Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1905-03-01

From the very fact that the child is
the future he must be linked to the
past by piety. We owe it to him to
clothe tradition In tie forms most prac-
teal and most fit to create a deep inn
preston; whence the exceptional place
that should be given in education to the
ancients, to the cult of remembrance
of the past and by extension to the
history of the domestic rooftree. Above
all do we fulfill duty toward our chill
dren when we give the place of honor
to the grandparents. Nothing speaks
to a child with so much force or so
well develops his modesty as to see his
father and mother on all occasions pre-
serve toward an old grandfather, often
inflrm, an attitude of respect 1t is a
perpetual object lesson that Is irresist-
ible That it may have its full force
it is necessary for tacit understanding
to obtain among all the grownup men,
! bers of the family. To the chiid's eyes
they must all be in league, held to mu-
tual respect and understanding, under
penalty of compromising their educa-
tional authority, and in their number
! must be counted the servants. Serv-
ants are big people, and the same SEN
timent of respect is injured in the
I child's disregard of them as in his dis
regard of his father or grandfather.
The moment he addresses an impolite
OF arrogant word to person older than
himself he strays from the path that
a child ought never to quit, and If only
occasionally the parents neglect to
point this out they will soon perceive
by his conduct toward themselves that
the enemy has found entrance to his
/ heart.
We mistake if we think that child
is naturally alien to respect, basing this
opinion on the very numerous examples
of irreverence which he offers us. Re
spect Is for the child fundamental
need. His moral being feeds on it. The
child aspires confusedly to revere and
admire something, but when advan-
tage is not taken of this aspiration 1t
gets corrupted or lost. By our lack OF
cohesion and mutual Difference we, the
grownups, discredit daily In the child's
eyes our own cause and that Of every
thing worthy of respect. We inoculate
In him a bad spirit whose effects then
turn against us.
This pitiful truth nowhere appears
with more force than in the relations
between masters and servants as we
have made them. Our social errors,
our want of simplicity and kindness.
all fall back upon the heads of our chill
dren. There are certainly few people
Of the middle classes who understand
that 1t Is better to part with many
thousands of dollars than to lead their
children to lose respect for servants.
who represent in our households the
humble, yet nothing is truer. Main
tain as strictly as you will conventions
and distances, that demarcation of So
cial frontiers which permits each one
to remain in his place and to observe
the law of differences-thati is good
thing, am persuaded-but ON condi-
ton of never forgetting that those who
serve us are men and women like our
selves. You requt1e Of your domestics
certain formulas of speech and certain
attitudes, outward evidence of the re-
spect they owe you. Do you also teach
your children and use yourselves man
ners toward your servants which show
them that you respect their dignity as
individuals as you desire them to re-
spect you? Here we have continually
In our homes an excellent ground for
experiment in the practice of that mu-
tual respect which is one Of the essen
tiaI conditions Of social sanity. fear
we profit by it too little. We do not
fail to exact respect, but we fail to give
1t. So 1t is most frequently the case
that we get only hypocrisy and this
supplementary result, all unexpected
the cultivation Of pride in our children.
These two factors combined heap up
great difficulties for that future which
we ought to be safeguarding. l am
right, then, in saying that the day when
by your own practices you have
brought about the lessening of respect
in your children you have suffered a
sensible loss.
Why should not say it? 1t seems to
me that the greater part Of us labor
for this loss. On all sides, In almost
every social rank, notice that pretty
bad spirit is fostered In children, a spir-
1t of reciprocal contempt. Here those
who have calloused hands and working
clothes are disdained; there 1t is all
who do not wear blue jeans. Children
educated in this spirit make sad fellow
citizens. There Is In all this the want
of that simplicity which makes it pos
slble for men of good intentions, OF
however diverse social standing, to col
laborate without any friction arising
from the conventional distance that
separates them.
If the spirit Of caste causes the loss
of respect, partisanship, Of whatever
sort, is quite as productive of it. In
certain quarters children are brought
up in such fashion that they respect
but one country-their own; one sys-
tenn of government-that of their par