The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-05-26

apologized in a newspaper for d
quarrel she had with the girl last Fri
day. sThe girl left home following a
misunderstanding with her mother,
and yesterday wrote her letter that
she was well and happy and would
return on public apology from her
mother, inserted in a newspaper. The
apology appeared today as follows:
Helen, come home; so sorry; Papa
and | will help you in your work.
Mother.
Tonight the girl is back home
In another instance the apology
was demanded and offered by the
father and in still other instances
both parents joined in the apology.
If the matter were not SO serious it
would be absurd. The idea of par
ent apologizing to child because the
latter has been corrected, or ordered
to do something that the pert Miss,
or juvenile egotist did not like.
The girl or boy who runs away
from home, unless there is the very
gravest reason, should be treated to
a good dose of slipper or something
stronger as soon as caught; and the
public authorities should lend every
aid in the catching. In any case the
idea of a public apology should be
given no place at ALL The trouble
today is that instead of the parents
ruling the child the child rules the
parents, and it is very common
thing to hear foolish parents explain
| ing and apologizing to little children
who should simply be told what to
| do and made to do it, The result-aS
| God are violated-is a worthless child,
and very often the Juvenile Court and
disgrace and trouble.
That we have so many juvenile
courts and probation officers and
other public, judicial machinery to
| care for the young proves that the
parents are neglecting their duty. 1t
proves that the parents are doing too
| much apologizing and too little
spanking. In other days when we
had no courts, and the parent attended
to the management and correction of
! the children without interference from
| the public authorities, or settlement
centre workers, or other outsiders,
the children were far more moral, and
| far better. There was no apologizing
| on the part of parents in that era, and
| few children that were a disgrace to
their parents, and singular, as it may
seem, the children of that day loved
their parents far better than those of
| today, who too often care as little for
those who brought them into the
| world, as an animal cares for it's par
ents after it is weaned.
The juvenile court is the record of
parental incompetency and weakness.
1t is not credit, but a disgrace to
| the community where it exists, not
| because the judge and the officers
may not be doing good work under the
circumstances, but because it is not
creditable to any community that they
lsshould have any work to do.
| Judge Lindsey, for instance, prob
ably has done much good with his
| court in Denver, but that he was able
| to do SO much good shows that the
| parents of Denver in many instances
| are worthless and weak and .incap
able of managing their offspring, and
no doubt we should find that the his
tory of the children was in many cir
cumstances, the story of long line
of apologizing and weak parents
/ We have in the notorious ThaN
case an instance of parental weakness
that has finally resulted in murder
and endless disgrace. We see it around
us every day. We all know cases
/ where children who might be of some
Il value in the world, who might grow
| up to be credit to their parents ant
i the community are drifting to the
i devil and their parents are uncon
i sciously perhaps, but. none the less eff
/ feetually helping them on the road t.
Il ruin. ss s,l
ii When the parAnt begins To apologize
| there III little hppe for the future D
lxr.. |. - u HI