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Teaching Loyalty

By L. E. Eubanks

OYALTY is one of the most admir

able qualities. Analyzed, it is seen to be indispensable to character, because of the dependence of so many other desirable attributes upon it. Educators long ago discovered the vital importance of loyalty in all schemes of childtraining; the trouble always has been that whereas its necessity placed it logically among first lessons, the difficulty of inculcating it generally makes it one of the last. Undeniably, loyalty is a hard lessonone of the many hard ones. Teachers and parents are partly to blame for this; though they cannot control the speech of every one with whom the child comes in contact, they can at least guard their own words, and with a little explanation fortify the youngster against outside misconceptions. I have in mind the careless usage of such expressions as "Trust him for that," "You can safely leave it to him," "You can rely on him to get the best of it,” etc.

Such remarks, used derogatorily, assign a reverse significance to loyalty, give the quality both a positive and negative phase; and this is confusing to the very young. The child sees that a person is honest or dishonest, generous or selfish, etc., but he gathers the idea that this matter of loyalty is a mixed quality, of less importance per se than its skilful application to any given circumstances-in other words, a kind of "diplomacy." Call misguided loyalty something else, "adherence," "complicity"-anything of neutral or evil significance, but don't call it loyalty. Let the child's conception of the quality be entirely positive, and let there be no "various meanings" to the term applied to it. And remember that little ears are keen.

Another difficulty in teaching loyalty to the young arises in making the idea comprehensible. One mother found that the best way to do this was to define loyalty as trustworthiness, reliability. Long before your son can grasp an abstract conception of loyalty he can see the value of reliability between friends, employer and employe,

etc., and understand a story wherein trustworthiness is shown to have practical value.

The "dynamics" of loyalty, its practical application to life, is the next consideration after a correct idea of the quality has been taught. Perhaps it is even better that these lessons blend. I have always stood for practicality in dealing with young children. I think the reasonable must precede the ethical; for a reason which he understands a child will be faithful to an errand, for instance, at an age when talk of duty would "go over his head." And habits of reliability certainly make a good foundation for the ethics of reliability.

To what shall the child be loyal; how should the necessary exercise to develop strength begin? First, teach him to keep a promise—a small one at first, always involving something readily comprehensible. For instance, he is asked to come directly home from school. He asks why, and he has a right to know. "Because I want you to" is no reason—at least, not at this stage of the training. "Because I wish all of us to be here when Mr. Smith calls. He has not seen you children for five years, and I promised him, knowing that you would help me arrange it." This gives the child reason and interest-a share in the responsibility.

Without ostentation, see that he comes to feel a pride in being reliable. It doesn't hurt to refer to it occasionally, just as a part of conversation, that you can always rely on Harry.

Meanwhile, the various little clubs, societies, etc., of school life and his activities on the playfield are helping out the home teaching. I shall never forget the righteous indignation displayed by a young friend of mine when he learned that a teammate had betrayed the football signals to a rival school. He assured me that the culprit was the only one of that kind in the school, and seemed greatly humiliated at his playmate's duplicity. Subsequent events made things extremely embarrassing

for the lad who had "thrown the game," and every fellow in the school received a fine lesson on the value of reliability. I do not believe my young friend would have had that odium attached to his name for a deed to the city of New York. So all clubs and games that are clean and help to build character should be encouraged by parents and teachers.

Books are highly useful to the teacher of loyalty; a certain mother told me that some of the Alger stories of boys in business had done more than any other influence to impress her two sons with the grandness of loyalty to trust, honesty, etc. The great value of a story lies in the child's ability to gather the whole thing, cause and effect, while his interest and receptive power are concentrated. The lessons of everyday life are often too subtle for the child, and when they extend over months or years are apt to lose their "punch" through his disconnection of events, causes and results. In a story, he leads a life vicariously in a few evenings, and absorbs the moral in its most logical and powerful sequence.

