The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-02-16
DUTY OF PARENTS

'Hopkinson Smith quoted by Kate
| Dough- Wiggin) speaks of that left
| wing Of the family guard which general
! ~ manages to retreat during any active
| engagement, leaving the command to
! the inferior officer.
""Ihis left wing is imposing Oh all
full dress parades. but when there is
any fighting to be done II re1ires rapidly
to the rear, and only wheels into line
when the smoke Of the conflict has
passed out Of the atmospheric
I'VE smile at this because the thing
Is true. 1t is picture of life: we have
seen it. We have perhaps been it, That
mere are extenuatlng circumstances no
one can deny. Modern civilization has
given the father hard lines
"There Was a time when he was an
important member of the household,
when he had certain definite and recog-
nlZcd powers and duties with regard to
children. and when the cares of this
world and the deccitfulness Of riches and
the complication of institutional civiliza-
tion did not come between him and his
children as they do now.
The history of civilization has been a
history Of the looping eff, ones by one, of
the 2rerogativcs and powefs and posi-
Die sources CT influence of the male pa
| rent: The cld-time father was father,
teacher, priest, judge, all in one. The
Our forefathcrs were in a very pal
pabe sense the heads of their respective
families. No one could have called them
| the left wing. But now business meth
eds have changed tho old home methods,
and much of the child's training is left
to the Schools
The fathe ris so busy that he must
children. The mother does not want to
spoil the little time the father has with
them by leftover punshments Or train
ing that can be postponed.
1T is certainly rare enough to he in
tcresting to have father come to the
kindergarten asking that he lie taught
to play the part Of the father bird and
| for his lesson.
What is the fathers place? What is
the part Of the father bird i'll the game
| family? What is the proper division be-
! tween the father and the mother, and
| between the father and other edncativc
agencies? Is there reason in the division,
or is it a matter Of circumstance? Are
there responsibilities that Of right belong
to the family and not to the school. and
| to the father and not to the mother?
| ''These are the questions we are to try
to answer-under the head of companions
ship. instruction. training and punish
| mcnt, example, and ideals Of life. And
under each head we shall consider not
merely what the share is, but how the
work may hest be done
"lf the character is Il unit your infIu-
ence must play upon the whole of it; if
| character development is continuous
growth YOU must be in at the planting,
or. at least, at grating time. As be-
| tween the mother and the father in the
child's infancy, the mother seems to havo
| things all her own way. She certainly
has the first inning. She, better thai,
anyone else, can supply the child's first
wants, both Of body and of spirit.
| But this paternal allegiance is but tenn
| porary. The fathers inning comes in
| due time. and then he should not fail
to. come to the bat. The father who ex-
poets his children to own him as such OF.
general principles commits psychological
| blunder.
| ''The notion father in the child's mind
is a growth; it has Il beginning: it must
! have definite materials Oh which to feed.
and these materials are in the first in
stance things the father does with, to, for
the child. Etymologically father means
nourisher and protector, just as mother
means maker, former.
1T is long while before the child can