Zurich Herald, 1926-05-13, Page 70 CURE SELFISHNESS
Here Are Three Practical Rules. for This Great N mark.
Dolly, at tour, is shill magnificently parent uttee• inability to bake into ac-
uinconeerned with the need's and, nights.
of others, Whet ever she wants for
hers'elf at the moment, she superbly
reaches out and .takes, We had
thought it would be so pleasant for
her to Inlay with little Polly whoa, we
invited her 'mother to bring her for
the arterndo1. But the whole visit
wras spoiled for the grown-ups by the
constant need of umpiring the chiltl-
ren's quarrels, which, we had to ad-
mit, were usually due to our Dolly's
uuwiiliagnese to share her toys with
Polly. There is no doubt that our pre-
- Bions Dolly is a very selfish infant.
What are we going to do about it?
"I'm afraid she takes It from me,"
sighs Grandma. "Well do' I remember
how ney dear Mother .-struggled with
lay selfishness! You see - I ways the
only girl and wasn't used to sharing
my things. I'•i•1 never forget the time
Anntianda Jones carne over to spend the
night vrith me. The next day was Sun
da.y and when we were dressing for
chnreh Amanda discovered she bad
torn .a great rent . in her stocking.
There wasn't time to mend it, so
Mother told me to give her my other
pair. I had only two pairs, for we
Mostly ran barefoot around the farm,
and I hated to let Amanda wear one
of them. I couldn't think of any way
to prevent it but to put on both pairs
at once. When Mother found out what
I had done she was struck all of a
heap. 'Why, you selfish little hussy!
What made you do that?' said she,
'My legs were cold!' I whined—and it
was -one of the hottest July days, 'You
take those stockings off!' says Mother,
'and I'll warm your Legs• for you.' And
I tell you it was a red-hot switching I
stood up -to. I got it through my head
rigbt then that selfishness was con-
e1Ierable of a sin."
Not Used to Sharing.
count the rights of others, we have no
wish to add to the, sum total of wretch -
edema by neglecting the training of
Dolly, So we shall begin by• seeing
that 'sh1ie a more. opportunity to play
with other children.
One enterprising woman wiho feared
that her only' daughter was becoming
selfish adopted another little 'girl as a 1
playmate for her. "I was worried at
first," she reports, "for fear I couldn't
help being partial to my owal child, but
it hasn't worked Out that way at a11.
I believe I love one just as much as I
do the other and• I'm thinking now that
I ought to provide them with a
brother."
A group of five neighbors, met this
same need intelligently by "pooling"
their little children five days of the
week, each mother in turn taking
charge of morning play, mid -dray meal
and afternoon neap, Of course this plan
had its difficulties., but it did provide
a better environment for the children
and a good deal of needed relief for
the mothers•. It has an advantage over
the family group in bringing together
children of the name ages and in-
terests.
Developed from Within.
The ideal arrangement would be to
give a ,child praotice in living with
both a faintly group of varying ages
and interests, and a sociai group of the
same ages and interests such as would
be found in a nursery. school.
Failing any of these possibilities we
still can try our beat to make the
group such as it le funotion as nearly
as pos.sdble as if it were ideal. We can
get Father and Mother and Auntie and
the boys to play with. Dolly as if they
were her equals instead of always
yielding to her and giving hes every
advantage.
Providing a child with the right
kind of group and stopping at that,
however, will not make him unselfish.
Unselfishnees has to be developed
from within. Dolly must learn really
to wish Polly to be happy too. It is
not so wise to teach her that ehe
should give Polly the "biggest half" of
the apple as that she do her best to
divide the apple fairly. If there is any
•slight advantage, she wild give it to
her guest as a matter of course, but
the emphasis, should be laid on secur-
ing the best possible division for the
whole group. Besides being helped to
get an experience of her own in shar-
ing with others, Dolly will instinctive-
ly imitate the example of the grown-
ups in her world. When she sees
Father planning to let Tom have the
oar to -day because Dick had it yester-
day and Harry wants i• to -morrow she
will begin to think in terms of the
good of the whole group. When she
helps Mother bake and pack the
cookies for Sister's picnic, she begins
But with all due respect to Grand-
ma, the real value of her contribution
Ides in the remark, "You see I was the
only girl and I wasn't used to sharing
my things:" She had not been pro-
• Tide•cl with the kind of experience
which would have made generosity a
habit. She knew her mother loved her
and hated to punish her and was doing
.,•ber very best to train her properly
and vo held no resentment. But times
have changed, and modern parents,
even though still pitifully untrained
for their job, have come to realize that
it .istoo bad to have to scold or punish
a child for misconduct which under
better training could have been avoid-
ed.
