Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-01-06
Will Power in
Children

ny Or CHARLES II. rA:;RHURsT.
Tho purpose Of this article g to cali
tho attention OF parents and cf All others
vi'o have 90 do with thc training o,
children to or" ,ecul,y 90 our nature
ohovt Witch very . te BE- said or written
and to which vciv. much less regard Is
pu'd than was the cnsc lfiy years asc
rnd sc, faculty which. ~ left undle-
.ol.lined. carries Win &, the enlightenment
oven 80 not The wrcckng. o. mans entire
,ystcw and character; I moan tho wiz
By education ls generally understood the
ira nirg Of the faculty by which we do
ca ttinking
That g. what tho schools and college,
o cupy themselves with Parents scnd
their children to school In order 70 havc
/ them loarn their lessons and those lessons
arc expected to make tho children clear
( headed and strong minded. Very good.
! Thcrc 10 nothing to be said against that.
But very little attention is given a.
I homo or at school to the cultivation OK
/ tho emotional nature. 20 the strengthen
lng and enrichinE OF the ohld's capacity
for refined feeling and cnnobed passion
md y great deal less 20 the discipline %
/ that mysterious power by which we share
OH" determinations and our resolut' on1
and which we call the will.
Tho will Is 20 No thought OF as tho
piece Of machinery that Is set up IN the
erpine-room Of our being II Is part iA
US without which the rest Of us does
not go, or ~ In imperfect order the res,
OF us goes only Rpasmodically. When
tho win moves decisively Il draws every
thing else after II.
Whom a man, fun of reluctance but
whom / had been trying TO persuade to
abandon a certain evil habit came TO mo
finally and said Il have made up my
mind TO bend" What he said amounted
simply 20 this II win" When his viii
moved he moved. when II acted the
whole OF him acted. just as giving a good
start to tho engine starts every loom In
tho factory.
No matter how correct our thinkings
and our feelings, the motion they make
Will not pass tn the viii seconds IT, And
the reason It IL difficult TO bring a man
10 the point OF making what he know
20 he q good resolution IL because he
Will is weak II has not been trained
He has simply been drifting along ths
line Of least resistance. TIe has. as
child, probably. been allowed TO have his
own way and never been taught 10 gathc,
and fine determination. And so he tum
bles down lust as n little child tumblc
down because It's legs are weak
Tho man who has not acquired wilt
power hy having strong tension given hin
by the imposition upon him Of will othe
than his own. Ia Just where government
would be II II had a Legislature and
judiciary. but no executive. The will {
tho executive. whose function II Is &
take duty as affirmed by the intelligenc
and approximately applied by the more
senslblities, and execute H.
Children IN these days are general
allowed to do what they want to do; an
>. simply doing what one wants to do re
II, qulres exercise or the will The childre
u OF today are disciplinlng the will Of thei
parents. but the parents are not disci
pllning the will OF the children, and con
seauently the children grow up flabby
70 wllled. incapable OF rock-rlbbed detrmi
nation; and so when II Is urged upo
, them to strike out upon a more mani
or womanly course. there Is lacking III
II will-power--or what have called engir
ery-sufficient 10 set the machinery {
action moving In that direction
IS I have only grazed the edges OF a mat
r ter that is vast In its scope and praC
tical import.