Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1905-02-09

4 pace, IL is very Dau Tor your purse. In
| the second place. it 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,
is it astonishing if they end by dis
daining you? You will have nourished
1 at your table the declassed-a product
which costs dear and is worthless.
/ Any fashion OF instrueting children
whose most evident result is to lead
| them to despise their parents and the
/ customs and activities among which
1 they have grown up is a calamity. It
4 Is effective for nothing but to produce
legion Of malcontents, with hearts
totally estranged from their origin,
/ their race. their natural interests-ev-
4 erything, in short, that makes the fun
! damental fabric of man. Once de-
4 tached from the vigorous stock which
I produced them. the wind of their restless
i ambition drives them over the earth
1 like dead leaves that will in the end be
heaped up to ferment and rot together.
4 Nature does not proceed by leaps and
4 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 so bring up
our children that they will come to
despise work and the aspirations and
simple spirit of their fathers; let us not
TO 1fe,4f Of
ashamed of our poverty if they them
i selves come to fortune. A society is
indeed diseased when the sons Of peas
j ants begin to feel disgust for the fields,
4 when the sons of sailors desert the sea,
1 when the daughters of workingmen. in
the hope of being taken for heiresses.
4 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
4 have done before him. but doing it
better. and. looking to future elevation
I is content first to fulfill conscientious
/ ~ more modest duties
Education should make independent
dren for liberty. bring them up simply
and do not for a moment fear that in
SO doing you are putting obstacles in
the way of their happiness. It 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 is a sure sign. Let US
/ tanning youth, and especially let us not
thoughtlessly create for them artificial
needs. Food dress. nursery amuse-
i ments-let 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 gormandzing and idleness. accus-
4 tom them to sensations not meant for
their age, multiply their parties and
| entertainments Sorry gifts thesei In
place of free man you are making
slave Gorged with luxury. he tires of
I it in time and yet when for one rea-
son or another bis pleasures fail him
he will be miserable and you with
1 him, and what is worse. perhaps in
be ready-you and he together to sac
rifice manly dignity. truth and duty
K from sheer sloth
Let us bring up our children simply
had almost said rudely. Let US en-
/ tice them to exercise that gives them
endurance, even to privations. Let
them belong TO those who are better
trained to fatigue and the earth for q
bed than to the comforts of the table
and couches of luxury. So we shall
make men of them independent and
stancb. who may be counted on. who
viii not sell themselves for potfage
and who viii have withal tie faculty
of being happy.
A too easy life brings with it a sort
of Iassitude in vital energy. One be-
comes blase. disillusioned. an old young
man. past being diverted How many
young people are ii this state. Upon
them have been deposited. like a sort
of mold the traces of our decrepitude,
our skepticism. our vices and the bad
habits they have contracted in our
company What reflections upon our
selves these youths weary of life force
lis to make, What announcements are
craven ON their brows
These shadows say TO us by contrast
that happiness lies in life true. ac-
tive. spontaneous, ungalIed by the yoke
Of the passions. of unnatural needs. of
unhealthy stimulus. keeping intact the
physical faculty of enjoying the light
of day and the air we breathe and in
the heart the capacity to thrill with
the love of all that is generous, simple
and fine.
The artificial life engenders artificial
thought and a speech little sure of IL
self Normal habits. deep impressions.
the ordinary contact with reality, bring
frankness with them. Falsehood is the
vice of a slave, the refuge of the cow
ardly and weak He who is free and