Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-18
NURSERY THEORIES
SOME RESULTS OF THE CULT OF
THE CHILD.
Neglect Of Offspring by Fashionable
MISUNDERSTANDING Up Little Ones
by Machine Rule.
From the London Express.


greatly given to dividing the children of
the wealthy into two classses-those who
actually did know their parents by sight
and those who did not
But that was in the days before the child
culture movement had seized the modern
mother in It's grip. before the great theory
of scientific motherhood was accepted by
Mayfair and Belgravia-
Today fashionable mothers are attending
lectures on child life, child study. child
culture, child psychology and even child
criminoIogy with avidity. Clubs for the
proper study of the child and all it's works.
which originated in America. are being
formed in England; a weeks congress for
parents has just attracted to It's sessions
some of the best-known mothers In society,
and now the advanced mothers of all lands
are arranging to meet at Liege In the au-
tumn for the purpose OF an international
conference of mothers, the first ever held
in the history of the world
That the child culture movement should
have spread to England Is not surprising,
but that it should have been first adopted
by the upper-class mother Is most decidedly
a matter for surprise. Two of the strong
est branches of the Parents Union, the
outward and visible sign of the organized
motherhood movement in this country, are
those established in Belgravia and the dis
trct around Hyde Park.
Quite suddenly the child has become fash
ionable. Nursery classics are being lllustrat-
ed by the finest artists in the land, efforts
are being made to establish a gallery for
the art of childhood and there is talk OF
chldren's theater where childrens plays
only will be staged From being person
entitled to receive a duty call from Its
mother in the nursery each morning, or at
best a pet thing to be fondled and kissed
and lovingly tended, the child has come to
occupy a new and highly important place
in society
The New Movement.
The child culture movement has lite
nature, a college and philosophy all Its
own. Each new recruit is required to mas
ter formula which has been carefully
drawn up by its foundress: This Is the con-
fesSion of faith of the child culturlst:
l. Children are born persons.
2. They are not born good or bad, but
with possibilities for good and evil
3. The principles of authority, on the one
hand, of obedience on the other, are nat
ural necessary and fundamental.
A. But these principles are limited by the
respect due to the personality of the chill
dren. which must not be encroacheo upon
whether by fear, love, Suggestion VI All
fiuence.
alma mater Of the child culturlsts. Inc
house of education, 1t Is caIeo, anu Gs
the knowledge of bringing up chlldren.
Young ladies undergo training here solely
to enable them to fulfill any natural guar
dianshtp of children to which they may De
called The student is taught-such at least
ia the proud boast Of the college OF educa-
tion-to produce a human being at its best,
mental, moral, physical and spiritual
Child Conversation.
There is a Freemasonry among the foi-
lowers of the new cult. and outsiders may
know by certain unmistakable signs When
thew have wandered unawares into the or
bit of the child culturists. Conversation In
this charmed circle is inspired largely by
the nursery, and the mother Of wonderful
children Is person much cultivated
If this were not enough to distinguish
the child culturists from the rest OF human
kind they have vocabulary Of their own
in which atmosphere and environment
are words of vast import. There is no
such thing as a naughty little boy or girl
in the phraseology OF the true chllo cultur
list When baby-boy raises his voice an oc-
taye and kicks out like a miniature prize
fighter, and baby-girl's crescendo is lifted
in loud-voiced resentment In the nursery
their fond mother explains that they are
not really naughty, they are only 'abnor-
NAL" or perverted" while little people
who are untruthful are simply magma
tive" So, too. those little boys who can
not be trusted in the vicinity of jam or
cake or take wicked delight in teasing
the cat are victims Of moral imbecility
and much to be pitied. In the language
of the cult. their moral potentialities have
been left undeveloped-
Heredity is also taken into account by the
opponents of the movement to an enor-
nous degree. Only the other day l heard
the headmaster of one of our great public
schools gravely plead that he might be al
lowed to see the parents of all new boys
for himself. You never know" he ex-
planned with delightful candor, how
many allowances we masters make for a
boys faults when once we have seen his
parents
Revised Moral Code.
The accepted moral code of the nurseries
OF yesterday has been completely swept
away by the reformers. That children
should be seen and not heard is, In the
opinion of the good child culturists, an I'M
warrantable interference with the liberty
of the small subject. That little boys, when
they are naughty, should be whipped and
sent to bed was another nursery law that
no one dreamed of questioning, but whip
ping has been banished from the nursery,
and adoring mothers sit at the feet of
their recalcitrant offspring waiting for them
to be seized with a desire to obey.
Very rarely, such Is the innate polite
ness of children, does even that very up
to-date little person. the modern child, ex-
press Its full, free and candid opinion of
the parents with whom 1t has been en-
uoWeu out there are not wanting evidences
that the lot of the little victim of child
culture is not entirely a bed of roses.
In its early months 1t Is deprived Of many
of the prerogatives of babyhood 1t may
not be rocked or sung to sleep In its
mothers arms, nor bounced up and down
In Its waking moments, for these move
ments are both facilitating and ANTIGUA
rian say the child culturists.
AT later stage in It's growth the child
Is introduced to the beautiful theory of
moral suasion.' They stand us on the
moor, keep US In at playtime, make us toe
the line, and jaw at u.s." was an intelligent
eight-year-old's graphic definition of one of
the pet theories of the child culturists
In the main. however. the new move
ment Is for the good of young England,
and lovers of children may rejoice al lie
growing strength.
Women at Work.