The Savannah morning news., 1904-05-08
WORLD

( on his kinsfolk. or if It is girl that
! she will marry for a home, and sven
! the ranks of the dissatisfied, complain
| ing, spiteful women.
! There isn't any use in trying to SUI
| gar-coat the duties of life in the hopes
| that a child will swallow them and
never discover there's bitter pill IN
| side. The sweet always rubs on at
| the critical moment. Better cultivate
enough backbone TO make him strong
enough 10 choose the right, even II 1t
is hard. When anyone has learned to
do what they have TO do without fuss
or complaint. when they have learned
10 take thesr Pill without making
faces-they have conquered fate. Don't
buoy any child up with the hope that
things are going 20 be made smooth
and pleasant for him in life. They
are not. and remember that il is the
things We learn in childhood. the pray
er We learn at our mothers knee, the
old song we heard on our nurses bos-
ON, the habits we formed then that
stick to us through life. They are the
thousand gOssamer threads that are
woven into character, and IL they are
weak. some day the cable that should
bind us fast to goodness and truth
breaks and we are blown out to sea.
In the new attitude towards children
it is held that obedience is desirable,
but that it is tyrannical and brutal
to enforce it. You must never say
must" to a child, but instead in
, sinunte your desires in a diplomatic
way that will leave you a chance to
crawfish with dignity If he doesn't see
fit to accept your ultimatum.
Could anything be more ridiculous?
parent who never commands and
who never enforces obedience with
brute strength, If necessary, has no
authority. Suppose general on the
eve of battle should say to his troops
that he would be gratified If they
would advance, and hoped that those
who felt like it would charge the en-
envy. Would anybody be wild enough
to predict anything but disaster? 1t
is the sharp stern command, the habit
of obedience that does the work. It
may seem a matter of very small mo-
ment whether Sally comes in off the
sidewalk when you call her, or John
ny stays away from the ball game
when you forbid him to go, but what
about the day when Sally imagines
herself in love with some drunken
beast whose acquaintance she has
picked up somewhere, or Johnny takes
10 running with hoodlums and staying
out of nights? You can't control them
You never enforced obedience and you
are responsible here and hereafter for
a wrecked life.
The greatest misfortune that has be-
fallen this human race since the Eden
episode was the discovery that
child was problem. Up to that time
we hadn't been pestered and confus-
ed with theories. If a child was dis
obedient he was punished for it and
refrained from repeating the offense
In the mercy of heaven it had not oc-
Cured to anybody that there was dan
ger of cowing him by making him
behave. If he disturbed an entire
neighberhood with yells and bowls
that were nothing but temper, some
humane person turned him across their
knees and administered a spanking
that created beaming pacifico in
few minutes. Inspired wisdom hadn't
discovered then that it was likely to
break a proud spirit. 1t is probable
that Mrs. Washington, and Mrs JEFF
ferson, and Mrs. Grant, and a thous-
and other energetic and determined
women who brought up sons who
We're a credit to themselves and an
honor to their nation. never once sus-
pected that in little George, or Thorn
as, or Ulysses. they were confronting
a problem. They were just human
boys. and they dealt with them on
that platform.
Children are just as adorable now
as ever. They are still the sunshine
and the perfume of life, but for their
own sakes we need to get back into
a saner attitude towards them. They
need to be relegated to the rear for
a while, and not brought perpetual
~ to the front. They need to be
taught obedience that they may be
fitted some day to command. They
need to be strengthened to meet the
stern requirements of destiny, not
taught that they may shirk it's re-
sponsiblities, for childhood is the
school of life. and as we learn its les
sons so shall we stand or fall.
Dorothy Dix