St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-05-20

sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter was
type of the physical, mental and spirit
ual sacrifice of 10000 children in this
day. There arc parents all unwitting-
ly bringing to bear upon their children
a class of influences which will rs GER
tainly ruin them as knife andtorch de-
stroyed .Jephthah's daughter While
sneak. the whole nation. without emo
ton and without shame, looks upon the
stupendous sacrifice.
In the first place, remark that much
Of the system of education in our day
is u system of sacrifice. When children
spend six or seven hours in school and
then must spend two or three hours in
| preparation for school the next day,
win YOU tell me how much time they
| will have for sunshine and fresh air
and the obtaining of that eNnberance
which is necessary for the duties OF
| coming life? No one can feel more
| thankful than tlo 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 calibcr.
are themes on which every philanthro-
.pist ought to be congratulated. But
this herting of great E;ultitudes OF
children in ill-ventilatcd schoolrooms
and poorly equipped halls of instruction
is making many of the places of knowl-
Il s. hnl ,c1plSf
Politics in many of the cities gets into
educational affairs and while the two
| political parties are scrabbling for the
honors Jephthah's daughter pcrishes.
| 1t is so much so that there are many
schools in the country to-day which are
preparing tens of thousands of invalid
men and women for the future: SO that.
in many places, by the time the child S
education is finished the child is fin
ished! In many places, in many cities
of the country, there arc large appro-
priations for everything else and cheer
full appropriations, but as soon as the
| appropriation is to be made for thc edu-
cational or moral interests of the city
we are struck through with an economy
that is well-nigh the death of us.
In connection with this I mention
| what might call the cramming system
| Of the common schools and many of the
academies; children of delicate brain
compelled to tasks that might appall a
mature intellect; children going down
TO school with a strap of books half as
high as themselves. The fact is, in some
of the cities parents-<lo not all low their
children to graduate for the simple
reason, they say: 1--WE cannot afford to
allow our childrcn's health to be de-
stroyed in order that they may gather
the honors of an institution" Tens of
thousands of children educated into inn
becility, SO 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 be-
wildered and the memory is ruined and
the health is gone. There are children
who once were full of rcmping and
laughter and had checks crimson with
health who are now turned out in the
afternoon pale faced, irritated, asth-
matte. old before their time. 1t is one
of the saddest sights On Garth, an old
mannish boy or an old womanish girl.
Girls ten years of age studying algebra!
Boys y years of age racking their brain
over trigonomctry! Children unac-
uuaintcd with their mother tongue cry
ing over their Latin, French and Ger
man lessons! AL the vivacity of their
nature beaten out of them by the heavy
beetle of 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 CT them. will
tell you what is the matter Of them.
They are finishing their education.
In my parish in Philadelphia little
child was SO pushed at school that she
was thrown into Il fever. and in her
dying dclirium, all night long, she was
trying to rccite the multiplication ta-
bic. In my boyhood remember that in
our class mt school there was ono lad
who knew mere 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 an idiot.
not knowing his right hand from his
left or day from night. The parents and
the teachers made him an idiot.
You may f,utter your pride by forcing
your child to know more than any other
children, but you are making sacri-
fee OF that child if by the additions 10
its intelligence you are making |; sub
traction from its future. The child will
go away from such maitreatment with
no exubcrance 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 chaTac-
ter to take care of themselves. BE caro-
full how you make the child's head ache
or its heart futter. hear great deal
about black mans rights, and China
mans rights, and Indians rights, and
woman's rights. Would TO God that
somebody would rise to plead for chill
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
sooner touched the arms than it dropped
into the fire. But it was the art of the
mothers to keep the children smiling
and laughing until the moment they
died. There may be fascination and
n hilarity about the styles of education
of which I am speaking, hut it is only
laughter at the moment of sacrifice.
Would to God there were only one
Jephthah's daughter!
Again. there arc many parents who
are sacrificing their children with
wrong system of discipline-too great
rigor or too great leniency. There are
children in families who rule the house
hold. The high chair in which the in
FAINT sits is the throne, and the rattle Is
Az uV~s