Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-04-05

IN
< an afternoon in that harmless diver
sion. .
Her husband doesn't care for the s1lentN
drama, and, like a great many other people !
he highly disapproves OF everything ne does
not enjoy himself. The result IS that when
the woman goes to a picture snow sne hask
to do it on the sly, and impress her l1ttlef
ten-vear-old daughter that she mustn't tell
papa. The woman's conscience is oeglnnlngH
to trouble her about this, and she Is WONDER
ing it, in teaching the child to nlde tnlng9
from her father, she is not teaching her toH
lie and deceive
Not doubt of it. should say To little'
child, it's mother is the embodiment OF theT
whole code of ethics, and things are right}
or wrong The child cannot reason, or argue,
or weigh values 1t can only blindly accept
mothers standards.
Early childhood is the plastic period oil
life. It is the time when child's character
is clay in the mothers hands, when she can
fashion it into thing OF stralghtness and
beauty, or else make it hideous monstroslty6
of twists, and turns, and moral, obllqu1tles. !
Most of us are neither consciously good,
nor deliberately bad. We have not carefully
thought out plan Of conduct We are truth
full and honest, and frank, or we lie, and
cheat, and deceive, according to the way we
have been brought up. In the, great crisis
of our lives the thing that determines our
action is made up of the things that we nave
)een taught at our mothers knee, OF bedtime
stories, and little prayers and cradle songs
Then we react to mothers ideals. II she has
taught us truth and purity and courage, we
stand. If she has taught us to be cutters
and towards and liars, we fall.
| Now. there are mighty few mothers in the
world who do not desire to instlll high pr1n- \
ciples into their children. When they do
otherwise it is oftener through lack of realiza1
ton of the lasting effects of the impression
thew are making on their boys and girls 1
minds, than through any deliberate intention
of imposing a dubious code of ethics upon
them.
And, curiously enough, childs first in
struction in the tricks that are dark and the
ways that are vain is nearly always in con-
nection with it's father. Father, the one per I
son on earth with whom child should have
the most candid and open relationship, is the
very one whom he is taught to hoodW1nk and
deceive.
Nor is the fault the woman's half so much
as it is the mans. He brings the curse
upon himself ninety-nine times out of hun
dred by being so overbearing, and tyranni- !
CAL and unreasonable that the only way to
get along with him is to pull the wool oven
his eyes as much as possible.
There is a common phrase among WomenS
that is at once pitiful and sardonic. 1t is: Il
"What a man doesn't know, doesn't hurY
him." and it means that woman feels THAI
she has a perfect right to purchase peace i'm
| the nOuS0nOlu ny DIS Ilduy lbs anu uoCopCloHsH
as are necessary to buy 1T.
| Perhaps this is cynically true as far as the
woman herself is concerned. Perhaps al
woman is justified in outwitting Crouch
or tight wad, or tyrannical husband I'M
any way she can, but the effect of such al
moral standard is bound to be disastrous on'
| the children.
Children don't split hairs in logic. TheyI
can't grasp half measures. No mother cam
teach them to lie to father and be truthful toA
her, to deceive father and be frank with her. !
| If what father doesn't know doesn't worry
him, what mother doesn't know won't worry
her. If children learn in their youth that
| they can save themselves unpleasant scenes
| by telling falsehoods to father, they natu-S
rlaly carry the same working principles intof
| general life, with the result that they become
| that most futile and despised creature al
cheerful liar, whom nobody takes seriously
There are plenty of families in which the
mother pads the household budget to get
the money to buy boy when his father has
refused him, and in which the mother con- !.
hives with the girls in receiving attentions
from men of whom their father does not ap-
prove; where the mother shows the children
how they can deceive their father to escape
punishment or get what they want.
OF course, this teaches the children to look
upon their father as an enemy and one in
whom it would be folly to confide,
1t also teaches them to regard their mother
as woman of lax principles Children are
ruthless in their judgments, and they have
little respect for mother whom they know
to be time-server and a prevaricator, even
when her sins have been committed in their
behalf.
Aside from their moral values, truth and
frankness are the hand-maidens of happi-
ness and success in life. Nobody respects al
liar or double-dealer, or wants to have
anything to do with them. No man wants
to marry girl whom he cannot trust, and
who will carry on petty intrigues behind his
Dack No man wants to give his honor into
the keeping of a woman whose pretty lips
babble falsehoods, and whose character is al
dark web of conceit.
Truth, and honesty, and frankness, andN
candor are a tangible asset in business You
can borrow money on them at the bank 7
The man whose word is as good as his bond
can get credit, and help, and backing in any
enterprise, and command high salary as q
trusted employee
These characteristics must be bred in chill
dren from their first consciousness They
are not grace that be acquired later
IN life, and they can never be taught as al
side line to deceiving their father
therefore, woman might better make 81
sacrifice of her own personal pleasures, or
nave thousand fights with her husband,
rather than teach her children directly, or
indirectly. to lie to their father
| copyright, 1921, by the Wheeler Syndicate
Inc.)