The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-11-04

L = - ~ Adtd4d ~ A1u6A dN AC Gtt cAi6I
imaginings Of children, and to ridicule
their fear Of the dark; but mothers should
realize that this is a matter needing seri-
Gus consideration. There is a great diff
ference in children, of course; some are
naturally nervous and timid, while others
show very little hesitancy about going
to bed alone in a dark room if they have
had wise training from ~babyhood. But
with the majority of children the great
bug-bear in their lives is this fear Of the
dark. Little folk as brave as lions when
the sur shines become arrant towards
when rooms grow shadowy and strange
forms loom up in dusky corners. As the
years go on this fear keeps pace with
their growth, and even when maturity Is
reached they still dread unlighted apart
ments with an empowering fear, the
secret of which they cannot even tell to
themselves.
This terror, that is actually a species
of real misery, can often be traced either
directly or indirectly to the weird tales
told by nurses to their small charges or
the threats of dangers that Turk in dark
room if a child is naughty or disobedient.
eThe big dark becomes an ogre ready to
eat them up and twilight seems a stealth
ly. foul fend, sulking in their wake, with
all sorts Of mysterious devices with which
to brighten and to punish them.
Many grown persons cannot sleep in a
room unless a dim light is burning. They
do not acknowledge that it is fear OF the
dark that makes the faint gAmmer a nee
essary adjunct of peaceful repose, yet
such is the case; and if they were to tell
the occasion for such a fear 1t could De
sifted down to the root Of the matter and
the bugaboo stories Of childhood held re-
sponsible.
Strange as 1t may appear, it is the
children themselves who actually revei
In the tales of ghostly visitations, clank-
ing chains, fiery eyes and similar attrac-
| tions that make them shudder, yet which
have such a weird fascination for them
| that the person possessed Of a stock OF
| s,ch legends is in most demand Not
withstanding this morbid taste. parents
| should look to it that the mental appe-
lite of their children is not pandered to
bv stories that. while they are f~ascinat-
ingly horrible at the time. leave impress
sions on heart and mind that tend to
weaken the moral character. as well as
cause them an hour of actual misery
IN days TO come
When a child begins to exhibit an IN
accountable fear of the dark try sooth-
ing IT to sleep with a song in a darkened
room. and the habit may be formed from
early babyhood Of putting the child to
bed in the dark-if everything is in readi-
ness before the baby is aiken TO the
room. and the light then put out and the
little one is taken into the room and tuck
ed into bed in the dark, and the motner
or nurse remains to sing the little one to
sleep without rocking. But If a child Is
rocked TO sleep each night in a Iighled
room until it grows out of babyhood, and
is then expected to form entirely new
habits. it will be actual cruelty to expect
1t to go boldly into the dark room alone
each night and fall asleep in the midst
of fearful imaginings that the mere con-
trast from light to darkness is sure to
form. even without the assistance of
ehostly tales. Early training and patient
HELM to overcome morbid nervousness
will help the timid children to overcome
this childish fear. which might otherwise
develop into actual cowardice later in
life.
10 the CHIC WIlO OBtiIc LIS iiffi0 49,
deep truths of poetry, the forerunner OF
science. life looks simple and easy, and ne
learns to attach himself to duty before
duty assumes that hard, complicated as
pect which it usually presents later on,
saws the s~Woman's Home Companion
1t is the ehsi averse from the first to
boelrs. inimfcal in every fiber to study
who is the intraetable child, rebellious
- L-o..-o lfc n at1tro is IN
harmonious with it's own avs. Books
themselves-mere print and paper-are
only trash except as they are symbols of
the life Of thought and Imagination. But
in our day they are symbols almost in
separable from it. And SO the child who
naturally forms an early friendship for
books shows that the trend of his mind
lis upward, along the higher paths of life.
LIE the advanced educationists say their
say; we who have followed them With
anxiety through all their experimentings
have learned that our faith in literature.
science and philosophy as a trinity was a
faith founded on a rock. Science divorced
from her mates is a skeleton, and be-
reaved and defrauded is that child who is
kept so closely to facts that he comes to
despise poetry and remains a stranger to
IOUldICt- - CHiiQ y 49, = q
no adult can ever wholly penetrate. But
when an enthusiastic temperament takes
books as intimate companions there is
reason for watching the result with
anxiety. What is read and thought by
day enters into dreams, works into the
deepest recesses of our being, and be-
comes part of our brain itself. If a child
talks seldom of what he reads, he thinks
the more. Secretiveness sometimes hides
a turbulent mental activity, and a shy
exterior can conceal strange broodings.
But an omniverous taste. which is very
common, should not be left without some
subtle, unobtrusive guidance. Most of us
who have lived much with books are in
fuenced today more than we should
probably k to acknowledge by reminis-
cences of our childish literary life.
1t is very important that discrimina-
tion should be used in introducing people
to one another, for an undesired intro
duction compels the person to whom it
Is unwelcomed to treat the other with
the greatest coldness. or to continue an
undesired acquaintance. As a general
rule, it is better to introduce too little
than too much for ones friends can ask
one to introduce them to one another,
so that one,s shortcomings In this re-