Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-04-07
A CHILD'S CHARACTER.
Children of Today Indulgent Too Freely
and Not Prepared for Life's
Battle.

I
and they will not acquire il in their lit
1 erature classes. nor find it component
part of their French verbs, unless, in
deed, patience and humility are the
fruit of those trying aIds 10 education.
! Yet how little does the formative course
of work and study in the first eighteen
4 years of u young persons life include
| that which alone can bring fine gifts TO
perfection or fit their lives to encounter
the warning elements of this complex
world with success for themselves or
! benefit to others!
Those great foundation lines of truth
and unselhshnesS: those absolutely need
full qualities of contentment with natural
conditions and the power to enjoy life
without eXtraneouS excitement and
| amusement; that crucial test of noble
character. the laying aside of self and
its cravlngs--who teaches these to the
/ busy, hurrying young folk?
None but mother, whose first thought
regarding her child is to fit it to use life
as great trust and to make it proof
| against the storm and stress of disap-
polntment and regret. can lay that basis
of priceless beauty and strength on
| which such spiritual structure can
firmly stand. None but such Il mother
can make clear to the young, eager heart
that purpose of some definite sort can
make life worth living or cause it to con-
tribute to the joy and peace of the world.
lie or she who is allowed to come to ma
turity looking forward to the future as a
goal toward which they are pressing in
order that thenceforth they may be free
J 10 make merry, and to stretch out their
hands to obtain personal advantages and
pleasures, can never win or give much
/ that satisfies.
/ If girl believes that she must be
diligent and in earnest about this or that
study, or careful TO preserve this or that
natural charm, because they are sources
of attraction or make for popularity in So
cial life, she may learn soon enough and
| sadly enough that lovely voice or Il
| beWltchng manner is poor weapon
with which to defend the peace and har-
mOny of home, and wholly useless
when her own we0kncss or the strain of
! illness and care comes and demands that
she should be both brave and strong and
accomplishing.
Contentment and busy chcerfulness
within the limits of family life are as
| little thought of and fostered i'll our
| homes as il they were of no value. The
most diligent g0verness can only hint at
such rare attainments-the mother at
leisure among her daughters, the father
free to show to his boys that III personal
character is embodied the charm of life,
and that in things that are real and APP
pertaining to mutual development and
enjoyment are bound up not only the de-
! light but the blessings which make sac
1 ritice a joy and devotion the essence of
human happiness.
Yes. | am really quite satisfied with
Mildred, and her father is very proud of
| her. She is so good to look at and her
manner is so gracious and attractive, |
could hardly ask for more. How she
VIII bear any disappointment or care.
don't know. She knew little of either
in her grlhood. We have often changed
our own plans rather than have her lose
a pleasure. | hope that her husband
will be equally indulgent.'
She who had brought this child to the
| gate oil that personal. responsible in
dlvidual life, which opens so gaily mt the
touch of magnetic attraction and the de-
mands OF passionate affection, had no
word of apprehension for those who were
to be dependent upon her; no grieving
forethought for the children that might
come and find only a pleasure-seeking
| mother; no regret for the man who
should lind himself called upon to be
ever ready to provide variety and amuse-
ment for nature to which the day
must ever bring some new thing.
Every element of the present fashion
| OF existence is at war with the moulding
of character into the lovely, perfected
steadtastnesS on which the peace and ioy
OF home rests. The rich are so vehement
iy driven from place to place, the parents
are SO mercilessly active, that the old
vision OF lovely matron surrounded by
her little ones has faded from the can
vas. She is often proud of them, she
is anxious i'll illness and tender when
they are i'll PAIN but her character makes
very slight impression upon them. and
she is not busy with careful effort to
develop theirs.
They must be healthy in body. they
n C1Nl Il mn IL,
comfortable, they have every appliance
Tor enjoyment and protection: they must
love their parents, and they do not fail
to do this freely when they associo 10
them with continuous qualification: bur
the making of happy. contented. self
forgetting, useful woman is not accom-
plished.
1t is the same story in the poor mans
home and the rich mans: from neither
come out those familiar with the quiet
paths OF peace. Soon they will begin to
! bulld homes for themselves, and true
| homes require an endowment of uncom-
planning endurance. of fertile resource
that repairs loss and heals wounds and
conCealS It's OWN selfish desires No such
sweet, hidden ways of ''muting, the
chord of self so that it shall pass tremb-
ling out of sight" come out of the hur-
RED preparatory years that have fitted
the well-trained girl for either a social
career, or Tor the deNterous use of n
skillful knowledge of business or n pro-
fesslon, Yet tender wisdom is needed in
that fair garden man calls home. and to
which he looks as his Paradise.
An accomplishing spirit an unselfsh
heart, and-O mighty gift. in common
sense. do more for the individual charac-
ter and for the general happiness of the
world than all the graces and accomo-
lishments ever acquired. But where. to-
4 day, shall we find tho DlaPp in which
with unending care, watching as for the
putting forth of flowers. mothers shall
find time and opportunity so to aid their
children as 10 bless the world% All the
professional skill that can be summoned
cannot do the work. God committed it
to the mother and the father of the child.
| New York Evening Post.
Would Set Aside Election.