Evening star., 1930-06-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEWELL.

A correspondent wants to know WHY
children should be permitted to mutt
late the statues in Washington parks.
He says that already a finger has
been knocked of the hand of one of
the figures comprising the Dupont
memorial fountain.
The statues in Sheridan Circle and
other parks arc used daily as climbing
devices by the juvenile population, he
asserts.
rs it not possible to awaken enough
protest on this score" he asks, ito
prevent the certain Disagreement and
ultimate destruction of these silent
forms Of beauty"
We regret to state that. in our
opinion, there is little, If anything, to
be done about the matter.
The children nowadays do about what
they please, and it is vastly to their
credit, given such liberty, that they do
not do a hundred times as much dam
age as they do.
1t is the fashion today to let the
little ones run at their own will and
pleasure, without reproof or hindrance,
just; as it was the fashion in the So
called gay COS" to hold them beneath
the parental thumb
It is significant that the unrepYessed
kids Of this generation are the sons
dren of yesteryear. Maybe that is
significant.
If the psychologists are correct char
scter runs rather to oppostteS Few
scientists, Of course, would admit the
correctness of our language, but the
idea is all right. we feel sure.
Every one knows for instance, that
the typical preachers son" Of fact and
legend tends to be as wild as his father
is holy.
This comes about, one may be sure,
not because there is any perverse strain
in the young one, but simply because
he has been brought up in an atmos-
phere in which he has heard nothing
except goodness. Now, unfortunately
there is something in human nature
which makes it shy from too large a
dose of anything, be it good or bad,
strong or weak.
The child of wild parents is likely to
go to the other extreme, and to be as
righteous as his parents were uncouth.
The boy in family where there is
continual talk of high and holy things
is inclined to take the bit in his teeth
and, by way of protest, go to the other
extreme
Much the same holds good with the
parents Of today, who are wholly re-
sponsible for the finger knocked off the
statue, and any other monkeyshines Of
like nature.
The American people must "go the
whole hog" as the homely MidWestern
expression has it. This country can
not do anything by halves, or even
by seven-eighths.
We must go at everything we do
hammer and tongs. So we have the
highest skyscrapers, the most movie
theaters, the greatest crowds at them,
the banner number of motor cars, and
so on.
When the American people come to
| character formation they readily seize
| upon certain discoveries and attempt to
put them into force, not hesitatingly,
| as BELTS them, since most of them are
! more or less theoretical, but in a do
or die" manner, as If they were the
eternal truth discovered at last.
We refer particularly to this mat
ter OF "repressions," which has been
swallowed, hook, line and sinker. by the
| people of the United States, particular
ly by the parents.
The discovery, by certain psychology
cal experimenters, that repressions OF
| various instincts and desires led to GER
tain mental and physical difficulties
under certain conditions, has been