Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-02-09


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 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-that is n 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 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 your 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. l fear
we profit by 1t 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 itf 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 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
| bOle for pien OF good Intentions, OF
| towever 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 1t. In
certain quarters children are brought
UP in such fashion that they respect
but one country--their own; one sys-
! - ha4 of hot,
ents and masters; one religion that
! which they have been taught. Does
any one suppese that In this way men
I can be shaped who shall respect coun-
| try, religion and law? Is this proper
respect-this respect which does not
extend beyond what touches and be-
| longs to ourselves? Strange blindness
of cliques and coteries. which AFRO
gate to themselves with so much in
: genuous eomplacence the title of
| schools of respect, and which, out
side themselves, respect nothing. In
reality they teach, Country, religion.
! iaw-we are all thesew Such teaching
fosters fanaticism, and if fanaticism is
not the sole aptisoeial ferment 1t is sure
! ly one of the worst and most energetic.
II simplicity of heart is an essential
condition of respect, simplicity of life
is its best school Whatever be the
state of your fortune. avoid everything
which could make your children think
themselves more or better than others.
Though your wealth would permit you
to dress them richly, remember the evil
I ,fo1, do tn, ayaitfno thnfr We rlit
Preserve them from the evil of be-
lieving that to be elegantly dressed
| suffices for distinction, and, above all,
| do not earelessly increase by their
| clothes and their habits Of life the
distance which already separates them
| from other children. Dress them SIM
| ply. And If, on the contrary, 1t should
be necessary for you to economize to
give your children the pleasure of fine
| clothes, would that l might dispose
you to reserve your spirit of sacrifice
| for q better cause. You risk seeing II
lily recompensed, You dissipate your
money when 1t would much better
| avail to save 1t for serious needs, and
you prepare for yourself, later on, q
| harvest of ingratitude. How danger
Gus it is to accustom your sons and
daughters to style Of living beyond
| your means and theirs! In the first
| place, 1t is very bad for your purse. In
the second place, 1t develops a con.
temptuous spirit In the very bosom OF
| the family. If you dress your children
| like little lords and give them to under
stand that they are superior to you
Ia IL astonishing if they end by dis
daining you? You will have nourished
at your table the declassed-a product
which costs dear and is worthless.
Any fashion of instructing children
whose most evident result is to lead
| them to despise their parents and the
| customs and activities among which
| they have grown up Is calamity. II
Is effective for nothing but to produce
| legion of malcontents, with hearts
| totally estranged from their origin,
| their race their natural interests-ev-
| erything, in short, that makes the fun
| damental fabric of a man. Once de
| tached from the vigorous stock which
| produced them, the wind Of their restless
| ambition drives them over the earth
| like dead leaves that will in the end be
| heaped up to ferment and rot together.
Nature does not proceed by leaps and
bounds, but by an evolution slow and
certain. In preparing career for our
children let us initiate her. Let us not
confound progress and advancement
with those violent exercises called
somersaults; let us not so bring up
our children that they will come to
despise work and the aspirations and
simple spirit of their fathers; let us not
expose them to the temptation of being
ashamed of our poverty If they them
selves come to fortune. A society Is
indeed diseased when the sons of peas
ants begin to feel disgust for the melds,
| when the sons Of sailors desert the sea,
, when the daughters of workingmen, In
| the hope of being taken for helresses,
prefer to walk the streets alone rather
than beside their honest parents. A So
ciety is healthy, on the contrary, when
| each OF It's members applies himself to
| doing very nearly what his parents
have done before him, but doing 1t
better, and, looking to future elevation,
is content first to fulfill conscientious
| ly more modest duties.
Education should make independent
men. If you wish to train your chill
| dren for liberty, bring them up simply
and do not for a moment fear that In
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