The Washington herald., 1913-11-30
Country Is Place for Children, Former President Holds
Outings in Rock Creek Park with
Gen Wood

SO the result was as satisfactory as II the
quotation had been from the right
service.
As for the education Of the children.
there was OF course much OF II that rep
resented downright hard work and
drudgery. There was also much training
that came as a by-product and was per-
haps almost as valuable-not as a sub
stitute. but as an addition. After their
supper the children, when little. would
come trotting up to their mothers room
to be read to. and IL was always a sur
prise to me to notice the extremely
varied reading which interested them,
from Howard Pyle's Robin Hood" Mary
Alicia Owens ''voodoo Tales" and Joel
Chandler Harris's Aaron in the wild
Woods" to ''Lycidas'' and king John"
II their mother was absent, 1 would try
to act as Yice-mother-a poor substitute
1 fear-superintending the supper and
reading aloud afterwards. The children
did not wish me to read the books they
desired their mother to read, and 4
usually took some such book as Here
ward the Wake" or Guy Mannering," or
The Last OF the Mohicans," or els.
some story about a man-eating tiger, Or
a man-eating lion, from one OF the hunt
ing books in my library.
These latter stories were alvays
favorites, and as the authors did them
in the first person, my interested
auditors grew to know them by the
name of the 'T" stories, and regarded
them as adventures, all Of which hap
psned to the same individual. When
Selous. the African hunter, visited us,
had to get him to tell to the younger
children two or three of the stories
with which they were already familiar
from my reading; and as SeIous is a
. most graphic narrator, and always en-
| tiers thoroughly into the feeling not
only of himself but Of the opposing lion
or buffalo, my own rendering of the in
cidents was cast entirely into the
shade.
Besides profiting by the more canonI
cal books on education, we profted by
certain essays and articles of a less
orthodox type. 1 wish to express my
warmest gratitude for such books-not
OF avowedly didactic purpose-as Laura
Richards books, Josephine Dodge Das-
kam's Madness OF Philip" Palmer
Cox's Queer People," the melodies OF
Father Goose and Mother Wild Goose.
Flandreau's Mrs. Whites" Myra Kel-
ly's stories of her little East Side pu
pills. and Michelson's "Madigans" II Is
well to take duties. and life generally.
seriously. 1t Is also well to remember
that sense of humor Is a healthy anti
scorbutic to that portentous serious
ness which defeats its own purpose
Occasionally bits OF elf-education
proved Of unexpected help to the chill
dren in later years. Like other chill
dren. they were apt to take to bed
with them treasures which they par
ucularly esteemed. One OF the boys.
just before his sixteenth birthday, went
moose-hunting with the family doctor
and close personal friend Of the entire
family. Alexander Lambert.
Once night overlook them before they
camped, and they had to lie down Just
where they were. Next morning Dr.
Lambert rather enviousIy congratulated
the boy on the fact that stones and roots
evidently did not interfere with the
soundness Of his sleep; to which the boy
responded: We'll, doctor you see #
isn't very long since I used 10 take
fourteen china animals to bed with me
every night!" -
Growing Up.
As the children grew up, Sycamore Hill
remained delightful for them There
were picnics and riding parties, there
were dances in the north room-some-
times fancy dress dances-and open-air
plays on the green tennis court Of one OF
the cousins houses. The children are
no longer children now. Most OF them
are men and women, working out their
own fates in the big world: some In our
own land. others across the great oceans
or where the Southern Cross blaZes in
the tropic nights Some Of them have
children OF their own: some are working
at one thing. some at another; in cable
ships. in business Offices, IN factories, in
newspaper Offices. building steel bridges.
bossing gravel trains and steam shoyels,
or laying tracks and experimenting
freight traffic.
They have had their share Of accidents
and escapes; as I write, word comes
from a far-off land that one OF them,
whom Seth Bullock used to call kim"
because he was the friend of all man
kind, while bossing a dangerous but
necessary steel structural job, has had
two ribs and two back teeth broken, and
is back at work. They have known and
they will know Joy and sorrow, triumph
and temporary defeat But 1 believe they
are all the better OF because OF their
happy and healthy childhood
1t is impossible to win the great prizes
of life without running risks, and the
greatest OF all prizes are those connected
with the home. No father and mother
can hope 10 escape sorrow and anxiety.
and there are dreadful moments when
death comes very near those We love-
even IL for the time being 1t passes by.
But life is a great adventure, and the
worst of all fears Is the fear Of living
There are many forms Of success, many
forms OF triumph. But there is no other
success that in any shape or way ap-
| proaches that which is open to most OF
the many, many men and women who
have the right ideals These are the men
and the women who see that II Is the In
innate and homely things that count
most. They are the, men and women
who have the courage to strive for the
i happiness which comes only with labor
and effort and self-sacrifice. and only to
| those whose Joy in life springs In part
from power of work and sense Of duty.