The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1906-07-04
deal Place to Rear a Child.

For the past two years we have lived
upon d farm, and a farm is the ideal
place to bring up a child, you have
read in the books. At the outset hun
ger for companionship seized our Da-
vid, and he found his way to neigh
boris and played with little girl who
suffered. After a week or two we
found that lie was suffering, too, and
stopped the visits, but too late, and
now, for all l know, he may continue
to say every word three times over as
long as he lives. And when he was not
learning to stutter he was up in the
pear orchard stuffing himself or behind
the house swimming the baby ducks
and his shoes In the washtub or out in
the kitchen mixing himself pudding
of pepper cruets candlesticks and
milk, So 1t Was found necessary to get
some one to take, care Of him, so little
by little the problem has arisen, for
you must understand that 1t is not
merely a question of finding govern
ess or kindergarten expert; it is a
question of setting up and keeping I'M
der way u home for him, and it is a
question Of an establishment of serv-
ants
The mistake was in the beginning
you say-if you object to servants you
ought never to have married. But is
man to be denied the privilege of par
enthood just because he happens to
possess an intellect? And is it for the
best interests of the race that its flu
ture generations should be furnished
exclusively by the ignorant and cal
louS? And if authors, artists, scientists
and philosophers are to reproduce their
kind what is to be done? Shall they
have to marry their hOusekeepers? |
have made many sacrifices for my art,
but confess that that one would have
staggered me.
OF course we can do 1t If we must.
We can stick to the farm and raise all
our own food and keep our health and
do it all at moderate expense, but how
pitiful it is! We cannot travel; we can
never hear any music or attend the
theater: we can have only books and
our own thoughts winter and summer,
year in and year out We cannot send
our child to a kindergarten, to SCHOOL,
he can never be with other children.
Can mere writer of original books
afford house in the city or city prices
for impure food? And of course we
cannot keep a wide awake boy in a
boarding house or apartment. No, we
must have our own home and in the
country, so our thoughts come back
from every flight Let us make one des-
perate effort to try to get good serv-
ants and then pay them anything and
keep them, and then when we get the
machine running let us get a little
house near by and keep it for our own
and allow no one there and go and live
there and eat cold food and do our own
work whenever we wish to be alone
with our thoughts.
That was our plan until l took the
resolution to write this article. There
are hundreds and even thousands in
exactly the same plight. l said. And
why should they all sink back and
reconcile themselves to the monstrOus
absurdities of isolated housekeeping?
AS a preliminary to explaining what
l wish to propose l shall state one
thing that 1 do not propose. am not
dreaming any sort of self supporting
colony, to set n new ideal and realize
the cooperative commonwealth. What
l am making here is a simple business
profession for an association of people
who may possess a moderate income to
secure the benefits of the application
of the machine process to their domes-
tic affairs.
Living Like a Feudal Baron.
Here am l on my little farm living
as my ancestors lived. like a cave man
or a feudal baron. l have my little
castle and my retainers and depend