Rock Island Argus., 1905-01-21


transmit become elements nutritive Of
fits native energy Such use of au-
thority as this cultivates that fruitful
obedience out of which free souls are
born The purely personal authority
, of parents, masters and institutions is
to the child like the brushwood be-
meath which the young plant withers
and dies ImperSonal authority, the
authority of n man who has first sub
mitted himself to the time honored
realities before which he wishes the
individual fancy of the child to bend.
resembles pure and luminous air. True.
1t has an activity and influences us in
its manner, but ii nourisheS our indi-
viduality and gives it frmness and sta
bility. Without this authority there is
no education. To watch, to guide. To
keep Il firm hand-such is the function
of the educator. He should appear TO
the child not like barrier OF whims,
which. if need be, one may clear. pro-
vided the leap be proportioned to the
height of the obstacle. but like trans
parent wall through which may be
seen unchanging realities. laws, limits
and truths against which no action is
possible Thus arises respect. which is
the faculty of conceiving something
greater than ourSelveS-reSpect, which
broadenS us and frees Us by making us
more modest. This is the law of e,iu-
cation for simplicity. 1t may be sum
med up in these words: To make free
and reverential men, who shall be in
dividual and fraternal.
Let us draw from this principle some
practical applications.
From the very fact that the child is
the future he must be linked to the
past by piety. We owe il to him to
clothe tradition in the forms most prac-
teal and most fit TO create Il deep i'm
preston; whence the exceptional place
that should be given in education 10 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 n 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
infirm, an attitude of respect. Il is Il
perpetual object lesson that is irresiSt-
ible That it may have its full force
it is necessary for u tacit understanding
to obtain among all the grownup mem
bers of the family To the child'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
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 n 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 a fundamental
need His moral being feeds on it. The
child aspiroS confuSedly to revere and
admire something. but when advan-
tage is not taken of this aspiration it
gets corrupted or lost. BY our lack of
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 Il bad spirit whose effects then |
turn against us.
This pitiful truth nowhere appears |
with more force than in the relations |
masters and servants as we |
have made them. Our social errors, |
our want OF simplicity and kindness.
al fall back upon the heads of our emil
lren. There are certainly few people
If the middle classes who understand
that IL 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
Iumble. yet nothing is truer. Main
ain as strictly as you will conventions
md distances, that demarcation of So
,ial frontiers which permits each one
o remain in his place and to observe
he law OF differenceS-that is a good
hing. i am persuaded-but on condi-
ion of never forgetting that those who
erve us are men and women like our
elves. You require of your domestics
ertain formulas Of speech and certain
attitudes. outward evidence OF the re
pect they owe you. Do you also teach
our children and use yourselves man
lers toward your servants which show
a |
Individuals as you desire them to re-
pect you? Here we have continually
n our homes an excellent ground for
Experiment. in the practice of that mu-
ual respect which is one of the essen
ial conditions Of social sanity. / fear
re profit by II too little We do not
all To exact respect, but we fail to give
I So IL is most frequently the case .
hat We get only hypocrisy and this
result, all unexpected /.
he ctlltira nf Driia i'm nIIr children I