The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-15
By Margaret E. sangster.

| (Copyright 1906. by Joseph B. Bowles.) The fashion of large families has gone out. Here and there of course
 one meets a good sized family of rol-
 licking boys and girls, and sees row of bright heads around the family
 board. Once upon a time six, eight
 and ten children formed the ordinary | family group and nobody wasted a
 sentiment of pity on fathers and moth CTS because of the number of the lit-
 tie ones or the multiplying needs of
 the young people
 Gradually, at least in the older por- | tions of the country. this condition of
 things has materially changed and the American household is considered
 complete with an average sum total | of three children. One child satisfies l some parents and others thank Provi- dence from full hearts if they have l two, son and a daughter being re- garded as satisfactory in the highest | degree
 Recently a tendency Is evidenced in | dicatve of a backward swing of the pendulum in favor Of the larger fam | fly. for which indeed very much is to be said. Although the care of in- fancy entails no little strain on a
 mother. yet in later years she looks back on nursery days with a new con ception of their intense happiness.
 As children increase in number and
 in years they help 10 bring one an
 other up and the mother of six. vary ing in age from twelve to two years. really has less to contend with and less daily fret and care than the moth CT of single child.
 The problem of the sensitive child | much oftener assails the parent whose
 family Is small than her neighbor who
 has a round half-dozen to supervise. In the latter instance there is very little time to study the moods and caprices of a small person who Is cas- fly wounded. or inclined to nope In corner when he or she can not rule with a strong hand. Be it noted that
 the desire to rule with a strong hand is not limited to people who are grown up. Solomon said: Woe to
 thy land when the king Is child" and the aphorism might be repeated
 In the home whenever and wherever
 child immature In judgment, selfish in disposition, and perverse in temper. | swaYs a scepter over the entire fam fly.
 Maria Is so sensitive" said fond mother, alluding to q particularly dis agreeable and ill-behaved infant whose birthdays touched the borderland ot
 seven; she is so nervous and so easily wounded that we all guard her
 
 contradict her. We srv not to shock or vex her by opposition. The little | faults she now has we are sure will be overcome by her good sense when she is older. In the meantime we try | to be patient. Love is the only at mosphere for a sensivive child" 1 It Is the hour of child culture and
 of the mother club, and of much con slderation and much wisdom in our
 dealings with children. Nevertheless. an old Fashioned woman who grew up
 when children had happy place of | their own, in the backyard of the home, when they romped and played and studied without 100 much vigi- | lance on the part of their elders, when naughtiness was rebuked by the jingle of a switch. and goodness was | rewarded by an extra treat or a cookie, has her private wonder about the pres
 ent clamor over willfulness.
 
 Are children really better off for re- ceiVing an early impression that their moods and lenses are 70 be taken seri- ously? May it not easily be that un- due sepsitiveness would be cured by less candy and an earlier bedtime? As things are. the sensitive child too often tyrannizes owe. the others who have 10 such trait in their natures, and who therefore are not treated with any special favor.
 Teachers unanimously condemn par ents who make too much of this par ticular feature in their children