Charles de Bernard - "Gerfaut, v2"

Alexandre Dumas, Pere - "The Man in the Iron Mask"

Charles James Fox - "A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second"

Lyman Abbott - "Laicus"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The American Woman\'s Home

C >> Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe >> The American Woman\'s Home




There is no more important duty devolving upon a mother, than the
cultivation of habits of modesty and propriety in young children. All
indecorous words or deportment should be carefully restrained; and
delicacy and reserve studiously cherished. It is a common notion, that
it is important to secure these virtues to one sex, more than to the
other; and, by a strange inconsistency, the sex most exposed to danger
is the one selected as least needing care. Yet a wise mother will be
especially careful that her sons are trained to modesty and purity of
mind.

Yet few mothers are sufficiently aware of the dreadful penalties which
often result from indulged impurity of thought. If children, in _future_
life, can be preserved from licentious associates, it is supposed that
their safety is secured. But the records of our insane retreats, and the
pages of medical writers, teach that even in solitude, and without being
aware of the sin or the danger, children may inflict evils on
themselves, which not unfrequently terminate in disease, delirium, and
death.

There is no necessity for explanations on this point any farther than
this; that certain parts of the body are not to be touched except for
purposes of cleanliness, and that the most dreadful suffering comes
from disobeying these commands. So in regard to practices and sins of
which a young child will sometimes inquire, the wise parent will say,
that this is what children can not understand, and about which they
must not talk or ask questions. And they should be told that it is
always a bad sign, when children talk on matters which parents call
vulgar and indecent, and that the company of such children should be
avoided. Disclosing details of wrong-doing to young and curious
children, often leads to the very evils feared. But parents and
teachers, in this age of danger, should be well informed and watchful;
for it is not unfrequently the case, that servants and school-mates
will teach young children practices, which exhaust the nervous system
and bring on paralysis, mania, and death.

And finally, in regard to the early religious training of children,
the examples of the Creator in the early training of our race may
safely be imitated. That "He is, and is a rewarder"--that he is
everywhere present--that he is a tender Father in heaven, who is grieved
when any of his children do wrong, yet ever ready to forgive those who
are striving to please him by well-doing, these are the most effective
motives to save the young from the paths of danger and sin. The rewards
and penalties of the life to come are better adapted to maturer age,
than to the imperfect and often false and fearful conceptions of the
childish mind.




XXIII.

DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS AND SOCIAL DUTIES.

Whenever the laws of body and mind are properly understood, it will
be allowed that every person needs some kind of recreation; and that,
by seeking it, the body is strengthened, the mind is invigorated, and
all our duties are more cheerfully and successfully performed.

Children, whose bodies are rapidly growing and whose nervous system
is tender and excitable, need much more amusement than persons of
mature age. Persons, also, who are oppressed with great responsibilities
and duties, or who are taxed by great intellectual or moral excitement,
need recreations which physically exercise and draw off the mind from
absorbing interests. Unfortunately, such persons are those who least
resort to amusements, while the idle, gay, and thoughtless seek those
which are not needed, and for which useful occupation would be a most
beneficial substitute.

As the only legitimate object of amusement is to prepare mind and body
for the proper discharge of duty, the protracting of such as interfere
with regular employments, or induce excessive fatigue, or weary the
mind, or invade the proper hours for repose, must be sinful.

In deciding what should be selected, and what avoided, the following
are guiding principles. In the first place, no amusements which inflict
needless pain should ever be allowed. All tricks which cause fright
or vexation, and all sports which involve suffering to animals, should
be utterly forbidden. Hunting and fishing, for mere sport, can never
be justified. If a man can convince his children that he follows these
pursuits to gain food or health, and not for amusement, his example
may not be very injurious. But when children see grown persons kill
and frighten animals, for sport, habits of cruelty, rather than feelings
of tenderness and benevolence, are cultivated.

