Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-03-24
CHAPTER NH .Cn,iuu,,!

ti..in - dc>pI>c their parents and the
customs and activities among which
they lave grown up is n calamity. 1t
Is effective for nothing but to produce
Il legion Of nalcontcnts. with hearts
totally cstranccd from their origin,
their race. their natural intereStS-ev-
crytlin-, in short, that makes the fun
damcntal fabric Of man. Once de-
tachcd 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
heapcd up To ferment and rot together.
Nature does not proceed by leaps and
bounds. but by an evolution slow and
certain. In preparing career for our
children let us initiate her. Let us not
confound progress and advancement
somersaults; let US not SO bring up
our children that they will come to
despse 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 workingmen, 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 it
better, and, looking to future elevation,
is content first to fulfill conscientious
~ 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
SO doing you are putting obstacles in
the way Of their happiness. 1t will be
quite the contrary. The more costly toys
q child has, the more feasts and curious
entertainments, the less Is he amused.
In this there is sure sign. Let u
tanning youth, and especially let us not
thOughtlessly create for them artificial
needs. Food, dress, nursery, amuse-
mentstlet 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
slave. Gorged with luxury, he tires Of
it 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
rifice manly dignity. truth and duty
from sheer sloth.
Let US bring up our children simply
had almost said rudeiy. 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 a
bed than to the comforts of the table
and touches Of luxury. So we shall
make men Of them, Independent and
Stanch, who may be counted on, who
will not sell themselves for pottage
and who will have withal the faculty
Of being happy.
A too easy life brings with II q sort
Of lassitude in vital energy. One be
comes blase. disillusioned, an old young
man, past being diverted. How many
young people are in this state! Upon
them have been deposited, like q 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
US to make! What announcements are
craven on their brows!
These shadows say to us by contrast
that happiness lies in a life true, &C.
tive, spontaneous, ungalled 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 It.
self. Normal habits, deep impressions,
the ordinary contact with reality, bring
franknesS with them. FalsehOod is the
vice Of slave. the refuge Of the cow
ardly and weak. He who Is free and
strong is unfiinching in speech. We
should encourage in our children the
hardihood to speak frankly. What do
we ordinarily do? We trample on
natural disposition. level 1t down to
the uniformity which for the crowd is
synonymous with good form. To think
with ones own mind, feel with ones
own heart, express ones own person
ality-how unconventional. how rustic!
Oh, the atrocity Of an education which
consists in the perpetual muzzling Of
the only thing that gives any Of us his
reason for being! OF how many soul
murders do we become guilty! Some
are struck down with bludgeons, others
gently smothered with pillows! Every
thing conspires against independence Of
character. When we are little, people
wish US to be dolls or craven images;
when we grow up they approve of us
on condition that we are like all the
rest Of the world-automatons when
you have seen one of them you've seen
them all. So the lack of originality
and initiative is upon us, and platitude
and monotony are the distinctions Of
today. Truth can free us from this
bondage. Let our children be taught
to be themselves, to ring clear, with
out crack or muffle. Make loyalty a
need to them, and in their gravest fall
ures, II only they acknowledge them.
account it for merit that they have not
covered their sin.
To frankness let US add ingenious
ness in our sOlicitude as educators Let
us have for this comrade Of childhood
trifie uncivilized, it is true, but so
gracious and friendly-all possible re-
gard. We must not frighten it away.
When it has once fed it so rarely
comes back! righteousness is not sim
ply the sister Of truth, the guardian of