amount of home training that
man received in his youth. A boy who
never knew what it was to have hap
py home won't know anything about
making a happy home for his wife,
and there will surely follow sorrow and
disappointment.
1t is the associations, as we'll as the
good home training, that molds the
| characters of your sons and daughters
| A girl who tits her hat directly over
her nose who chews gum and uses
slang, and the boy who smokes and
| chews and swears and speaks of his
| mother as the 'old woman" and his
| father as the "old man." and thinks
it smart is surely no fit associate for
your children. Another thing, I don't
! believe that the question of govern
/ ment should ever be allowed to arise
| between a mother and daughter or a
| father and son, because the moment
| that question: arises just so sure does
the parent lose all control of their sons
| and daughters. 1t takes an infinite
amount of patience and tact to govern
| children. 1t seems to me that the WlseSt
and best way to govern these men and
| women in miniature would be by
series of suggestions. Explain to the
| child the wisdom of doing a certain
thing, and the folly of letting it go un-
done and IN nine cases out of ten your
| kindly suggestion viii be acted upon,
pleasantly and willingly, whereas if the
| child felt that it had to- 10 a certain
! thing through fear of punishment only
a surfy compliance would be the re-
suit
1t is a. wise mother who wins her
childrens love through kindness in
stead of fear Mothers are so apt to
run from one extreme to the other in
the management of their children they
either spoil them entirely, or else bring
them up with such haxsh and rigorous
treatment that all that is best and
noblest in the child is gradually crush
ed out of him and he becomes morose
| and surly.
| 1t has always been a, source of much
| wonderment to the foreigners visiting
our country to see the many privileges
given our American youngsters. Chill
dren scarcely out of arms are allowed
to sit at the table while the fond par
ents neglect their guests to minister to
the wants of these young autocrats,
[ had this fact brought home to me in
a. forcible manner one day some time
ago 1 was visiting in a certain city,
and was invited by some friends to have
dinner with them the next day. They
were both clever people and I gladly
accepted the invitation, anticipating a
| most enjoyable evening. When I ar
rived at the house on the appointed
evening I found the only child, a girl
of g. monopolizing the entire conversa-
ton. After the civility of greeting me
was over the doting mother asked aalx-
iously: What We're you saying, darl-
| ing?" and the precociOus kidlet re-
sumed her interrupted discourse, both
parents fairly hanging on each word
she said, and occasionally asking me
in a breathless whisper what I thought
of that.
| AT dinner she sat on her fathers right
and was served before any one else.
After dinner she again monopolized the
conversation until from sheer exhaus-