In the next place, we should seek no recreations which endanger life,
or interfere with important duties. As the legitimate object of
amusements is to promote health and prepare for some serious duties,
selecting those which have a directly opposite tendency, can not be
justified. Of course, if a person feels that the previous day's
diversion has shortened the hours of needful repose, or induced a
lassitude of mind or body, instead of invigorating them, it is certain
that an evil has been done which should never be repeated.

Another rule which has been extensively adopted in the religious world
is, to avoid those amusements which experience has shown to be so
exciting, and connected with so many temptations, as to be pernicious
in tendency, both to the individual and to the community. It is on
this ground, that horse-racing and circus-riding have been excluded.
Not because there is any thing positively wrong in having men and
horses run and perform feats of agility, or in persons looking on for
the diversion: but because experience has shown so many evils connected
with these recreations, that they should be relinquished. So with
theatres. The enacting of characters and the amusement thus afforded
in themselves may be harmless; and possibly, in certain cases, might
be useful: but experience has shown so many evils to result from this
source, that it has been deemed wrong to patronize it. So, also, with
those exciting games of chance which are employed in gambling.

Under the same head comes dancing, in the estimation of the great
majority of the religious world. Still, there are many intelligent,
excellent, and conscientious persons who hold a contrary opinion. Such
maintain that it is an innocent and healthful amusement, tending to
promote ease of manners, cheerfulness, social affection, and health
of mind and body; that evils are involved only in its excess; that
like food, study, or religions excitement, it is only wrong when not
properly regulated; and that, if serious and intelligent people would
strive to regulate, rather than banish, this amusement, much more good
would be secured.

On the other side, it is objected, not that dancing is a sin, in itself
considered, for it was once a part of sacred worship; not that it would
be objectionable, if it were properly regulated; not that it does not
tend, when used in a proper manner, to health of body and mind, to
grace of manners; and to social enjoyment: all these things are
conceded. But it is objected to, on the same ground as horse-racing
and theatrical entertainments; that we are to look at amusements as
they are, and not as they might be. Horse-races might be so managed
as not to involve cruelty, gambling, drunkenness, and other vices. And
so might theatres. And if serious and intelligent persons undertook
to patronize these, in order to regulate them, perhaps they would be
somewhat raised from the depths to which they have sunk. But such
persons believe that, with the weak sense of moral obligation existing
in the mass of society, and the imperfect ideas mankind have of the
proper use of amusements, and the little self-control which men or
women or children practice, these will not, in fact, be thus regulated.

And they believe dancing to be liable to the same objections. As this
recreation is actually conducted, it does not tend to produce health
of body or mind, but directly the contrary. If young and old went out
to dance together in open air, as the French peasants do, it would be
a very different sort of amusement from that which often is witnessed
in a room furnished with many lights and filled with guests, both
expending the healthful part of the atmosphere, where the young collect,
in their tightest dresses, to protract for several hours a kind of
physical exertion which is not habitual to them. During this process,
the blood is made to circulate more swiftly than usual, in circumstances
where it is less perfectly oxygenized than health requires; the pores
of the skin are excited by heat and exercise; the stomach is loaded
with indigestible articles, and the quiet, needful to digestion,
withheld; the diversion is protracted beyond the usual hour for repose;
and then, when the skin is made the most highly susceptible to damps
and miasms, the company pass from a warm room to the cold night-air.
It is probable that no single amusement can be pointed out combining
so many injurious particulars as this, which is so often defended as
a healthful one. Even if parents, who train their children to dance,
can keep them from public balls, (which is seldom the case,) dancing,
as ordinarily conducted in private parlors, in most cases is subject
to nearly all the same mischievous influences.

The spirit of Christ is that of self-denying benevolence; and his great
aim, by his teachings and example, was to train his followers to avoid
all that should lead to sin, especially in regard to the weaker ones
of his family. Yet he made wine at a wedding, attended a social feast
on the Sabbath, [Footnote: Luke xiv. In reading this passage, please
notice what kind of guests are to be invited to the feast that Jesus
Christ recommends.] reproved excess of strictness in Sabbath-keeping
generally, and forbade no safe and innocent enjoyment. In following
his example, the rulers of the family, then, will introduce the most
highly exciting amusements only in circumstances where there are such
strong principles and habits of self-control that the enjoyment will
not involve sin in the actor or needless temptation to the weak.

