Evening star., 1935-06-26
Spirit Must
HaVePOWer
To Sustain
Wall About Individual
Persists as Each
Makes Own Place.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

GAY what you will, this is a lonely
~ world. The bigger the crowd, the
higher the wall about the individual.
Everybody has to find his own way
about, follow 1t and abide in it without
benefit Of companionship. What help
and encouragement seep through the
walls can do little more than cheer
the spirit temporarily. One has to
sustain ones own spirit or suffer its
collapse.
Young folk do not believe that.
Why should they? They think that
their games and parties are compan-
ionship in the fullest degree. 1t Is
only after years of living, years OF
disappointment and trial and final dis
covery Of this sturdy truth that they
begin to adjust themselves to-it. 1t is
hard work at best, and many never
succeed at it and die of the loneliness.
One of our duties-and not one OF the
least-is to train children to be self
sustaining, to provide inner resources
for themselves against the day OF
awareness.
Teach the infant who has begun to
get about the house to look after
himself for brief period daily. Do
not allow him to cling to your skirt
and keep up a persistent demand for
your attention. If you do, you destroy
your own peace Of mind, interrupt
your work, disrupt your household
routine, and all for the mistaken young
one who doesn't know what he wants.
What he wants is something definite
to think about and to do. His spirit is
craving some form of satisfying ex-
preston. You cannot give him that,
however hard you try. He must get it
for himself by enjoying or suffering
experiences under his own power. He
must work out his own salvation.
For this purpose you select basket
or a box or a low drawer into which
YOU put a collection of odds and ends
that may attract him. He is at the
stage where he seeks news OF the
world through his senses. He has to
touch, taste, smell, see and hear all
there is to know about things that
surround him. Into his chest OF
treasure then put all sorts of objects
of different weights, temperatures,
colors, textures. Give him little toys
OF various kinds so that he makes
various movements in using them.
Put in balls-rubber, wood, glass,
worsted, paper-so he learns the feel
and the use of them. Don't omit the
noisy ones. He needs to hear as well
as see. A bell, a whistle, a drum OF
a power sufficient for his hearing, yet
gentle enough for your bearing.
Put about six or seven of these in
teresting objects in his chest. Set
him on a mat in a pleasant place.
Leave him there to amuse himself for
a definite length of time daily at the
same hour. This regularity of time
Is very important, because we are set
ting the habit of self-reliance. Habits
are formed by repetition, and the
fixed time soon conditions the body
and mind to practice the habit without
exception.
AS the child grows, his toys and
his occupations grow in complexity
and interest is maintained. The time
Is gradually heightened. With growth
and development the sense experiences
give way to activities, such as house
work, play outdoors with bicycle,
swings, skates. Trained in this way
to provide his own resources and fill
his days with activity under his own
direction, he is prepared to sustain
himself in later years. His mother
and father are relieved of the burden
of his failing spirit and inspired and
cheered by the sight of his cheerful,
helping outlook. If this scheme
looks bothersone, console yourself with
the fact that it is better to train him
than 10 suffer him.
(Copyright. 1889