The San Francisco call., 1904-03-03
Humor in Little Tots.


There are many good people" who
are not good parents" The qualities
which make a man a irst-class gen
aral or banker or statesman or mer-
chant do not necessarily make first
class father; nor do those which make
. 81 woman brilliant social leader or
club president or prize winner at whist
parties. necessarily make a model
mother.
= In order TO name all the qualities
that go to make good parents one
:WOuld have to furnish a complete
catalogue of human virtues, but there
are a few that are essential
And for the first 1 select "a pro-
found sense Of personal responsible
= lty." But some parents seem 10 re-
gard themselves as merely links in the
chain Of life 10 draw the next genera
lion after them with as much indif-
- ference. as the links of a pump chain
feel i'm drawing one another over the
wheel. II the only influence in the
evolution Of child's life were
:heredity. this might do. But environ
-ment is. after all, the main shaping
power Of character, and the true
parent feels that every day Of a child's
life is d judgment day for him. He
appreciates the perils Of shipwreck.
He measures the tragedy Of moral
ruin. He holds himself accountable 10
God for the character and destiny Of
this being he has summoned into life.
For the second select "a beautiful
blending Of sternness with gentleness."
j. viii not do for the father 10 be all
-one and the mother all the other
. IIach must Oe both. But how difficult
IL is 10 keep the soul in this fine
eQuilibrium-to be as hard as steel
and immovable as granite when a
.ckild needs TO be curbed or chastened
and TO be as fluid as water and as
caressing as air in all those moments
when il needs sympathy and tender
ness. II you are not the first, the
child viii trample you under its feet
and if you are not the second il will
consider YOU an iceberg,
Ia the third place Cbe prepared for a
surprise) / name "a keen sense Of
>. humor." So great is the importance Of
this grace in dealing with child life and
so little recognition has it had that 1
may seem TO exaggerate and throw it
most said: "PeoDle who cannot see a
Joke have no business being parents"
Childhood is certain 10 be full of alb
-surdities. In adjusting themselves to
the existing conventionalities of life $50
many Of which are irrationaD the lit
tie people viii make ludicrous blunders
by an unavoidable necessity. Nine
-1enths Of the things they do in contra
n fr-f -
quite as rational as the customs them
selves. ana are done because they can
not see any reason in many things
being as they are (and no more can
ID
A teacher became exasperated with
little fellow who always said, Il have
went home. and made him stay after
school until he had written the correct
phrase. I have gone home" 500 times.
But at the end Of the long columns he
added. Dear teacher, I have got
through and 'went homei"
A little girl was writing a composition
On The Rabbit, and found herself in
the predicament Of the poet Schiller,
who said Of himself Il have been for
years trying to describe a hero without
case with the little girl. she asked the
teacher IF the rabbit had tail" a
small one-none to speak of" she re-
Piled -Whereupon the little girl af-
firmed IN writing: The ra bbit has
small tail. but you must not speak of
it
Now, what is the parent to do who
hasn't q keen sense of the humor in
which the ignorance Of childhood
crowds il, and the quaint remarks in
which it describes its impressions of
life?
A stranger was calling in a home
that was full Of noisy boys. half
dozen Of them were rolling and tum-
bling on the dining-room floor shout
ing and pounding each other until the
guest became alarmed and asked the
father why he did not interfere The
e0od man had not even heard them.
bat looking over his shoulder at the
riotcus mob he said with the utmost
tranquility, Let the lambs play"
II is the ability to distinguish the
lamblike from the wolverine qualities
in the child that makes the wise pa
rent And this true perception is root
lime and the ridiculous. the grave and
the gay lie so close together as to be
distinguishs bic only by trained sense
OF their true relations. ''Humor is
the invisible tear in the visible smile"
Eumor is Of a genial quality and
closely allied 10 pity"
All, There you come upon the deep
and subtle beauty Of a sense of humor
in the parentt II is the feeling of nifty
that lies back of the emotion of fun.
All right minded parents realize the
pathetic element in the ignorance and
inexperience Of the child. They laugh.
bot Thy also weep (secretly) at the
Diteous situations in which the little
stranger finds itself among all the ar
tifcial conventions Of our stiff and
formal social system. There is some
thing terrible about pouring the fluid
nature Of a little child into this rigid