The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-30

THERE is,, to my mind, no subject
 so vital about which one may write as that on which 1 have been asked to express my opinion Children'l What would the world be without them? By them the perpetuity of the race is as sured and on their upbringing the prog ress of the world depends Although the superlative importance of bringing up children properly has been realized for ages. there are no rules to guide the young parent; the only principles to be followed are individual ones, and the mistakes of one generation are often passed on to- the next through an un- reasoning prejudice possessed by some people against anything that is not -old- fashioned"
 EvEry child an Individual
 Of course every child born into the world has its own individuality its own twists of character, These have to be dealt with as occasion demands, and they should be the subject of deep study on the part of the parent But IS 1t not strange that. while there have always been numerous instances of this sort of thing. the average parent Is inclined to regard special mental twist as nothing more nor less than childish whim, bOthersome and annoying to the parent, but not worthy of serious attentionsa In fact. do not the majority of parents nowadays absolutely fail to realize the great responsibility that IS theirs, and arc they not therefore to be held ac- coEntablc for many actions of their off, spring in after lifes
 have perhaps passed rather suddenly to fthe point of what Ishave to say. but '.st IS a point that has always been upper 1v.cst III my mInd when thinking of cilil- Ttr,. e1x rde-
 possibilities of the--proper training
 T;lIidren and the decrease in crime and
 reduess such training would mean,
 agree with me that there Is no other
 SO worthy of earnest attention.
 next generation will be exactly
 Fts children of to-day are. Should
 | strive with all our might to make
 better generation than this one i;
 si we not seek all the aid and I that we can obtain on this most rtant subject.
 Possible
 ne statement that there are no rules
 guide parents needs explanation
 gre can never be a set of rules by
 ,ich children may be brought up, be- cause there will always be individuality <o reckon with, both in the parent and in the child Of recent years there has D(CH d 1CIuCHCy .lO dQFduCCLIlCnl lIldl has much, that is good and much that is bad m it.
 It is absurd to think that every child should walk at a certain age; that fail- ure to talk at the age of eighteen months IS a sign-of lacking mentality Never theless there are many mothers who, noticing that their sons do not progress as rapidly as their neighbors', endeavor to force progress The result IS none the less disastrous because not realized by those who are responsible
 Aside from such matters as these, there are many things that may be sub ject to regulation. have, a larger family than the majority of women in America and 1 have always found that, in a great many things, the sanie treat ment brings about the same results. no matter how different the children may be individually Before my first child entered the world l reaiized that was accepting great respon sibility. and for that reason no sacrifice has seemed too great for rme.
 The Ordeal of Motherhood
 I was, at least to an extent, prepared for tAe a-d~al tt--rrrrh which | was to