The St. Mary banner., 1907-12-28
TIE INFANT kAFlR.
How They Ering Up Children IN
South Africa.


In his former facinatinS work.
The Essential Kafir," Mr.. Dudley
Kidd gave us an insight into the
minds Of adult Zulu; now ne per-
forms the same office for that ol the
children. No other book deals Win
the children of a native race WIN
such fulness and sympathy, and ethho-
logy is the richer for TINS caleiul
study of the thought and actlohs VI
kafr children. The following quota
ton will serve to give some luea ~
this treatment OF tne subject by lhe
author:
1T is an unwritten law among most
tribes that children shall not De sehl
into the fields or help in the WORK Oh
the kraal until most OF thelr teetn
have appeared. ......N in the az
pearance Of the second teeth the chllo
leaves fairyland forever; the charm
of innocence and dream life Vanlshes.
and the light of common day Is let
in. "A great many rules OF
etiquette refer to the eating OF loou.
Children are not badsered about plac-
ing their elbows on the table ana
about touching food with their hands
for the natives have neither tables nor
forks. But children are told IL Is
very base to eat food in secret Win
out sharing it with others. ........
When the father helps boys from
spoon they have to hold out Doth
hands to receive the helping, for hold
ing out one hand would imply that
the father gave so little that 1t could
all be held in single hand. .......
The katir certainly laughs at child
when it is found guilty OF being
clumsly in its lying, but he tres 70
discourage lying in his children tor
all thst. A kafir beats his child when
it lies to him, and says that TO lie is
a bad thing
OF great interest is the chapter on
games, as the author truly says,
Not only do the games OF savage
children bear striking witness to the
high DEVELOPMENT and rich content OF
their minds, but also suggests valu-
able lessons on the subject OF educa-
ton. Play is educational in its ten
dency 1t is thus they edu-
cate themselves. -. 80. fortunately
the Katirs wisely allow their children
to regard much of the work they have
to do as sort OF play.
The system of tagging is we'll de-
veloped. The head boy fags all the
other boys and girls under him, and
each one in turn fags smaller one
if he can. The fag master has
glorious time of it, for he lies down
in the shade and makes all the other
boys do his work for him, ordering
them to fetch Kim food or drink as
he may wish If there should not be
sufficient food the big boy makes the
little ones go and steal some. .......
The little boy LOOKS forward to the
day when he will be able to fag
others. If he were to get into "a
scrape with the boys of rival kraal
his master would take his part and
fight for him.
The chief work of the boys is herd
ing cattle, and they are, of course, up
to every conceivable and ininconceiv-
able sort Of mischief when doing SO,
and have many ways of avoiding de-
lection. Boys chew certain bitter
roots when they are expecting punish
ment, for they think they can thus
bind the anger of the father. When
boys lose oxen they walk home sor-
rowfully,s looking out for small white
stones to bite or swallow so as to
burden their hearts, for when father
gives boy beating he does SO in
the most consummate style.
The boys show quite as much exu-
beranc of spirits and desire to ex.
ercise their muscles as English boys
do. Girls have a much poorer time
of it than boys, and often wish that
they had been born boys instead OF
girls On the whole, kafr
children have a very good time of it.
They are never Overworked; they
are allowed to mix as much fun as
they please with their work so long as
they do not neglect their duty. And
it must be said that on the whole
they do their work well.-Londou
Daily News.