The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-04-29

| III. (.
He drew his rein, and he checked his speed.
He threw her a crown and kissed his hand.
He was the nOhlest In the land ~.
"A penny a bunch, who'll buy?"
He dotted his plume to her lovely face,
And left her there In the market-place,
Fresh posies, pale prlmroses, -. -.
penny 4 bunch, who'll buy?
Sweet spring, posies. pale primlOses, @.
psea{ M SsrGn: %ho ha Ses Home
Journal.
r.. Precoeious Children. - f..
To those of us who still cling to old
fashioned and sentimental ideas, nothing
seems so strange as the haste parents
appear to be in nowadays to rush their
| children through childhood. Sometimes
we are even smitten with a sudden dread
that III few years more Of this kind of
progress there will be no children left,
nothing but premature, little old men and
women who are as wise ami as uninter-
eSting as their elders. '~'S ,
everywhere we see unchildishness ex-
plotted virtue. The papers TEEN with
instances Of phenomenally early develop
ment, and we read of boy in Kansas
City who at the mature age of Z has
been licensed to practice law, of an
other in Chicago who ut 5 is skiHful
surgeon, and of another who. with all the
wisdom and experience of years to
guide him, expounds the gospel in At
lanta and breaches to admiring multi
tudes. Such freak cases as these would
De OF very little Importance to the world
II they did not so surely indicate the
tendency of modern times to do away
with childhood, and force it into early
maturity.
Nho
rent is the precocity of Bobby or Mary.
II they are bright their little minds are
crammed, and their memories taxed to
learn long poems which they are called
on to reclte to unfortunate guests, If
they have an ear for music they are
made to spend long hours of drudgery
over the piano when they should be at
play III order to be able to show off.
they are rushed through school ut
break-neck pace that their idiotic pa-
rents may be able to say that Bobby is
only I, but he is in such and such a
grade. Anything and everything that is
unchildish seems to be matter of pride
and congratulation to fathers and moth
erS.
One might see some reason in this wild
desire for precocity if precocious children
made the famous men and women of the
world. But it is a notorious fact that
precocious children very seldom amount
to anything in after life. They flash on
the horizon like star, and then sink into
utter darkness. Perhaps this is oftener
than not the parents fault, and the tai
ent that might have developed into &C.
MUS had it been left to grow and ripen
in natures own way has been forced into
premature, dollhouse maturity, with
out stamina, or sweetness, or flavor.
But leaving this view of the question
| alone, 1t is strange that parents should
wish to abridge the period of childhood
from mere selfish reasons. 1t is only
when our children are little that we have
them, and there is so much of sweetness
In the clinging clasp of litt,e arms about
the neck, so much of JOY in the faith that
thinks papa and mamma the great arbi-
ters of destiny, that it is marvellous that
anyone could wish to abridge that time
by single hour. 1t isn't long at the
best. Before one knows 1t they are
world, with os hopes and ambitions and
cares has rushed between, and torn your
| child from you, and given you a man Or
woman in its stead, and the exchange, so
tar as the parents are concerned, is al
ways robbery.
Then think what cruelty it is to rob a
child of childhood. So soon, so soon must
go forth into a world where there is a
thorn hidden under every rose and "a sor-
row under every pleasure. No4matter
what after life may give us of honors, or
fame, or riches. we can never be quite
happy. We have learned the bitter lesson
OF suspicion, We have learned to dread
tomorrow, and we have left behind us
graves whose shadows stretch across the
rosicst promise of the future. 1t is these
burdens that we lay upon little shoulders,
too weak, to bear them. when we shorten
the one care-free time of life in our silly
! ambition to develop precocious smartness
| IN chlldren.-New Orleans Picayune.
Quiet dignity.
Of all the virtues that a true womanly
woman should possess to rise in the es-
| tlmatlon of the average man dignity is
! generally conceded to be the leader.
With this attribute there comes nat
| urally that peculiar reserve essentially at
| tractlve In woman. 1t is all very well
to admire in the abstract the fluffy, kit
tenish sort of a woman, but man de-
mands in his wife above all else that re-
serve of manner which commands and re-
! celves respect.
The dignifed woman never has any
complaint to make of familiarity OH the
part of men with whom she comes III
| contact either socially or in business life.
| Her dignity is shield against insult and
the brightest jewel in her crown of wonl-
amy ATTRIBUTES. Inc dlgmhed woman OF
| necessity need not be so frigid in her de-
meanor as to be repellent, but she can be
| possessed Of winsome sweetness all her
| own which is emphasized by the quiet
calm that is the outward evidence of NEIL
tai equipoise. The f1ippant badinage
which so many women think attractive t.
| the other sex fails to win half the admira,
ton that is accorded the quiet dignity
| Of the one who never allows herself to
lapse into any familiarity of speech or &C,
| ton on which false construction might
be placed. If nature has not endowed
woman with this commendable character
| istic it is we'll to set about it's cultivation
| at once, for it is a well-known fact that
| it is quite as easy to train set of man.
ners as a set of morals, and as the at
tribute of dignity can be classified under
| both headings it is easily seen what rare
| advantages must accrue to the woman
who wins it for her own.-Philadelphia
| Times.
One Form of Egotihln.
There is no class of people that is 50
| uncomfortable to live with as the thin
skinned individuals who have what are
called feelings and whose hyper-sensi-
tive natures are continually on the look
out for grievances or, fancied neglect or
1