The course pursued by our Puritan ancestors, in the period succeeding
their first perils amid sickness and savages, is an example that may
safely be practiced at the present day. The young of both sexes were
educated in the higher branches, in country academies, and very often
the closing exercises were theatricals, in which the pupils were
performers and their pastors, elders, and parents, the audience. So,
at social gatherings, the dance was introduced before minister and
wife, with smiling approval. The roaring fires and broad chimneys
provided pure air, and the nine o'clock bell ended the festivities
that gave new vigor and zest to life, while the dawn of the next day's
light saw all at their posts of duty, with heartier strength and blither
spirits.

No indecent or unhealthful costumes offended the eye, no half-naked
dancers of dubious morality were sustained in a life of dangerous
excitement, by the money of Christian people, for the mere amusement
of their night hours. No shivering drivers were deprived of comfort
and sleep, to carry home the midnight followers of fashion; nor was
the quiet and comfort of servants in hundreds of dwellings invaded for
the mere amusement of their superiors in education and advantages. The
command "we that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,
and not to please ourselves," was in those days not reversed. Had the
drama and the dance continued to be regulated by the rules of
temperance, health, and Christian benevolence, as in the days of our
forefathers, they would not have been so generally banished from the
religious world. And the question is now being discussed, whether they
can be so regulated at the present time as not to violate the laws,
either of health or benevolence. [Footnote: Fanny Kemble Butler remarked
to the present writer that she regarded theatres wrong, chiefly because
of the injury involved to the actors. Can a Christian mother contribute
money to support young women in a profession from which she would
protect her own daughter, as from degradation, and that, too, simply
for the amusement of herself and family? Would this be following the
self-sacrificing benevolence of Christ and his apostles?]

In regard to home amusements, card-playing is now indulged in, in many
conscientious families from which it formerly was excluded, and for
these reasons: it is claimed that this is a quiet home amusement, which
unites pleasantly the aged with the young; that it is not now employed
in respectable society for gambling, as it formerly was; that to some
young minds it is a peculiarly fascinating game, and should be first
practiced under the parental care, till the excitement of novelty is
past, thus rendering the danger to children less, when going into the
world; and, finally, that habits of self-control in exciting
circumstances may and should be thus cultivated in the safety of home.
Many parents who have taken this course with their sons in early life,
believe that it has proved rather a course of safety than of danger.
Still, as there is great diversity of opinion, among persons of equal
worth and intelligence, a mutual spirit of candor and courtesy should
be practiced. The sneer at bigotry and narrowness of views, on one
side, and the uncharitable implication of want of piety, or sense, on
the other, are equally ill-bred and unchristian. Truth on this subject
is best promoted, not by ill-natured crimination and rebuke, but by
calm reason, generous candor, forbearance, and kindness.

There is another species of amusement, which a large portion of the
religious world formerly put under the same condemnation as the
preceding. This is novel-reading. The confusion and difference of
opinion on this subject have arisen from a want of clear and definite
distinctions. Now, as it is impossible to define what are novels and
what are not, so as to include one class of fictitious writings and
exclude every other, it is impossible to lay down any rule respecting
them. The discussion, in fact, turns on the use of those works of
imagination which belong to the class of fictitious narratives. That
this species of reading is not only lawful but necessary and useful,
is settled by divine examples, in the parables and allegories of
Scripture. Of course, the question must be, what kind of fabulous
writings must be avoided, and what allowed.