One thing is very clear. Dolly
has not yet had practice enough
sharing things' to have developed the
habit of sharing things graciously.
This practice it is• our duty to provide.
Why have we failed so far and how
shall we set to work to correct our to eater into the joys of others.
error? Dolly is, not the only child but The rules for fighting selfishness
she is the baby, and so much the then are: First: to p?ovide for a child's
youngest that the others have no in- group of sufficiently similar interests
terest in her possessions. Her clothes to giv' him proper practice in sharing
and toys are hers to do with as she with others; second: to keep before
Ekes and no one else ever wants the his eyes by example and precept the
same things at the same time. Of importance of planning with reference
course it is harder to avoid selfishness to the rights of the whole group; third,
in the caee of an only child, an only to help him to cross • the thin barrier
girl or boy, or the peted baby of the that separates selfish from unselfish
family, but the, difii.culty does not ex- joys so that he may come to know a
ruse us from the necessity for train- little more of what it might mean to
ing. When we consider how many love his neighbor as himself and be a
homes are made wretched by the sel- little nearer release from the wretch-
flehness of individuals, by their ale ed tyranny of self.
Are You An "Arrant"
Anything?
The gay and delightful name of a
serial story that has appeared in vari-
our newspapers --The Arrant Rover—is
even more interesting than it sounds.
For it might be translated "the roving
rover." To the student of language it
suggests some of our tautological com-
pounds, 'such as a ledge hammer,
hedge fence and greyhound, which
really signify hammer -hammer, fence -
fence, and dog -dog.
"Arrant"'is at the bottom only au -
other form of "errant," wilieh of
course means "wandering" In older
writers the two forbis are used almost
indifferently, and we read of arrant
knights, arrant preachers, bailiffs ar-
rant, and "planets or errant stars."
But the once rather common phrass
"arrant thief," arrant robber;" an the
like, ill which the original sense was
"roaming," tame to be interpreted
' "out-and-out thief," and so ou. Then
the ndjeel.ive was applied .to other
words, not always in disparagement.
'We 'speak of "arrant humbug," ,"arrant
nonsense," an "arrant miser," an "ar-
rant Puritan." "Arrant" is like litany
of our interiusive words, to having he -
gun life with a very different meaning
from the Present one:
The twin word. "errant" is niosifa-
milial in the cerin "knight-errant."
which suggests to modern oars the ro-
te/tette quest, for adventure and gener-
ous; high-spirited redressing of wrongs State Serviee.
and championing of causes. In one Mrs. Geed:sole "So you ar
form the word has' tether gone down- steel" mane new mall Y.
'hill; in the other, it hits gone up. stripes did yeti clave?"
---�-w----
The Mendicant— "I never co
How Oranges Help. 'ens, lady. They was all over
Oran s hevo many claims made tor clothes."
tit•etn, including thoeo of improving the e.e,
•
coiupleelon, •easing sore -threats, eoott Geed Work is Art,
ing the neves helping to cure in-
fluenza, and curing ilrsoiunulia. A common thing, like a. table
olio, is turned: into a work of ar
Golder Than Arctic' Winds by etioking ornanlonto on to it b
The coldest temperature on record peal/it; intelligetiee and.thoroig
wen reached in a scientific laboratory; into it. Yoh cannot makeat geod
it was ar'er 500 degrees below freezing tart, in some settee, making it b
point as registered on a Fahrenheit funeete.1'. Jacks, iu "C1Itisene1i1
tlle•rMenieter. "`'\ Art
rr
The Things 1 Love.
A butterfly chancing in the sunlight,
A bird singing to his mate,
The whispering pines,
The restless sea,
The gigantic mountains,
A stately tree,
Tho rain upon the roof,
The sun at early dawn,
A boy with rod and hook,
The babble of a shady brook,
A woman with her smiling babe,
A man whose eyes are.kind and wise,
Youth that is eager and unafraid --
When all is said, t do love best
A little home where Love abides,
And where there's kindness, pear
rest.
— Scottie McKenzie Fresiel
"Things That Are Mine."
Arthur H. Taylor
Who at the regent examination in
piano playing held under the 'London
College of Music, England, passed with
honors and with the highest marks in
Toronto in the advanced intermediate
grade. He is eleven years old and
has 'gained two first-class and two
honor eertiildates during the two years
he has been at the piano.
They Were Equal.
