The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-03-01
AS A HOME PROBLEM.
Mrs. J. T. Mann Gives Her Views or
Law and Order

Editor The Daily Mail:
AS you so kindly invite discussion
of timely topics through your paper l
submit the following for your con-
sideration.
This topic was recently suggested
by DR.. John E. White for discussion
in the mid-week prayer meeting, and
was ably discussed. Some points l
shall present were discussed there
while others were not.
Youth is the time and home the
place to sow the seeds of obedience
TO law. Parents should be sure that
their rules and regulations for gov
er:1ing their children are right and see
that the children carry them out to
the letter. A child very young knows
the meaning Of simple words. l re-
Gently told baby IA months CID TO
close the door, and he Immediately
obeyed. This is the age to begin
with them. They will Of course want
their own way, but can be more cas-
ilv controlled then than later. They
will soon learn that mothers word IS
or is not, their law, as the case may
be. That of course depends upon the
mothers frmness. $, This disregard OF
parental authority BY one who is very
Young is rebellion against home laws
which later may become a serious
form of lawlessness against the state.
Generally speaking, children OF our
dav are not reared as strictly as they
were even as early as can remem-
ber. It was stated by a gentleman
in one of the papers recently that
when he was young children did as
their parents told them, while too
often now parentg do as their chill
dren say. Be this as it may, it is a
fact that respect for home authority
is not so great as in days gone by.
Times have changed, but the nome
should never be allowed to lose us
hold upon the ehifsren.. A gentleman
of this city recently told US his chill
dren went nowhere unless ne or
their mother either accompanied them
or knew where they were gong
They started this practice when the
children were quite young and now
thew have no trouble in carrying OUT
their wishes in this matter.
Many present day home practices
which at first sight may appear harm
less often produce results. TO allow
a child to use a toy pistol, laughlngly
telling him to shoot some one in the
family, is to run risk. He may later
perform the real act. The same IS
true as to permitting children to see
exciting pictures OF dangerous hap
penings, robberies, murders and the
like. If an exciting book is bad for
a child, how much worse is an exciting
picture. l may be the only person
of my age in town who has never vls-
tied a picture show, but l see enough
of them on the bill boards and the
paper advs. to satisfy me as to what
they will do for grownups and espec-
tally for children and young people.
I think there is great deal of incon-
sistency as to present day practices.
Mothers will see that their small
est children are faultlessly shod and
dressed, often to the child's dlsconl-
fort in hot weather 1t is rightly con-
sidered rude of course for groWn-ups
to appear in company barefoot, and
vet these same people who are so
careful in dress will visit shows to-
gether, young and old. male and fe-
male, and see without 4 word OF Gil.
ticism women improperly dressed. NO
wonder this is an age of boldness and
bad morals! No wonder so many
girls go astray! No wonder so many
boys turn out badly.
Our county superintendent of edu-
cation recently described in a local
paper how he saw boy drinking IN
good picture. Also in another city ne
saw a group Of school children W.T.
ness tie acts of Jesse James as pic
tureG on the screen. He further
stated that store robberies in that
city increased rapidly soon after
ward, these being performed chiefly
by youths. The homes of these chill
dren should have said: "No' to them
as to entering that show, and should
have insisted that they meant exactly