The Washington herald., 1915-12-26
Character and Life.
ny JOHN ID. BARRY.

ny JOHN ID. BARRY.
A well-known physician of my acquaintanc
takes great interest in children AS his specialt.
observing children at an early age. He says that
even at birth, there is a noticeable difference be
tween them Each child has individuality.
This physician shows a good deal OF skill il
predicting the qualities that newborn children arr
likely to develop. His relatives and close friends
arc often amused by his talk on this subject. Hi!
wife says that his skill is uncanny. When theil
first child was born he told her about the quatic.
that he saw indicated in the face and in the move
ments of the body. AS the years passed he found
the prophesy verifying itself. Meanwhile other
children came along and other prophecies were
made and verified So that wife now has conf
dence in her husbands insight into newborn babes
This physician is impatient with those people
who say that very young children arc alike and
that the differences result from outside influences
He is particularly annoyed by those careless gen.
civilizations people make in regard to children, as
well as many other important subjects in life, for
example. the statement, often repeated. that all
children arc untruthful. He believes that in this
regard in many other ways there is vast diff
ference among children. Some children arc born
with natures that seem turned toward the truth,
that cannot possibly deviate He cites in
one of his own children, little girl about
10 years of age. And, to those nearest to him,
with great regret, he refers to another of his
children. his Oldest boy, who was apparently born
with dislike for the truth and repeatedly reacts
from the daily experiences of life into untruth.
II is interesting to observe the attitude OF this
ply ysician toward those two children. Naturally
he is fonder of the truthful one than Of the un-
truthful. But he makes a great effort to treat
them equally we'll. He realizes that to blame the
boy for being untruthful would be both unjust
and absurd However. he is human, too. and
suppose he may be pardoncd for showing occa-
sional irritation and disgust with that boy.
The other day., in talking about children, the
physician referred to the untruthful child. He
is growing more truthful" he remarked. En-
vronment is working him. He has been made
to see that his untruthfulncss is disagrceablc
quality. So he is doing what most of us would
tells the truth now where couple of years ago
he would have lied As he grows older he may
develop something like love for the truth. 1t
may become strong enough to control his natural
instinct. 1t may even cause the instinct to dis
appear from the character. At any rate, he is
showing the effect of good influences and becom-
ing less different from the other children than he
used to be-"
1t seemed to inc that these remarks illustrated
a significant force in life, the force that tended
10 make us all more less alike, that rubbed off
the edges and created that exterior smoothness
characteristic of prcscnt-day living.
This force bothers some of orr social observers.
They say it destroys individuality and makes
people conventional. 1t lowers life to the plane of
he average: There is no doubt that there is
ruch truth in the notion. But where there is loss
here is also gain, matter Of fact.
The force operates in many ways some of
which we have ourselves established. One of the
most powerful is the public school system. 1t
ends to develop certain distinct types. In the
process vast amount of originality must be sac
hced There arc sensitive natures that suffer
rom the herding and the classifying. On the other
land. think Of the benefit that results from the
OF so many young people with conflict
rg egotism. Soon those inexperienced natures
discover that they must adapt themselves to estab
ished standards, that they must avoid giving ex-
preston to selfshness and to the other qualities
by the world, and must maintain them
elves through effort.
Just now there arc rebels who declare that in
he smoothing process the most valuable qualities
# the lost. But their case is yet to be
roven. They will have hard task in convincing
he world that they have discovered better
method. For the world has instinctively accepted
he theory of my physician friend that human be-
ngs are by nature widely differentiated in char
cter, and that the meaning of life lies in self-dis-
ipline in the discovery of what is really good, |
nd in the reaching out of the individual toward its
ttafnment.
Two Discoveries.
The Germans have discovered synthetic rubber |
nd Chairman Hilles has discovered synthetic |
ote that will elect Republican Presdent-Kan-