The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-04-27

you might 10 Ill executing their VANITY.
Preserve them from the evil of be
lieving that to be elegantly dressed
suffices for distinction, and, above ALL
do not carelessly increase by their
clothes and their habits OF life the
distance which already separates them
from other children. Dress them sim
ply. And II, on the contrary, it sho.ll
be necessary for you to economize to
give your children the pleasure of fine
clothes, would that | might dispose
you to reserve your spirit OF sacrifice
for a better cause. You risk seeing Ii
lily recompensed. You dlsslpate your
money when 1t would much better
avail to save 1t for serious needs, and
you prepare for yourself, later on,
harvest of ingratitude. How danger
GUS 1t Is to accustom your sons and
daughters to style of living beyond
your means and theirs! In the first
place, 1t Ia very bad for your purse. In
the second place, 1t develops q con-
temptuous spirit in the very bosom Of
the family. II you dress Year children
like little lords and give them to under
stand that they are superior to you,
Is It astonishing II they end by dis
daining your You will have nourlshed
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 desplse their parents and the
customs and activities among which
they have grown up is a calamity, 1t
ls effective for nothing but to produce
a 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 man. Once de-
tached from the vigorous stock which
produced them, the wlSd 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 a career for our
children let us initiate her. Let US not
confound progress and advancement
with those violent exercises called
somersaults; let US not 80 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 II they them
selves come to fortune. A society Is
indeed diseased when the sons Of peas
ants begin to feel disgust for the fields,
when the sons of sailors desert the sea,
when the daughters Of w0rkingmen, In
the hope of being taken for heiresses,
prefer to walk the streets alone rather
than beside their honest parents. A So
ciety is healthy, on the contrary, when
each Of Its 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 moment fear that In
30 doing you are putting obstacles in
the way of their happiness. 1t will be
quite the contrary. The more costly toys
a child has, the more feasts and curious
entertainments, the less is he amused.
In this there Ia n sure sign. Let us
be temperate In our methods Of enter
tanning youth, and especially let us not
thoughtlessly create for them artificial
needs. Food, dress, nursery, amuse
ments-Iet all these be as natural and
simple as possible. With the idea of
making life pleasant for their children
some parents bring them up in habits
of gormandizing and idleness, accus
tom them to sensations not meant for
their age, multiply their parties and
entertainments. Sorry gifts these In
place Of free man you are making a
slave. Gorged with luxury, he tires of
II In time and yet when for one rea
son or another his pleasures fail him
he will be miserable, and you with
him. and, what is worse perhaps In
some capital encounter of life you will
be ready-yOu and he together-to sac
riace manly dignity, truth and duty
from sheer sloth.
Let us bring up our children simply
| had almost said rudely. Let us en-
tica them to exercise that gives them
endurance, even to privatlons, Let
them belong to those who are better
trained TO fatigue and the earth for
bed than to the comforts OF the table
and couchss OF luxury SO we shall
make men OF them, independent and
stanch, who may be counted on. who
will not sell themselves for pottase
and who will have withal the faculty
of being happy.
A too easy life brings with 1t sort
4 lassitude in vital energy, One be-
ONES blase, dlsillusioned, an old young
nan, past being diverted. How many
'oung people are In this state Upon
hem have been deposited, like a sort ,
Il mold, the traces of our decrepitude, :
'ur skepticism, our vices and the bad
habits they have contracted in our
What reflections upon our
elves these youths weary Of life force
ls to make! What announcements are ,
craven on their brows!
These shadows say to us by contrast
hat happiness lies in life true, ac-
i've, spontaneous, ungnled by the yoke
II the passions, of unnatural needs. of
stimulus, keeping intact the :
,hysical faculty of enjoying the light !
# day and the air we breathe and in
he heart the capacity to thrill with 5
he love OF all that is generous, simple !
ind fine
The artificial life engenders artificial
hought and a speech little sure OF IT.
lelf Normal habits. deep impressions,
he ordinary contact with reality, bring
'rankness with them. Falsehood is the |
rice OF a slave, the refuge Of the COW |
\