The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-02-07
AS THE TWIC is BENT
By Geraldine Bonner
OF The Vigilantes.

theirs forever. Trend of thought,
habits of mind, standards OF conduct
inculcated in the early years, persist
on through the seven ages. AS we al
vance on our march we can look
back and see haw the formative IN
fluences of our childhood nave
stretched out from the past, have ike
invisible fingers, moulded US into our
Dresent shape. Our basic beliefs, our
ambitions, our failures and success
es can be traced to what we absorb
ed from the surroundings and the
teachings of our first decade. Upon
the foundations then laid we have
builded up to what we are.
The Germans, with their long
sight, years ago grasped the posslbli-
tiles of this moulding process and set
about creating the nation they want
ed. They left nothing to chance
but went at it with scientific thor
oughness, building from the bottom
up, building through the children. The
school, the pulpit, the home, were all
modified to assist in the great plan.
tt pla tic mind Of the child reciev-
ed the s.s yestion, which slowly seep-
ed Il and permeated the conscious
ness. Thus the people were trained
to be the instrument their leaders
needed-the sword in the hand OF the
War God. AS the twig is bent SO
will its's growth be.
Let us take lesson from our en-
envy and begin to bend our twlgs.
God forbid that we should bend them
in the form he has-but one needn't
waste words on that. All we want
to learn from him is the value OF a
concerted, conscientious effort d.
rected to the development of the
young idea. One picks pearls from
diseased oysters, and wears the pearl
as jewel when the oyster has gone
the way of all dead things.
One of the directions IN which we
should bend our twigs is toward a
better understanding of economy.
No children in the world have as
much spent on them as American
children. Among the well-to-do they
move in an atmosphere of carefully
devised luxury, nothing is too good
for them, nothing too costly. They
are dressed extensively, large sums
are spent in the purchase Of toys
which they break and cast aside with
precocious ennui. One of the axioms
among purveyors of children's clothes
and furnishings that mothers will de-
ny themselves that their babies may
have the latest and daintiest equip
ments. In the matter of presents
money is squandered on them. On
Christmas and birthdays they are
showered with gifts, overwhelmed by
an abundance too great to appre-
ciate or enjoy.
To start life such influences is to
start under handicap. A child with
its few treasured toys, loved and in
innate, a child in clothes too simple
to stimulate vanity, is child with
a better chance than one trained IN
IN appreciated of meritricious values
and satiated with plenty. 1t is not
being treated fairly, nor being start
ed right. Its parents-even though
they may be able to dover it richly
are not helping it to that self-de-
.,ial and restraint which will carry
i. to the high destiny they dream Of
,rhev are bending the twig in the
wrong direction, neglecting their du
~ rs the gardener in whose hands it,
future lies.
No matter how lacking in public
spirit such parents may be, they have
read and heard good deal lately o.
tie necessity for curtailed expendi
ture and conservation of our resour
c. 5. 1ncy huOW tuSy nNoS w Ss~AS
fal of the coal, and the food, and tn
general outlay. No doubt many Q!
them have honestly tried and exper
fenced q comforting sense Of &C
c.mplishment as the bills grew small
e. and the house grew colder. Blu
this is only temporary; an effort t.
he sustained till the war is over.
10 make q permanent change in TIL
1ational character, to implant ant
develop in it new impulse, they mus
20 deeper, to the. root and tn
root is in the children.
Early t-.ining can make thrift q
distinctive as it is in the French
Hut the children must be educatet
70 it, not only by speech and pre-
capt, but by suggestion and setting
Ccsse TO surround them with an un
necessary luxury, cease to clio,
their powers Of appreciation with I
superiority, and the process is be
gum. II the child understands thai
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