The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-01-12
Aunt Jennie's Letter.

AuuI jennie 8 LeCter.
There is something so sad in removing the
Christmas decorations. 1t is this act that forces
US to realize that the old year has passed and
another has really begun. We are not like the
little boy who, ON being told that all the confec-
tioneries and other good things had disappeared
from the Christmas box, sighed and said: "Well
l guess it will be full again next Christmas, but
it is such a long time to wait" With US the years
pass more rapidly and we are p~erplexed by the
many uncertainties of life. If we could enjoy to
the fullest extent the things that are, and forget
to worry over those that may be-in other words,
if we could exercise childhood's faith in the good
there is in life, how happy we would be!
l have been impressed with one characteristic
of childhood that l fail to remember having seen
when I was a child, and that is a lack of reverence
for age. Have you noticed it in your %neighbor-
hood? And where does the fault lie? Is it in the
home training or do the little people begin to be-
lieve that they are grown when they enter school?
1t can not be the latter place, for I know children
who are too young to attend who are blessed
Cor cursed) with the prevalent malady. And who
is to blame?
Ny cheeks burned, and I confess that 1 longed
to pull some ears, too, when a boy replied to a
question I asked, "Yes,"-replied as if I we're a
little child and he the man. Now I was in no
way responsible, for I am invariably polite to
children and have numberless little friends whom
l love, but that boy cannot get quite so close to
my confidence and affection as he could had he
been more polite.
Is it right to encourage children to believe that
they know as much as older persons? Experience
brings knowledge; it is true that they may know
more in their booys than some grown-up people
do Int do thew know more Of 1ife2
I wish you could have been with me a few
mornings since in front of my home when an old
whitehaired negro man passed, and I said, "Good
morning, Uncle" His old face was illumined
with a smile of happy remembrance and, bowling
| low with his hat in hand, he said: "Good mornin'
Mistiss; it's a fine mornin', amt it" Little in
cidents make the sum total of life, and we must
so arrange that the little folk remember that they
are children. If we go as fast in the wrong di-
r~ection for the next twenty years as we have in
the last twenty, we will eventually land in a desc
late country where childhood does not exist. There
will be little people of tender years there, but no
real lovable children like some we now know.
We hope for more letters next week, and prom
Use that if you will watch this page every week
you will recognize some old friends ere long.
Mrs. II. G.. B. has an excellent suggestion in
her letter, and I also most heartily commend
Eleanor's suggestion to all our readers. Both
letters deserve careful attention. Remember, too,
that the prize book offered for the most helpful
and suggestive letter on GLOW to Spend the Win
ter Evenings" will be awarded February 5th, and
we should like to have you enter the contest in
time. AUNT JENNIE.