Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1874 — Do Your Own Thinking. [ARTICLE]

Do Your Own Thinking.

Children who are subject to parental authority, and are not yet capable of distinguishing 1 etween right and wrong,-must have their j thinking done for them. Go of; ! common servants,, slaves, imbeciles, : the insane, and such others as are not capable of forming correct judgments. But it is meet-for mature men and’ women to think for thedfcelves. Take counsel from your seniors or your betters, when necessary, but try to ‘ have a mind of your own” It is pitiful to meet grown-up men and women, who, likga flock of geese, follow, thoughtlessly, the lead of some designing fox, who seeks to feather his nest at their expense. Time was, when “the one-man rule” prevailed, in certain countries, and it w’as then “master and servant.” So in morals, where the priest dictated the faith and doctrine by which souls were to be saved or—lost. Then, those who had minds of their own, and dared to exercise them, were beheaded, burned .at the stake, or tortured on the rack; but, thanks be to common schools, t 0,,, the development of science, and the dissemination of knowledge, those dark days have passed, and we now live iu a land of liberty, where neither emperor nor king, nor pope, nor priest, has a single right as an individual pot equally enjoyed by ■*he h noblest citizen. This government is a Democratic Republic, in which each and every citizen has a part, and is in duty bound to support and defend. He is not a good citizen who shirks this duty. Our liberties depend on a proper administration of our laws and government. Neglect on the part of the ease-loving, the affluent, and the law-abiding, throws the offices into the hands of the low> base and dishonest, and hence the

frauds practiced on the people. — Unless good men conselo the rescue, and attend to the selection of trusty servants to fill places of trust, we shall continue to suffer these abuses.^ Rings and cabals bare been formed to thwart the will oi the people, and to pervert our law s, in the interest of factions, cliques, and parties, rather than to have it care for the good of tbe State and the nation. When all men do their own thinking we shall have a new order of things. Honest and capable men will be chosen to our legislatures to take care of our public monies and tonianagepublie affairs. Parents should teach their children to think for themselves, that they may not forever be “led by the nose.” Example: My son, what do you .think of this or that?—submitting a proposition. A thoughtless boy will reply, “Oh, I don’t know.” Another will answer, giving his opinion according to his best judgment. Then the parent should lead him on, and m time-say, when of legal age— he will be able to form an opinion of his own, without assistance. Some parents are arbitrary tyrants, and give their children no opportunity. They hold them in slavish subjection, demanding obedience and exacting servjc‘\ If a child asks permission to do this or that, lie is sternly reiused, agd sometimes sent off with a growl or curse. “Father, may I have this bit of board to make a sled or a box?” “No; put those things away; what business have you with them? - If I catch you again with my hammer, hatchet, or nail box. I’ll box your ears.” Or it may be a father will say to his graving girl, “Put away my newspaper, what are you doing with it?” What sort of to say citizen—will such a boy become? Or what sort of a woman will that girl make? Who will do the thinking for them, when their foolish father dies ? When we break—train, discipline —a colt for service, we are careful not to over-load him, lest we dis-! courage and i'njure him. We lead j him gently, handle him kindly, and | prove to him that we are no less j his friend than his master. We should be no less considerate in our treatment of children—of immortal souls. If children be trained to think and to act independently, j we may look for originality; while, ’ on the contrary, if forced into narrow channels, circumscribed, and “hushed up,” or forced to believe | the dogmas ol doctors, priests, andgrannies, they will become echoes, ] imitators, and shadows, instead of j “bright and shining lights” in the world. It is a blessed thing to be a brave, bold, daring, self-relying, j man. It is humiliating to become a ! miserable slave to Mrs. Grundy, to bad habits, or to a human masterWhen brave young Crittenden was commanded to kneel on his coffin to his executioners to be shot (in Cuba, where eo many young patriotic " Americans have been shot), he replied, “I kneel only to my God!” llow different was it with half a“ hundred others who,, like whipped spaniels, accepted a foreign religion, through a foreign would-be Mediator, and then went down on their knees to be shot and killed like so many dogs. This world was made for man. — It is his to-.naka the most of it. His accountability is not so much to pope, priest, or potentate, as it is to God. Let him make his calling and election sure by complying strictly with all the conditions which secure usefulness and happiness, here and hereafter, by fulfilling all the functions of body, brain, and soul which belong to a manly, godly man.— N: Y. Phrenological Journal.