Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1899-04-20

which IL necessary Tor the duties al
coming life? No one can feel more
thankful than do for the advancement
Of common school education. The
printing of books appropriate for
schools, the multiplication of philo-
Sophical apparatus. the establishment
Of normal schools, which provide for
our children teachers of largest caliher.
are themes on which every philanthro-
pist ought To he congratulated. But
| this hrrdiug of great multitudes OF
children in ill-,cntilatcd schoolrooms
and poorly equipped halls Of instruction
is making many of the places of knowl-
edge in this country Il huge holocaust.
Politics in many of the cities gets into
educational affairs and while the two
political parties are scrabbling for the
honors Icphthah's daughter perishes.
Il is So much SO that Their. are many
schools in the country to-day which are
preparing tens of thousands of invalid
men and women tor the future; 81 that.
| in many places. by the time the childs
education is finished the child is fin
ished. In many places. in many cities
Of the country. there are large appro-
| priationS for everything else and cheer
| full appropriations. but as soon as the
! appropriation is tn he made for the edu
cational or moral interests of the city
we are struck through with an economy
that is wcll-nigh the death of MS.
In connection with this | mention
what might call the examining system
I of the common schools and many of the
academies: children of delicate brain
compelled To tasks that might appall
mature intellect; children going down
| To school with Il strap of books half as
high as themselves. The fact is. In some
of the cities parents do not allow their
children to graduate for the simple
reason. they say: I'VE cannot afford to
| allow our children's health To he de-
stroyed in order that they may gather
! the honors of an institution. Tens of
/ thousands Of children educated into inn
/ becility. 81 that connected with many
such literary establishments there ought
| to be asylums for the wrecked. II is
push and crowd and cram and stuff
| and jam until the child's intellect is he
| wildercd and the memory is ruined and
the health is gone. There are children
who once were full of rcmping and
| laughter and had cheeks crimson with
| health who are now turned out in the
afternoon pale faced. irritated. asth
/ matte, old before their time. II is one
of the saddest sights on earth. an old
mannish boy-or an old womanish girl.
Girls ten years of age studying algebra.
| Boys II years of age rarking their brain
over trigonometry, Children unac-
! guaintcd with their mother tongue cry
| ing over their Latin. French and Ger
man lessons, All the vivacity of their
nature beaten out of them by the heavy
beetle of Il Greek lexicon. And you doc
tor them for this, and YOU give them
| little medicine for that, and you won
der what is the matter of them. ] will
| tell YOU what is the matter of them.
| They are finishing their education.
In my parish in Philadelphia a little
child was 81 pushed AT school that she
was thrown into a fever. and in her
dying delirium. all night long. she was
| trying to recitr the multiplication ia
BILE. In my boyhood remember that in
our class ut school there was one lad
who knew more than all of us put to-
gether. If we were fast in our arith-
metic. he extricated us. When we stood
up for the spelling class, he was almost
always the head of the class. Visitors
came to his fathers house. and he was
always brought in as prodigy. At Is
| years of age he was an idiot. He lived
ten years an idiot and died m idiot.
not knowing his right hand from his
left or day from night. The parents and
| the teachers made him an idiot.
Ion NAV ilutter your pride by forcing
your child to know more than any other
children, but YOU are making sacri-
flee of that child if by the additions to
its intelligence you are making "a sub
traction from its future. The child will
| go away from such maltreatment with
TO eXuberance to fight the battle OF
life. Such children may get along very
well while YOU take care of them. but,
| when You are old or dead. alas for
them if through the wrong system of
education which you adopted they
have no swarthiness or force OF charac-
! ter to take care of themselves, BE care
full how you make the child's head ache
! or its heart futter. hear a great deal
about black man's rights, and China
mans rights. and Indians rights, and
woman's rights. Would to God that
iren's rights. The Carthagians used
| To sacrifice their children by putting
| them into the arms of an idol which
thrust forth its hand. The child was
put into the arms of the idol, and no
! soonertouched the arms than il dropped
| into the fire. But il was the art of the
mothers 10 keep the children smiling
and laughing until the moment they
died. There may be fascination and
hilarity about the styles of education
of which am speaking. but it is only
laughter at the moment of sacrifice.
Would to God there were only one
Jephthah's daughter.
Again, there are many parents who
aye sacrificing their children with
wrong system of discipline-too great
rigor or too great leniency. There are
/ III WIZ 'iic
hold. The high chair in which the in
| FAINT sits is the throne, and the rattle is
the scepter. and the other children
make up the parliament where father
and mother have no vote. Such chill
dren come up To be miscreants. There
is no chance i'm this world for child
| that has never learned TO mind. Such
people become the botheration of the
church of God and the pest of the world.
Children that do not learn to obey hui
man authority are unwilling to learn
to obey divine authority. Children will
not respect parents whose authority
they do not respect. Who are these
young men that swagger through the
street with their thumbs in their vest
talking about their father as 1.-THE old
man." the governor" 1.-The squire"
the old chap" or their mother as 1.-The
old woman" They are those who in
youth. in childhood, never learned to
respect authority. Eli, having heard
that his sons had died in their wicked
ness. fell over backward and broke his
neck and died. Well he might. What
is life to a father whose SONS are de-
bauched? The dust of the valley is
pleasant To his taste. and the driving
rains that drip through the roof of the