Diary

Once the child is born, one of his inalienable rights, which we too often deny him, is the right to his childhood.

Without You

A heart rending poem.  I would like to share this with all my fellow bloggers and also would request for the comments on this.

The subject of Children's Rights does not provoke much sentimentalism in this country, where, as somebody says, the present problem of the children is the painless extinction of their elders. I interviewed the man who washes my windows, the other morning, with the purpose of getting at the level of his mind in the matter.

Theory and Fact. The controversy between the "Theorist" and the

"Practical Man" is common to all branches of human affairs, but it is more than usually prevalent, and perhaps more than usually acrid in the economic sphere. It is always a rather foolish controversy, and I have no intention of entering into it, but its prevalence makes it desirable to emphasize a platitude. Economic theory must be based upon actual fact: indeed, it must be essentially an attempt, like all

theory, to describe the actual facts in proper sequence, and in true perspective; and if it does not do this it is an imposture.

It is sometimes said that at this early age children should not be told,even in a simple and elementary form, the real facts of their origin but should, instead, hear a fairy-tale having in it perhaps some kind of symbolic truth. This contention may be absolutely rejected, without thereby, in any degree, denying the important place which fairy-tales holdin the imagination of young children. Fairy-tales have a real value to the child; they are a mental food he needs, if he is not to be spiritually starved; to deprive him of fairy-tales at this age is to do him a wrong which can never be made up at any subsequent age.

Human nature being what it is, having a silly side to it as well as a mean side, there were not a few who pretended to be indignant on no better authority than a general propensity to believe every evil report; and a good many others who found it simply funny to call Heyst the Spider - behind his back, of course.  He was as serenely unconscious of this as of his several other nicknames.  But soon people found other things to say of Heyst; not long afterwards he came very much to the fore in larger affairs.  He blossomed out into something definite.  He filled the public eye as the manager on the spot of the Tropical Belt Coal Company with offices in London and Amsterdam, and other things about it that sounded and looked grandiose.  The offices in the two capitals may have consisted - and probably did - of one room in each; but at that distance, out East there, all this had an air.  We were more puzzled than dazzled, it is true; but even the most sober-minded among us began to think that there was something in it.  The Tesmans appointed agents, a contract for government mail-boats secured, the era of steam beginning for the islands - a great stride forward - Heyst’s stride!

"Most girls at your age have some strange idea regarding love. In the schoolroom, perhaps, a girl notices some particular boy who has a winning way. At first she simply thinks he is nice; is glad to see him promoted, receive honor, etc. Gradually her mind becomes filled with queries concerning his opinion of her. She dares not own that she loves to appear well in his eyes, but it is true nevertheless. During his absence she misses him, and upon his return her heart beats with emotion. If he pays her little attentions, she dwells upon them until she becomes eager for them. Her playmates notice a change in her, for she can no longer hide her feelings. She blushes when mention is made of her preference for him. The couple seek to be together as much as possible, and are soon meeting together secretly. When reproved, they may promise not to let the thing happen again, only to repeat it in a short time. The secrecy of these meetings make them more enjoyable, and their length and frequency are unconsciously increased.