Mexico Missouri message., 1905-05-25

it Is necessary for tacit understanding
to obtain among all the grOwnup mem.
bers Of the family. To the Chlld's eyes
they must all he in league, held to mu.
tual respect and understanding, under
penalty Of compromising their educa-
tiOnal authority, and i'm their number
must he counted the servants. Serv-
ants are big people. and the same sen.
timent Of respect Is injured in the
child's disregard Of them as in his dis
regard of his father or grandfather.
The moment he addresses an impolite
or arrogant word to a person older than
himself lie strays from the path that
n child ought never to quit, and II 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 Il we think that a child
is naturally alien tc respect. basing this
opinion on the very numerous examples
Of irTevercnCc which lie offers us. Re
spect is for the child fundamental
need. His moral being feeds on it. The
child aspircs confusclly to revere and
admire something, but when advan-
tage is not taken of this aspiration it
gets corrupted or lost. BY our lack of
cohesion and mutual Difference we, the
grownups, discredit daily in the childs
eyes our own cause and that of every
thing worthy Of respect. We inoculute
in him 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 fail back upon the heads of our chill
dren. There are certainly few people
Of the middle classes who understand
that it 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 trucr. 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 dilTerCnces-that is Il good
thing. l am persuaded-but on condi-
ton Of never forgetting that those who
serve Us are men and women like our
selves. You require Of your domestlcs
certain formulas Of speech and certain
attitudes. outward evidence of the re-
Spcct they owe you. DO You also teach
chi ,It
ncrS toward your servants which show
them that you respect their dignity as
individuals as you desire them to re-
spcct youE 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
tial conditions of social sanity. fear
we profit by 1t too little. We do not
fail 70 exact respect, but we fail to give
it. 81 it 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 am
right, then, in saying that the day when
by your own practices you have
brought about the lcsscning of respect
in your children you have suffered a
Sonsible loss.
Why SHOULD l 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 a pretty
bad spirit is fostcred IN children. spir-
it Of reciprocal contempt Here those
who have call)vsed hands and working
clothes are d.slained: there it 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, partlsanship, Of whatever
sort, is quite as productive of 1t. In
certain quarters children are brought
up in such fashion that they respect
but one country their own; one sys-
TEN Of government-that of their par
ents and masters; one religion that
which they have been taught. Does
any one suppose that I'm this way men
can be shaped who shall respect cOuD-
try, religion and law? Is this a proper
respect-this respect which does not
extend beyond what touches and be-
longs to ourselves? Strange blindness
Of cliques and cOterles, which AFRO
gate TO themselves with so much in
genuous complacence the title OF
schools OF respect. and which, out
side themselves. respect nothing. In
reality they teach. Country, religion,
law-we are all theseg' Such teaching
fosters fanaticism, ana II fanatcism is
not the sole antisOcial ferment It Is sure