Abilene weekly reflector., 1902-01-09
Too Much Parent.

tion on modern family life that are
worth thinking about. He says
10 these days Of strenuous parent
age. it may not be smiss to suggest
mildly that there may be, in the con-
stitution Of q family, such thing as
too much parent. Time was when
being parent was Incidental to other
business in life. Our grandfathers
brought up children, a dozen at q
time, with a careless familiarity that
takes away the modern breath. Each
Of the dozen was disciplined and duly
chsstened. They we're whipped when
they told lies, and occasionally when
they did not. They learned to read
At four; were put to work at five, as
. matter Of course; and developed, in
due time, the stuff that men are
made Of. There WAS never any
par licular fuss about 1t. The larger
the family the more whippings 1t took.
But there were always enough to go
around, and no one the worse for it.
The advertisement, "Boy missing.
Run away from home," was not an
uncommon feature Of the weekly
newspaper. But OF the remnant who
had the courage tn stay at home and
grow up, it may be said that they
made admirable citizens. They had
the rare privilege Of passing their
childhood and youth in the presence
OF men and women who had other
and more important business In life
than that Of being parent to offspring.
They grew up with chastened sense
OF their own unimportance in the
scheme OF being, and q philosophic
expectation Of taking the hard knocks
Of life IS they came.
We have changed all that. We
have listened to the voice OF Froebel,
"Let us play with our children" and
to the educational moralist, "Aiather
should be bis boys best friend" and
to cur most famous and most unprac-
tical poet, 1.-THE child is father to the
man." and the whole business Of
child-raising is turned other end to-
We no longer raise them by the dozen.
One or two at q time IS as much as
we dare venture, and very cautiously
at thai. We study the development
and take notes on the bumps, phren.
ological; the other kind the modern
child is never allowed TO have. We
agonize over our relation to his moral
growth, and drop tentative, trembling
seeds into the ground Of his being,
and exchange specimens il anything
comes OF it. The result, as a whole,
Is not, IL must be admitted, altogether
unpleasing. There is something
about the well-born, well-bred, whole.
some child Of today that makes glad
the eye and the heart. But the poor
parent! We protest that he has never
had a chance in life. Ten to one bis
own parents belonged to the old
school, and disciplined him within an
inch Of life. And now his children
belong to the new. He is ground be-
tween the upper and the neither stone.
Only in scattered, precious moments
does he dare call himself his own.
Late in the evening, perhaps, when
the all-important child has been ade.
quately played with and encouraged
and developed and put to bed on his
hygienic pillow, there comes a mo-
ment when the exhausted parent may
sit down before the fire and draw q
comfortable, grown-up breath, and
gather strength and wisdom for the
morrow.
As we watch him, we are reminded
Of the pleasant old gentleman who,
across the reception plate, is accosted
by the genial young girl; "Aiter all,
sir, there's nothing SO delicious as
the wing Of a chicken, is thereP" And
the old gentleman II don't know,
my dear. When | was young the old
people always ate the wings, and now
| am old the young people eat them.
| have never tasted the wing Of a
chicken
There will be mating OF the