The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1913-08-07
PICTURES OF PARENTS
AND SCHOOLROOMS.

AND SCHOOLROOMS.
The face we view first is that of a
timid little woman whose faded beauty
recalls the days when she was belle
and gave much time and attention to
society. Her pathway in life has not
been strewn with roses. She has found
the road rough, for one so anxious to
please, yet SO lacking in will-power
and common. sense. 1t is not strange
that a peevish, worried, conciliatory
expression has become habitual to her
face.
Her boy of fourteen has measured
her strength, mental, moral and physi-
cal, and acts accordingly She coaxes
and bribes him to be good, and tells
him in company how much mamma
loves him. When complaints are made
that he smokes, lies and steals, the
fond mother weeps copiously and tells
him he is break ing her heart, and that
she will certainly tell his father the
neat time complaint is made. She
assures the teacher coniidentially that
the father is so cruel and has SO little
charity for Eddie's faults that she
shrinks from telling him.
AT her side is the portrait of the
father--a grutl, good-natured, success
full business man who knows more
about buying and selling goods than
about training his boy. He believes in
the old-fashioned "lickin and larnin"
method and Furnishes very severely.
He, too, takes the teacher into his con-
tidence and tells her that the mother
has no government; that the boy is
becoming ruined by over indulgence;
and that he wants him held under
strict discipline in school
The teacher meanwhile studies the
situation and its probable effects upon
the boy. The weak mother, the un-
sympathetic father and the warm-heart-
ed, impulsive boy, whose hereditary
tendencies to deceive bid him take
advantage of every opportunity afforded
| him.
The next picture is that of mother
who used to teach school. Her life his
tory is by no means remarkable. Ac.
cording Ito her friends report, she
taught the village school ''on and OFF,
until she reached the discreet age OF
forty years, when she married com
monplace business man. AS teacher
she was not successful yet she claims
to possess unusual insight into all the
great problems of pedagogy.
She is certain that her child is dillar.
ent from all others that ever grew. AT
his entrance, she warned the teacher
that he was a peculiar child and must
receive special privileges. The teacher
soon discovered that he had never been
taught self control; that he was idle
and careless IN his work; that he liked
to annoy and disturb his schoolmates
at their lessons. All this his mamma
excuses on the plea of nervousness. y
In the course OF time the mother con
cludes to have her boy skip grade, v
and therefore begins to teach him at
home. Accordingly all his Saturdays,
Sundays, vacations and holidays are
spent in study. While other boys are
having good time, this poor little
victim Of misguided parents ambi-
tion is at home making up the grade.
BY dint of hard labor he manages to
squeeze into the desired grade whore
he plods along at discouragingly
slow pace. BY this tir1e he has learned
to hate books and school work and is
longing for the time when he can leave
school and help his father. The disap
pointed mother spends her time in
"nagging" the boy and N finding fault
with the teacher and the school system.
The longer he stays under her control
the fewer are his chances of becoming
a respectable, upright, law abiding
citizen TX. O. Oak.