ORDER AND SECURITY.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 109, 16 January 1873, Page 2

ORDER AND SECURITY.

Order represents tlie peace and dignity of life — nebody will, we think, seek to deny that it is ssando — and this assertion will be enough to show the value of the advantages of this- " modest " quality to all persons, as welt as the great responsibility of parents who do not apply themselves to transmit ifc to- their ehildre-n, or to. charge them with the necessity forits observance. Actual education i 9, I well know, a stranger to wi»e measure of o,rder and discipline ; and lam also awaro that for the most part the measures, having for their object the f irmation of tho character of children, contain no ftxed ' regulations providing for the observance of order. It it during their days of childhood that young people contract either habits oi order or disorder, which, in nearly every m>tance, become irrevocably part of themselves during tho /* remainder of their life, and the origin of good or mischief, in spito of the influence sometime* exerted by the foroi of surrounding circumstances. What » the gravest aspect of this question — is tfliat want of well formed rules of conduct causes not only domestic troubles, but as its action is not limited to purely material events, there eusues want of" regularity in habits, while it aTso implies a disorder of ideas, which has a very perceptible and forcible influence on conduct. I do not know of a more agreeable spectacle, or one morepacifying, than that of a home in which a vigilant and "sociable" mother, out of regard for the future welfare of her children, by her actions encompasses them with the best of all lemons, as well as the best safeguard against bad habit 3 — example But this mother is not content to instil into her offspring habits of order in those things alone which Ooncern the interests of household life : she accustoms her children to inherit the comfortable quality of '< order," and does not in her lessons — as some would do — lead them to becomevain by overmuch praise. Before they have confided to them the exact nature of the certain results of a due observance of order they become accustomed to take caro of, and put in their proper places, whatever playthings or toys they may possess. At the present day, some parents who love their children very much, think that they show their affection by refraining from bending them to the observance of the "harsh" regulations of order. Concerning such parents as seek to aioid the task of watching over the actions of their children, or fail to act their part as their instructors, we feel impelled to exclaim, " Unfortunate calculation, and foolish victims of a mistaken affection,— the course you arc pursuing in tho training of the mind of your child, will have the unhappy result of depriving him of the pleasures and advantages which follow in tke wake of a careful attention to regularity and order in every thing that i 3 good, and inspire him m ith a more or less developed contempt, according to his disposition,, for that which should be respected by every one ! " " But I that is of no importance," says the mother, who only loves, her child with a tenderness which is alike possessed by the animals of the brute creation. These dreadful results may t easily be avoided by your own example to your child. You, should, if he has scattered his toys about the apartment, at once" proceed, if he has done with them, to put them in a suitable place where they may easily be found again ; by these means showing him what he ought to do by what you have done, and par consequence this you witt admit is, afterull, much better than finding strewn over youi furniture, or confusedly corn-ing the whole of the floor, tho dislocated inns of puppets, or the legs of miniature soldiers, besides fragments of toys of all kinds. I will now tell you precisely where you have been at fault. Your conduct to your ehihl ha« been highly reprehensible on the one hand, because your feebleness or laxity of spirit has been in the way of the bencj iicent rule of regularity, an attention to which you should | have impressed on your child ; and, on the othor hand, bepause your negloot* injiy have been p»rtl> due to a fear of intrudmg on or interfering with your lazy habits, which causes you to leave tho child to conquer if he can, a fault which i* perhaps still more hurtful even than laziness. I do not fear or hesitate to affirm that a person destitute of order— had she otherwise all the good qualities imaginable and all thevirtMcs in existence— were she possessed of the temper of an angel, and of a patient spirit which had been well tried— would yet be exceedingly disagreeable to. Ihe persons around her, and at the same time still more disngrcenblo than a person who might be peevish nnd in other respect* unpleasant to her friends, were she, in the faeo of alt these disadvantages, an observer to some e\tcnt of the rules of order. Nothing is more indispensable to the enjojment of life than " security " fserurUeJ. If an attention to security were not comprised in the characteristics of a person otherwise excellent, existoncc would be troublesomo to him e-vory instant of the day. You seek for a book. Some one> yeu ! think, must have carried it away, as you do not find it in, I the " secure" place in which jou conjecture you Had put it until it might bo wanted for further perusal. Where arcvour journals ? The person to whom you have, as you think you remember, lent them, has not brought them bask. Tho seat which you hod but 'vacated : It has been taken up. — and your umbrell.i ? But I need not refer to furlhor instances, as inattention to " security " on the part of any one, furnishes multiplied instances every day of our lives. How uncomfortable you arc when yoii recollect, after you havepaid a visit at the house of a friend, that you hare been a long while there, lain down, and forgot some article which jju had been carrying with you ? What trouble you are at in thinking, in reflecting, and in puzzling your brains to ascertain whether momorv will come to your nid and fill the void in your recollection ? It is in cases like this that you mourn your inattention to security and recognise its importance^ but you forgot the trouble whioh neglect had imposed ttfc you, nnd your self-blaming, when soon after a neighbour in a similar difficulty eomce to you for consolation or assiS i ancft. How rigorous you a«e in your treatment of him—* how ready to find fault with him — but how yery slow ib holp or condole ? — Translated for the Sydney Mail from at* article by E. Raymond in La Mode Induttree.