Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-16
THE FOLLY OF GROWN-upS
ADULTS ARE CHILDREN OF RIG
STATURE AND MANY YEARS.
Efforts Of the Elders and the Gray
boards to Crush Out Their
Youthful Souls.
From the London Mail

From the London Mail.
No one is really grown-up.
| After having been in the world for a
certain number of years the child is sup
posed to disappear leaving an entirely
different individual-some one with radi-
cally different tastes, ambitions and pro-
clivities. AS matter of fact, the child
remains as alive as ever. only no grown
| ups dare admit the fact. They do their
| best to hide the child-soul, burying il be-
| meath layers of conventions such
cial position or intellectual development,
| or the cares and responsibilities of the
| struggle for existence.
To keep up the pretense. grown-ups
| quicker their foreheads in scowls. curve
| their mouths into SneerS. put a restless.
| dissatisfied look into their eyes. and
| imagine they have thus removed them
selves forever from the plane of youth.
| Further to maintain the illusion. they try
| to assure the world that life has no more
treats or surprises for them. and that it
| is impossible for them to enjoy them
| selves very much.
| If they were still in the ranks of author
lied children. such behavior would be
viewed in the right light. continual
| state of boredom would be regarded as
| ingratitude. an affectatiOn of superiority
would be held unwholesome conceit.
! and the reserve usually accompanying
such state OF mind would be promptly
| dealt with as "sulks. No nonsense Is
| stood from children. Unfortunately when
| they ascend what should be a higher
plane of life, nonsense" is expected from
| them and even encouraged.
| The Putting on Of Airs.
The state of grown-ups is usually one
of putting on airs" If we look at those
around us. viewing them as magnified
children, it is amazing how they carry out
| our accusation.
| A striking object lesson was given quite
recently at brilliant state function. The
building had been lavishly decorated, the
finest assembly of talent collected; all had
! dOnned the most beautiful attire and no
F! pains had been spared to give the guest
| of honor happy evening. The guest sat
in the midst Of the merrymaking with
| an expression of sullen resignation. Had
the proper sense of human values been
preserved the host would have leant over,
remarked, kindly but firmly. IF you
can't look pleasanter. you'll go straight
| home!" Such remarks make character
| in children: In grOwn-ups they unfortu-
nately sometimes lead to war. But that
is because humanity is still hugging the
| dream Of being grown-up.
This state indeed, seems sometimes to
be only the state of doing everything
| which children are told not to do. I'm
| tidiness, for instance, is held as one of the
cardinal nursery sins: but how many
grown-ups write blotted letters, with zig
gag lines, and almost illegible handwrit-
ing that would have been termed dis
graceful scribble' in schoolroom days?
Yet why should people of thirty feel
privileged to write worse than when they
were twelve? Why should age confer the
habit of making Uniformed characters?
Why should all the framework of order,
discipline and steadiness. SO laboriously
| constructed in youth. be encouraged to
topple down directly one leaves the school
| room?
The Necessity Of Individuality"
| In answer comes the grown-up' conven-
| ton of the necessity of individuality"
| In the schoolroom children are trained to
| follow definite laws; but the grOwn-ups
| have a delusion that keeping rules makes
| for uniformity. Therefore they celebrate
| their escape from supervision by casting
| over as many nursery traditions as pos
sble, and. strutting about forthwith in
most unseemly manner, imagine they are
| developing personalities which are an i'm
provement on those they wore In nursery
| and schoolroOm.
AS sign of emancipation, they stay
I'D very late, lie abed in the morning.
| overeat themselves, drink strong drinks
smoke and generally give themselves trou-
BILE. Instead of gaining in cheerfulness,
they are inclined to pull longer and
| longer faces over the bother of doing
| their daily tasks; worry lines come on
| their foreheads, and their grumbling
| reaches q pitch which would have evoked
| the severest correction in earlier days. AS
they are grown up" however, no one
intervenes to stop them from making
| themselves and every one they meet COM
pletely miserable.
| On the other hand. the grown-ups who
enjoy continual holidays are fldgety
and restless. not to say naughty. as chill
dren in the same predicament. The days
seem just as long. the parties as monot-
onous. While as for the quarrels they
! indulge in, can any one plead they are
any less silly than childrens differences?
| The analogy is identical. Mr.. Smith pre-
| fers to play with Miss Brown, so Miss
| Green cries her eyes out. and feels de-
| serted by the whole world for ever and
ever. Mrs. Jones does not ask Mrs. White
| to her party, although she has invited the
Grahames Mrs. Whites great friends. Is
Mrs. Whites heart-burning less at forty
| than at fourteen?
Absurdly Disproportinate.
| When the so-called dignity is lifted
from these poor grown-ups they are
4 found to be as absurdly disproportionate
in the estimates of their troubles as they
were in the days when an ill-learned lesson
brought cloud Of disgrace i'm which
| eternity itself gave promise of no OPEN
ing rift. An ill-done sum is sufficient to
| blight a day of a child's life: the shadow
| -
| But the grown-ups in charge of them
attach no such serious Importance to the
| awful clouds which blot out hope and
| JOY from the child's horizon. They view
| the painful experiences as wholesome les
sons and directly the child begins to
| try to be better il soon RECEIVERS from the
| shadow.
When it comes to the turn of the grown
ups however, they view their punishment
| in as precisely extravagant a manner
as do the children. The disgrace of ILL
done sums haunts them, SO does the dis
grace of a bad report. Like children
| they feel the shadow will last for ever
and ever. Like children, they feel they
can never be received into popular esteem
and respect again. Only they have no
one to explain how unimportant the dis
grace is; and how quickly 1t is forgotten
| by every one round II only they Will try
| to do better and really improve.
| They can see the folly OF crying over
| split milk SO plainly in children: the alb
| surdity Of fretting and hiding and making
| ones self i'll with mopihg. oh, what a lot
OF excellent common sense grown-ups dis
pense to children! Why cannot they
| spare a little for one another? And
because all nice grown-ups are ready
enough to be kind to the children who
are making themselves unhappy over
nothing, why cannot they be equally help
| full and loving to the poor, silly grown-ups
around them who are engaged in exactly
| the same occupation?
An international expositi ION for art and
I,.ll ia, x.-tn lNA l.@rxl