In deciding this, no specific rules can be given; but it must be a
matter to be regulated by the nature and circumstances of each case.
No works of fiction which tend to throw the allurements of taste and
genius around vice and crime should ever be tolerated; and all that
tend to give false views of life and duty should also be banished. Of
those which are written for mere amusement, presenting scenes and
events that are interesting and exciting and having no bad moral
influence, much must depend on the character and circumstances of the
reader. Some minds are torpid and phlegmatic, and need to have the
imagination stimulated: such would be benefited by this kind of reading.
Others have quick and active imaginations, and would be as much injured
by excess. Some persons are often so engaged in absorbing interests,
that any thing innocent, which will for a short time draw off the mind,
is of the nature of a medicine; and, in such cases, this kind of reading
is useful.

There is need, also, that some men should keep a supervision of the
current literature of the day, as guardians, to warn others of danger.
For this purpose, it is more suitable for editors, clergymen, and
teachers to read indiscriminately, than for any other class of persons;
for they are the guardians of the public weal in matters of literature,
and should be prepared to advise parents and young persons of the evils
in one direction and the good in another. In doing this, however, they
are bound to go on the same principles which regulate physicians, when
they visit infected districts--using every precaution to prevent injury
to themselves; having as little to do with pernicious exposures, as
a benevolent regard to others will allow; and faithfully employing all
the knowledge and opportunities thus gained for warning and preserving
others. There is much danger, in taking this course, that men will
seek the excitement of the imagination for the mere pleasure it affords,
under the plea of preparing to serve the public, when this is neither
the aim nor the result.

In regard to the use of such works by the young, as a general rule,
they ought not to be allowed, to any except those of a dull and
phlegmatic temperament, until the solid parts of education are secured
and a taste for more elevated reading is acquired. If these stimulating
condiments in literature be freely used in youth, all relish for more
solid reading will in a majority of cases be destroyed. If parents
succeed in securing habits of cheerful and implicit obedience, it will
be very easy to regulate this matter, by prohibiting the reading of
any story-book, until the consent of the parent is obtained.

The most successful mode of forming a taste for suitable reading, is
for parents to select interesting works of history and travels, with
maps and pictures suited to the age and attainments of the young, and
spend an hour or two each day or evening, in aiming to make truth as
interesting as fiction. Whoever has once tried this method will find
that the uninjured mind of childhood is better satisfied with what
they know is true, when wisely presented, than with the most exciting
novels, which they know are false.

Perhaps there has been some just ground of objection to the course
often pursued by parents in neglecting to provide suitable and agreeable
substitutes for the amusements denied. But there is a great abundance
of safe, healthful, and delightful recreations, which all parents may
secure for their children. Some of these will here be pointed out.

One of the most useful and important, is the cultivation of flowers
and fruits. This, especially for the daughters of a family, is greatly
promotive of health and amusement. It is with the hope that many young
ladies, whose habits are now so formed that they can never be induced
to a course of active domestic exercise so long as their parents are
able to hire domestic service, may yet be led to an employment which
will tend to secure health and vigor of constitution, that much space
will be given in the second volume of this work, to directions for the
cultivation of fruits and flowers.

It would be a most desirable improvement, if all schools for young
women could be furnished with suitable grounds and instruments for the
cultivation of fruits and flowers, and every inducement offered to
engage the pupils in this pursuit. No father, who wishes to have his
daughters grow up to be healthful women, can take a surer method to
secure this end. Let him set apart a portion of his ground for fruits
and flowers, and see that the soil is well prepared and dug over, and
all the rest may be committed to the care of the children. These would
need to be provided with a light hoe and rake, a dibble or garden
trowel, a watering-pot, and means and opportunities for securing seeds,
roots, bulbs, buds, and grafts, all which might be done at a trifling
expense. Then, with proper encouragement and by the aid of a few
intelligible and practical directions, every man who has even half an
acre could secure a small Eden around his premises.

