Evening star., 1942-06-01

not hurt. Jimmy Is a brave boy.
Jimmy doesn't cry" Jimmy will bite
back the tears and come up laugh
ing And Jimmy will make the sort
of man who can take life on the
chin and whom no disaster can ever
knock out.
If YOU will think of the most
unhappy people of your acquaint-
ance, you will realize that they are
all towards 1t is not that they have
had more misfortunes to bear than
the balance of us for, God help us,
none of us escape drinking our cup
of bitter tea. We have all been
through the WEAKNESS of toll. We
have known pain and sickness.
Death has robbed us of our loved
ones. But if we had the brave
attitude toward life. as Stevenson
says, We did not let our sorrows spoil
our whole lives. We rose above them
and found happiness in the good
things that were left us.
We can teach our children to be
strong or weak We can make of
them sturdy oaks or clnging vines.
We can teach them to stand on
their own feet or be leaners whom
some one else will always have to
support. One of the most pitiful
sights in the world is the pampered
child who is the prisoner of love and
whose over-fond parents never let
It have one moment of freedom, one
breath of independence, one chance
to develop any initiative.
From the time he can walk some
body holds him by the hand Some
body supervises his play. Somebody
picks out the children he should
know. Somebody protects him from
making any mistakes, or getting into
trouble.
And when this poor little manikin,
who has never learned to take care
of himself. goes out into a hard
boiled world where the race is to the
swift and the battle to the strong,
he is foredoomed failure. That is
why the children of the poor going
up the ladder so often meet the chill
dren Of the rich coming down.
We can teach children to accept
life as it comes to them and make
the best of their bargain A friend
once came to visit me, bringing with
her a frail little child who was for
bidden to eat ice cream Of which she
was passionately fond.
"Oh we'll" I said, "if Annie can't
have ice cream, we won't have any
more for dessert"
Yes We will" replied the childs
mother. "All her life Annie will
have to see people having things
she would like to have and that she
cannot have, and she must learn not
to envy them, or to make herself
unhappy about It,"
Translate the spirit into auto
mobiles and fine clothes and jewels
and furs and social prestige and you
would rob life of half of its dis
appointments and strivings and frus-
trations for women.
And, finally, we can teach children
that as they SOW they must reap.
Make them face. from their infancy
up. the cold, hard fact that there
is no getting around that immutable
law. If they want success, they
must work for it. If they want
health, they must keep their bodies
fit. If they want the respect OF
those who know them they must
deserve it. If they want to be loved,
they must be lovable.
No miracle is going to hand the
lazy loafer a fortune. No interven-
ton Of providence is going to save
the drunkard and the wastrel from
wrecking his health. No tears Of
repentance, of regret, are going to
wash clean the skirts of the girl
who has dragged them through the
gutter. Every one of us reap the
harvest that we have soWn.
So II you teach children to be
brave, to be sufficient, to make
the best of the hand that fate has
dealt them and to watch their steps,
you have given them pretty good
philosophy of life.