The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-06-11
HOW TO RAISE
THE CHILDREN
Social Problems Would not be 50 Great It
Parents Would do Their Whole Duty,
Says This Writer. Be a Companion
to Them.
WELL WRITTEN ARTICLE
By Sliusrs


By Sliuers
Society is now trying to solve two
problems or rather two phases of
one problem. boy who goes
wrong and the white slave traffic.
The latter has been given much
publicity during the past year or
two. Dramas and novels have been
written around it, showing its me-
mace to civilization; some of these
plays and stories will undoubtedly
do much good, but for the most
part, they only cater to the public
as a passing fad and do more harm
than good. The real solution to the
problem will be found only when
parents awaken to their responsible
tiles, and fully understand the sacred
duty that is entrusted to them in the
formation of their children's charac-
ters.
Some people tell us that what a
child will be as a man or woman de-
pends upon what it's father and
mother was, or upon what its grand
parents were. Boshl The fact that
my grand father was a clergyman
and my father an honest working
man did not keep me out of prison;
any more than the fact that Sam
Jones' father having killed a man
made him murderer. In the last
analysis it will be found, that hered-
ity plays no part in the making of
the man.
Mold Child's Character
A short time ago III. Addington
Bruce had an article in the Century
Magazine The Boy Who Goes
Wrong" from which / have taken
the following: "The blame, then,
for the boy who goes wrong does
not rest with the boy himsilf. or yet
with his remote ancestors. 1t rests
squarely with the parents who,
through ignorance or neglect, have
failed to mold him Alright in the
plastic days of childhood. What is
needed, especially in this complex
civilization of ours, with its myriad
of indictments and the temptations, is
a livelier appreciation of the respon-
sibillties as well as the privileges of
parenthood. Most of all, perhaps.
from the point of view of coping
with the problem of vice and crime,
do parents need to appreciate that
it is in the very first years of their
children's lives that the work of
character building should be begun" ("
A wise man once said, reputa-
ton and what we pass for character
is what we are." What difference
there is in reputation and character,
and the foundation of character is
laid in the very first years of the
chlld's life. The boy who lives in
the city has many chances to build
badly that the boy in the country
does not have. but whether a boy
lives in the city or country, the pa
rents are the ones upon whom falls
be responsibilities OF the founda-
ton of his character.
A Stron& Foundatin
If you was going to build costly
building you would first have to
build foundation; you would ex-
cavate where the walls were to be.
and see that there was solid ground
upon which the walls were to rest.
For the foundations you would use
only the best materials, and the men
you would employ would be experts
in that kind of work: all this you
would do lest when the building was
completed, the foundations should
give way and the building be only a
worthless mass of masonry. You
wouldn't take, or expect great credit
for your foresight, because it
would be only ordinary intelligence;
yet many parents are guilty of even
worse neglect where their own chill
dren are concerned. To be sure
they send them to school, give them
food, clothing and shelter but there
@hox, cnov,o RI fhipb fho1r J,,1r orIs.