The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-04-04

laugh, and leave him shuddeTIng with
fright is abominable. Parents very often
carelessly infiict cruelty on their children.
1 do not mean by fiOgging them. For,
upon my word, believe in the good old
times when one could give them a good
thrashing; and l am sure they grew
up .nore wOmanly and manly for It than
IN plese fE-de-siecle Gays, when if one
raps a child over the knuckles or slaps
him on that portion of the anatomy de-
creed by an all-wise Providence for that
process you are liable to be hauled up by
some extra-OfficiOus authority, paid By
results, to the nearest magistrate. prob
ably fined, and certainly your name held
in OblOquy.
But 1t is the cruelty of modern parents
of which | speak. The children are well
fed, well clothed, and educated in a suDe-
rior manner-granted. But they starye
them of love. They ignore the beauty of
home teaching, the wisdom of the aiage
that practice is better than precept Why
should a child love a parent that he never
sees? L remember a relation of mine
and this is true, upon my word of honor.
He, as city man, left home at $50 in the
morning. The children are in the nursery.
Returns in the evening at 6:3O The chill
dren are eXiled, so that father should
not be troubled So, with the exception
Of Sundays. when he was invariably tired,
and had house full OF visitors. he never
saw his family. One day his eldest littie
lad a splendid little chap of about six,
said to his mother: Shall l see Fred
Erred, / must tell you, is his fathers
name)-"shall | see Fred on Sunday,
mother?' Who do you mean by FTed?'
she said at once, thinking that the young
scapegoat would apologize and say: ooh,
mean father" Instead of which he turned
around quite innOcently and said: "Oh,
mean the man that spends Saturday and
Sunday with you" Poor little soul, he
meant nothing wrong. II was simply a
fact that he did not know that it was his
father, for he saw nothing of him. Max
ing money is great thing, but | Ger
tainly do not believe in getting it at the
expense of all domestic ties. Then there
are mothers who repulse their children,
who when dear little soul runs with
dirty. sticky face to be kissed. chilled al
the wealth of love by, "Oh, do not touch
me; you are SO dirty, you Will spoil nay
dress"
CTuel?-it is sheer cruelty. and believe
me, it bears very bitter after-fruIt. ! will
now speak Of the licensed cruelty that Is
pidNA4NFA every I'd -iiDII4batg hlchtls
murderOus cruelty Of speech. Go into a
modern drawing-rOOm and hear genteel,
c|parer-ly well-bTed women discuss an
absent one. You Will understand what 1
mean about cruelty. The half innuen-
does, the upraising of delicate eyebrows,
the little cough, the yelled suggestions
Yes, it is wicked 10 murder 10 transgress
a commandment. but it is quite lawful,
AMI proper, and fashionable 20 kill rep
utatiOh out OF some wanton amusement,
for the pleasure of being thought smart;
and then, with what refinement Of cruelty
two rival women greet each other, and
while they give their Judas-like kiss
stab with their tongues, far more venom
Ously and deeply than If they had dag
ger. / will give an instance OF what I
mean, and this, again, is true. a certain
very charming little lady is very popular
with the members OF the opposite sex, and
the number Of her sWeethearts is legion.
She is very pretty and very up-tO-date,
and, I am quite sure, as straight as a die.
She likes . flirt. and she does it openly
and abOyebOard, and I think that IL Is
her very frankness and JraightfOrWard-
ness that make her 50 popular with men.
She is also an exceedingly clever needle
woman, and mas excellent taste, 50 that
she is able 10 dress exceedingly well on an
allowance that the majority Of women
would turn their noses up at. one even
ing she was present al a reception where
was. A lady, who greatly deIezIed her
came in and kissed her, and said, in d
highly clear voice affected BY society
danes nowadays: you look quite too
fascinating tonight, dear, but where Is
Can't. -. isn't he with your Nd" an
swered the girl lsughingly. HE is not
here tonight. Ny cavalier i Lieut.
Stars" oh, ! might have known you
had a new cavalier rejOined the lady. Il
see YOU have a new dress on DO not
mink ever heard anything more desDic-
ably venomOus than lhat remark The
u5ar little woman flushed up and the tears
came into her soft eyes, and the pleasure
of tho evening was spOilt fOr her.
II Is these little speeches that seem %
me 10 BE- the refinement % cruelty Then
there is the licensed cruelty o. wearing
osDreys. We have got An anti-Diunnage
league. whose members must not wear
birds. Quite right. for il il scanda.Ogs =
me 10 note the massacre Of the feasSercI
sonysters. tut II they cannot wear blrLs
vvbv ospreys where far more cruelty b
IuyoIvedz Then there was great 0gtery'
SONS. YEAR, aRo about sealskIn, ana some
people who wrote and talked 30 strongly
about il we're clothed iH coats Of Persian
lamb. and n / could only ten you how
Persian lamb il obtained no decent Uo-
mar would wear it-s0 revolving II the
manner In which IL i got Isn't his IL
eensed cruelty2 On. ana there are heaps
and heaps o. other cTusltles that are Dratc-
ticed. Having large houses and letting
your poor NTetrhed servants sleep in
damp underground kitchens or IN top at
ties without the least ventilation. OF ing
ing the bell constantly for them 10 come
% and down the stairs. There - the cru
city Of the slaves " The co1nteT-ihoEe