Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1886 — Bad Schooling for Children. [ARTICLE]

Bad Schooling for Children.

“Stop your crying, do you hear!” The cross words from a well-dressed young man were spoken to his little girl who seemed almost too tired to drag one foot after the other. The four-year-old “tot” continued crying until the father, pretending to look up and down the street for a “cop,” said, “Where’s the policeman?” when the sobbing ceased. But the che; k was cruel, as the frightened look of the little one attested. Possibly the child still lives, albeit if the father had intended to shorten her life he could hardly havata.kenamoreeffectiveplan to accomplish his purpose, and it wouldn’t be strange if.. thelittlething were—not—sleeping in the cemetery; Mischief is sure to follow in the wake of such treatment. “Charlie, come in this minute, or the bad man Xvill cut your ears off,” I once heard a young mother say to her little boy who was playing in the garden. Charlie, come in hurriedly, having a hand over each ear as if fearful of losing them.. The little fellow never learned .that & . mother was only frightening him? He was taken sick ana sooff was at rest under the daisies. Even when a child so treated escapes physical injury, there is danger of moral hurt. “Good-by, Johnny, will take you to-morrow,” said a lady, as, with her husband, she rode by a group of boys who were playing at marbles. Johnny’s face flushed. Pointing to the occupants of the carriage, he said, angrily, “Boys, there goes two of the biggest liars in town.” That was bad in Johnny, especially as the “two” he had spoken of were his father and mother. In measuring the boy’s offense, however, we must remember that he had been taught in the school of parental untruthfulness. Again and again had his parents promised him a ride, saying, “To-morrow we will take you,” but, so far as the tide was concerned, the “to-morrow never came,” and that last “good-by, Johnny,” in connection with other broken promises, and the boy’s ugly response, were legitimate cause and effect. Truly a dangerous schooling for the little ones.