A celebrated tourist was taking an
early spring holiday in the hills of old
Scotland, accompanied by a Scottish
gillie. •
To while away the tedious hours
after dusk the traveller was in the
habit of talking to his gillie.
One evening he was •explit,ining the
wonders of television and other mod-
ern inventions, when he suddenly ask-
ed
sked this question;
"Have you not heard. of wireless?"
"No," replied the Scot.
So the traveller began to tell him
all he knew about wireless. But the
man appeared neither interested nor
surprised, and the tourist warmly in-
quired the reason.
"Mon," retorted the Scot, "I'm an
awfu' lear masel'. "
Lough Bray,
A little lonely moorland lake,
Its waters, brown and cool and.
deep--
The ,cliff, the hills behind it, 'Make
A pletui a for my heart to keep.
For rock and heather, wave and
strand,
Wore tints I never ea.'w them wear;
The June sunshine was o'er the land,
Before, ',twee never half so fair!
The amber ripples, sang all day,
And singing spilled their crowns of
white
Upon the beach, in thin pale spray,
That streaked the sober strand with
light.
The amber ripples sang their song,
When suddenly from fee overhead
A lark's pure voice mixed wtth the
throng
Of lovely things• about us spread.
Some flowers' were there, so near the
brink
Their shadows in the wave were
thrown;
While mosses, green and grey and
Pink,
Grew thickly round each smooth
dark atone.
—Rose Kavanagh.
Aeroplanes to Save Trees.
In an attempt to exterminate th
shouting beetle, which is doing exten
sive damage to plantations in Sout,
Africa, it is probable that aeroplane=
will be called into use.
The pest is spreading rapidly eve
the Union and thousands of acres o
eucalyptus trees are threatened witl
destruction. Aeroplanes will be use
for the distribution of an arsenica
dust over the trees. This methodha
proved very successful in merica.
It is also hoped to help to save th
plantations by introducing parasite
which will kill the shouting beetle.
A young whale, about 20 feet 1
length was washed up on Ramegat
beach.
HELPING HAND
OR THE- EMPIRE
The Imperial Institute at South Ken-
sington, London, can aptly be termed
the godfather to the British Empire.
Its job is to keep an eye on the Em-
pire's raw materials• and, by expert ad-
vice, assist in the big effort being
made to -day to Make the Empire self-
supporting.
For instance, supposing it is wished
to exploit virgin country inTSouhe h Af-
rica for cotton growing.
African Government will send samples
Of every crop of the cotton grown to
the Imperial Institute. There they will
be tested and examined in every pos-
sible way and a report made as to
their quality.
Further, the Institute then obtains
the expert professional advice of cer-
tain cotton brokers in the City, and as
a result of the two reports the samples
are graded to the existing commercial
grades of cotton.
In addition to the report sent to the
Dominion, advice may also be sent as
to how the quality of future crops
might be improved. Should any
samples be sent to England that are
far below standard and there is little
chance of improving them, the advice
of the Institute is to "drop it."
4' P * e
Samples of tobacco Pass through the
expert hands of the :Empire's godfath-
er in the same way. Empire tobacco
has made great strides during the last
two or three years, but in the opinion
of many smokers it is not up to the
standard of American tobaccos. The
reason for this is because there has
not yet been time for the leaf to ma-
ture fully."
The Imperial Institute examines the
samples of tobacco and also the burnt
ash, and from the examination is able
to give valuable advice on how to im-
prove the crops. It is certain, then,
that before long Empire tobacco will
be In every way equal to that grown
in other parts of the world—and also
much cheaper on account of the lower
duty!
A new supply of timber may he
wanted. A responsible person, by in-
quiring at the Statistical Department
of the Imperial Institute, will be able
to get accurate figures on timber in
all parts of the Empire, its quality,
quantity, the conditions, and so on.
The Minerals Department assists in
the exploiting of such products as
metals and rare earths, From samples
of rare earths or sands, the Institute
may find that such things as gas
mantles, white paint, and dyes may be
made.
At present Empire silk is being
given a great deal of attention. There
is any quantity of wild silk in the Em-
pire which, if spun and woven, hakes
silks equal to any in the world. Un
fortunately, however, the raw silk is
in the form of silkworm nests, and is
very matted; a satisfactory process of
spinning it in the Empire has yet tc
be found.
A Frenchman knows of a process
but until he parts with his secret, of
it is re -discovered, the development of
Empire silk—which will mean cheaper
silk—will be retarded.
parpolIMMIIK
ADAMSON'S ADVENTUR