The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-01


BY your own practices you have
brought about 'he lessening of respect
in your children, you have suffered a
sensible loss.
VIII should I 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 foStered in children a spirit
of reciprocal contempt. Here, those
who have callouSed hands and working
clothes are disdained; there. 1t is all
VINO 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 coll
laborate without any friction arising
from the conventional distance that
separates them.
If this spirit of caste causes the loss
of respect. partisanship, of whatever
sort. is quite as productive of il. In
certain quarters children are brought
up in such fashion that they respect
but one country--their own-one Sys-
tenn of goVernmeat-that of their par
ents and masters; one religion-that
which they have been taught. Does
any one suppose that in this way men
can be shaped who shall respect cOun-
try, religion ard law? Is this a prop
er reSpect--this respect which does not
extend beyond what touches and be-
of cliques and c0teries which arrOgate
to themselves with so much ingenious
complacence the title of schools of re-
spect, and which, outside themselves,
respect nothing. In reality they teach:
Country. religion. laW-We are all
these!' Such teaching fosters fanati-
cism, and if fanaticism is not the sole
anti-sOCial feTment, Il is surely one of
the worst and most energetic
KF SIMPLICITY of heart is an es@
n sential condition of respect, sim
plicity of life is its best school. What
ever be the state Of your fortune. avoid
everything which could make your
children think themselves more or bet
ter than others. Though your wealth
would permit you to dress them richly
remember the evil you might do in eX-
citing their vanity. Preserve them
from the evil of believing that to be
elegantly dressed sufficeS for diStinc-
ton. and above all do not carelessIy
increase by their clothes and their ma b.
its of life. the distance which already
separates them from other children:
dress them simply. And if on the con-
trary, il would be necessary for you to
economic 10 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 il lily recomper.sed
You dlSsipate your money when il
would much better avail to save il for
serious needs. and you prepare for
yourself. later on, a harvest of ingrati-
tude. How dangerous it is to accus-
tom your sons and daughters to a style
Of living beyond your means and
theirs. In the first place. it is very bad
for your purse; in the second place, il
develops a contemptuous spirit in the
very bosom Of the family. If " u
dress your children like little lords
and give them TO understand that they
are superior to you, it astonishing if
they end by diSdaining you. You will
have nourished at your table the de-
classed-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 ana the
customs and activities among which
they have grown up, is a calamity. 1t
is effective for nothing but to produce
a legion of maIcOntents, with hearts
totally estranged from their origin,
their race. their natural interests
everything, in short, that makes the
fundamental fabric Of a man. once
detached 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 a career Tor our
children. let US initiate her. Let US not
cOnfound progress and advancement
with those violent exercises called SOM
erSaUlts. Let us not so bring up our
children that they will come 10 deSDise
work and the aspirations and simple
spirit of their fathers: let us not ex-
pose them to the temptation Of being
ashamed of our poverty if they them
selves come to Inrtdhe 4 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 workingmen in
the hope of being taken for heiresses.
prefer to walk the streets alone rather
than beside their honest parents A
society is healthy. on the contrary
when each of its members applies HIM
self to doing very nearly what his par
entS have done before him. but doing
it better. and. looking to future eIeva-
ton. ia content first to fulfill c0nscien-
tiOusly more modest dUties.~
%This would be the place 70 speak of
work in general. and of its tonic effect
upon education. But I have discussed
the subject in my books Justice -
'-JeunesSe' and '.Nailiauce." | must
limit myself referring the reader to
them.
II DUCATION should make indie
H. pendent men. If you wish to
train your children for liberty. bring