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Untitled Article
I liope it will not be imagined that I propose any Utopian plan of infant Utilitarianism . I am engaging in no crusade against "Hoop , " "Hunt the Hare / ' "Blindman ' s Buff / ' &c . &c . &c-Nay , every sport of happy childhood is sacred with me , and I consider it a privilege to be permitted to join in any of them , so far as my foolishly sedentary adult habits will allow . But certainly I would as soon as possible make a child useful , and inspire him with the desire to be useful .
I do not expect one mother , aunt , or grandmother , except those belonging to the working classes , and not all among them , to agree in what I am about to propose—nay , I expect to be denounced as a barbarian , who , in a rude search after utility , would trample down the fair flowers of elegance and beauty—» would make sons snobs ( "I thank thee ,. * Times , ' for teaching
me that word" )* and daughters scrubbinas , instead of beaux and belles . I am sorry for this—for though I never write merely to please , I am very much delighted whenever I happen so to do . But there are some matters , which , like some medicines , cannot be made palatable , and of course those who administer them must expect to meet wry faces .
To begin then—I would have a child ( of whatever class ) learn as soon as possible to dress himself , for which purpose I would have his clothes made upon the most convenient plan—1 would have him clean his own shoes , brush his own clothes , put his room in order , at least restore things to their proper places , and if he had a horse , do all that might be necessary for the creature . In the outset all this would be
troublesomeinfinitely more so than making the boy an automaton , incapable of doing anything for himself , ana unconscious how much was done for him . Those who consider degradatiorf incurred in such a plan may be reminded that Sir Walter Scott used to light his own fire , and an Emperor of Austria had in his youth been habituated to clean his regimentals and do all the duties of
a common soldier . A being thus self-dependent is prepared to meet the contingencies of fortune and circumstances , tinder which the puppet of attendance sinks . As soon as talent and mental or mechanical industry developed itself , I would have the boy relieved of these personal offices , but upon an express understanding that his time had become valuable , and that , as
he knew what was required to be done for him , he would be thankful to those who did it , and give them as little trouble as possible . Most young gentlemen of the present day do j ust the reverse of this , and are troublesome and ungrateful just in the proportion that they are ignoraiitly helpless . The mode I advocate for a boy I would recommend fora girl , and in the same time and on the same terms I would relieve her from the personal performance of common duties ; not but that
Untitled Article
Occupation * 101
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 1, 1837, page 101, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1828/page/54/
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