In pursuing this amusement children can also be led to acquire many
useful habits. Early rising would, in many cases, be thus secured; and
if they were required to keep their walks and borders free from weeds
and rubbish, habits of order and neatness would be induced. Benevolent
and social feelings could also be cultivated, by influencing children
to share their fruits and flowers with friends and neighbors, as well
as to distribute roots and seeds to those who have not the means of
procuring them. A woman or a child, by giving seeds or slips or roots
to a washerwoman, or a farmer's boy, thus inciting them to love and
cultivate fruits and flowers, awakens a new and refining source of
enjoyment in minds which have few resources more elevated than mere
physical enjoyments. Our Saviour directs us in making feasts, to call,
not the rich who can recompense again, but the poor who can make no
returns. So children should be taught to dispense their little treasures
not alone to companions and friends, who will probably return similar
favors; but to those who have no means of making any return. If the
rich, who acquire a love for the enjoyments of taste and have the means
to gratify it, would aim to extend among the poor the cheap and simple
enjoyment of fruits and flowers, our country would soon literally
"blossom as the rose."

If the ladies of a neighborhood would unite small contributions, and
send a list of flower-seeds and roots to some respectable and honest
florist, who would not be likely to turn them off with trash, they
could divide these among themselves and their poor neighbors, so as
to secure an abundant variety at a very small expense. A bag of
flower-seeds, which can be obtained at wholesale for four cents, would
abundantly supply a whole neighborhood; and by the gathering of seeds
in the autumn, could be perpetuated.

Another very elevating and delightful recreation for the young is found
in _music_. Here the writer would protest against the practice common in
many families, of having the daughters learn to play on the piano
whether they have a taste and an ear for music, or not. A young lady who
does not sing well, and has no great fondness for music, does nothing
but waste time, money, and patience in learning to play on the piano.
But all children can be taught to sing in early childhood, if the
scientific mode of teaching music in schools could be more widely
introduced, as it is in Prussia, Germany, and Switzerland. Then young
children could read and sing music as easily as they can read language;
and might take any tune, dividing themselves into bands, and sing off
at sight the endless variety of music which is prepared. And if parents
of wealth would take pains to have teachers qualified for the purpose,
who should teach all the young children in the community, much would
be done for the happiness and elevation of the rising generation. This
is an element of education which we are glad to know is, year by year,
more extensively and carefully cultivated; and it is not only a means
of culture, but also an amusement, which children relish in the highest
degree; and which they can enjoy at home, in the fields, and in visits
abroad.

Another domestic amusement is the collecting of shells, plants, and
specimens in geology and mineralogy, for the formation of cabinets.
If intelligent parents would procure the simpler works which have been
prepared for the young, and study them with their children, a taste
for such recreations would soon be developed. The writer has seen young
boys, of eight and ten years of age, gathering and cleaning shells
from rivers, and collecting plants and mineralogical specimens, with
a delight bordering on ecstasy; and there are few, if any, who by
proper influences would not find this a source of ceaseless delight
and improvement.

Another resource for family diversion is to be found in the various
games played by children, and in which the joining of older members
of the family is always a great advantage to both parties, especially
those in the open air.

All medical men unite in declaring that nothing is more beneficial to
health than hearty laughter; and surely our benevolent Creator would
not have provided risibles, and made it a source of health and enjoyment
to use them, if it were a sin so to do. There has been a tendency to
asceticism, on this subject, which needs to be removed. Such commands
as forbid _foolish_ laughing and jesting, "_which are not convenient_"
and which forbid all idle words and vain conversation, can not apply to
any thing except what is foolish, vain, and useless. But jokes,
laughter, and sports, when used in such a degree as tends only to
promote health and happiness, are neither vain, foolish, nor "not
convenient." It is the excess of these things, and not the moderate
use of them, which Scripture forbids. The prevailing temper of the
mind should be serious, yet cheerful; and there are times when
relaxation and laughter are not only proper but necessary and right
for all. There is nothing better for this end than that parents and
older persons should join in the sports of childhood. Mature minds can
always make such diversions more entertaining to children, and can
exert a healthful moral influence over their minds; and at the same
time can gain exercise and amusement for themselves. How lamentable
that so many fathers, who could be thus useful and happy with their
children, throw away such opportunities, and wear out soul and body
in the pursuit of gain or fame!