Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-02
Little Talks by
Bedtr ice FdEfor

Have you a little Apache in your
home and are you panied and
grieved that no one loves it? And
if you own this child Apache, please
do not make the situation worse by
saying the sulks, uprisings and
general unmannerliness are due to
little Algernon's not being very well,
or because little Clarisse is so sensi-
tive and high-strung that she must
not be judged by the same standards
as other children.
This does not eXonerate the in
fant Apache, it only lands you in
that droll classification the neigh
borhood wag insists on calling:
wild mothers / have known"
And you may be sure that what
ever adverse fate overtakes your
spoiled darlings in after life, it is
you that will be held strictly ac-
countable and not the eccentrici-
ties of the child's genius, which
very probably he has not got after
all.
So when Clarisse succeeds in
focusing the attention of the en-
tire room on herself, by reason of
her i'll behavior, don't discuss her
unmannerliness as if it were the
| abstraction of a Newton, or the
punctuality of Kant.
1t does not seem that way to the
company; you may prove this by
studying the sickly smiles-if they
happen to be ladies. While the
Male Bird may sometimes cough
violently or dash into an adjacent
| room on imaginary errands, or do
other semi-violent things to relieve
his fury.
For the child Apache doing a
war-dance, making faces, show
ing off or otherwise being insult
| ferably conspicuous is an object that
| only a mother can love.
The Gentle Art of Pleasing
I have often wondered why a
mother who spends hours embroi-
| dering scallops on her little daugh-
ter's flannel petticoat should utterly
neglect to instruct her in the art of
good manners. No one can be so
stupid as not to realize that the
greatest asset anyone can possess
is that of being able to produce an
agreeable impression.
Money, brains, accomplishments,
even the family claims of an arch
duchess or a Colonial Dame pale
before the simple charm of an
agreeable personality And yet
| mothers-fond, devoted mothers, too
-WlInnOlu Ine secret OF THIS tails
man from their children.
They will sew, scrimp and save
to make selfish girl look better,
while nothing on earth could make
her look better but having the
crouch in her disposition pulled, or
her ingrowing selfshness eradicated. /.
One can understand how parents
who have had no advantages what
ever themselves, may turn out
hoodlum children lacking in the
most rudim entail elements of good
breeding loose on the community;
but when men and women who are
gently bred themselves permit their
children to trample on the comfort
and peace of everyone who is unfor-
tunate enough to come within their
! range, the mystery is ineXplicable.
Blindness of Devotion
The answer is, of course, the utter
blindness of parental devotion.
Some parents indeed appear to take
secret pride in the unrulness of
their offspring and tell stories of
how Mr.. Y and Mrs. Y no longer
come to the house on account of the
behavior of the children.
Arnold Bennett in his collection of
social studies of this country men,
tions this popularity of American
juveniles. He speaks of the half
panied children who sit under tables
and listen to themselves being dis
cussed, while their parents beg them
to come out and speak to the COM
pany.
remember one evening during
the course of a call coming upon
one of these table stow-a-ways. AS
we were shown into the living room
little Cathleen" made n dash for
the table. I supposed at first the vio-
lent heaving of this piece of furni-
ture was due to spirit communica-
tions, but no, the fond mother as
sured us it was little Cathleen,"
who was 20 shy, sensitive and gen.