The more abstract forms of loyalty (as distinguished from that which is made to seem incidental to a purpose) begin between members of the family. Perhaps loyalty to his mother is the easiest purely ethical phase to show the youngster. Loyalty to any person who has been as a parent is a most natural feeling, and many instances of it may be found in literature. Every boy derives an inspiration to loyalty from reading that one of the "Round Table" stories wherein "Arthur is chosen King." Quoting a well known writer on this point, "When Arthur pulled out the sword from the stone, and Sir Ector and Sir Kay kneeled down to the earth before him, making known to him his royal birth, Arthur expressed not pride, not joy-no, he made 'great dole when he understood that Sir Ector was not his father.' His words are the heritage of every dutiful

boy or girl: 'For ye are the man in the world that I am most beholding to, and my good lady and mother your wife, that as well as her own hath fostered me and kept. And if ever it be God's will that I be king, as ye say, ye shall desire of me what I may do, and I shall not fail you: God forbid I should fail you.' Of his foster parents Arthur said these words, and this fact makes them the more significant to children, for they learn thereby that what Arthur reverenced and loved, that to which he pledged his faith, was not the mere fact of parenthood, but parental love and care-fatherliness, motherliness. Children cannot too early learn that their parents are those who, above all others, have 'fostered' and ‘kept' them."

Introduction of the idea of loyalty to country broadens the subject still further. Again, I suggest the use of books as the first thought-awakener. "The Battle of Roncevals" will be found valuable. The characters, Roland and Oliver, defend their country in a way to thrill any red-blooded lad with patriotism. He cannot but feel that he has read more than a tale of battle; it is a chronicle of unswerving faithfulness to duty that he will never forget.

Our child is now about ready to comprehend loyalty to ideals. He has by now formed some slender philosophy of life, has abstracted some fundamental principles from his experiences. As soon as we know that these are sound, we should approve and respect them, encouraging steadfast fidelity. Let the child have his individuality; never drive, and don't lead too much. Loyalty to self is more than a grace of character, it is the substratum of character, worth to our charge all the years of work it may require for perfection. See that the young folks read "The Quest of the Holy Grail." Let them grasp the truth tha ideals do not necessarily imply fame, conquest-nor even success, as this is usually measured. "Not failure, but low aim is culpable."

Chief of U. S. Baby Bureau for Thrift

By Julia C. Lathrop

Chief of the Children's Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor

T

HIS country is engaged in a war to make democracy prevail in the world. There could be no nobler purpose, for within democracy we imply the growing measure of social justice obtainable through a government of the people, by the people. We include our advances in homely, daily life-the wisdom and liberality with which children can be nurtured and trained-not a few choice children, but all children.

Sir Ernest Rutherford, the distinguished English physicist, in an address before the Academy of Science in Washington said, in speaking of the fearfully destructive weapons which science bestows for fighting: "This war could not be worth fighting if it is not a war to end war, for so destructive has war become that either we must end war or war will end civilization."

If this war can end war and can make democracy safe it will be worth great sacrifices; and sacrifices and cost it will demand to a degree beyond all present reckoning. War expenditure is inevitably directed to the immediate destruction of values, material destruction and the destruction of human life and of human efficiency.

Stern Economy Needed

Plainly economy will be required of a sternness never practiced in our country, still in its rich, unexhausted youth. In some way the debts created by war must be paid by us. The only choice we have as a nation is how and when and where we shall save in order to pay the losses. Added to the fact of debt is another, already familiar enough in talk, but not yet felt with its real sharpness-the cost of food and clothing has increased until the family standards of an unknown proportion of our people are seriously threatened. I need not tell any gathering of salaried people that pay for services has not climbed automatically upward with prices for commodities.

Again, only the infidel provides not for his own household. If we go to Europe to make democracy prevail we must see to it that democracy

does not suffer irreparable harm at home. Our armies must not return victorious from Europe to find that we have allowed democracy to be defeated at home-that our family standards have been destroyed by poverty and civic neglect, or have not dropped to European levels.

How Can We Save?

How can we keep democracy alive except by the preservation of the hard-won standards of social order by which we have thus far been able to express it, some of which would sadly impair our present level of life? Already methods of retrenchment and economy are being urged. The only question is where we can properly economize. Here is the greatest test of our national good sense and foresight. What do we consider the foundation necessities-what luxuries shall we spare first? What necessities abandon last?

The ultimate treasure and resources of any people is its young life-the only surety of the continuance of the race. What is the fundamental necessity? Is it not to safeguard that reservoir? There are 30,000,000 children in our care under sixteen years of age; about 20,000,000 of them in our schools.

Slowly we have arrived at certain measures of protection for those under sixteen; by state compulsory education laws, child labor laws and mothers' pension laws; and now by a national child labor law, which says that after September 1, 1917, every child under fourteen years of age is entitled to the protection from labor in mill, cannery, workshop, factory or manufacturing establishment; and no child under sixteen shall work in mine or quarry; no child between fourteen and sixteen shall work in these industries more than eight hours a day nor more than six days a week nor after seven at night nor before six in the morning.

Children Are Threatened

It is not too much to say that the first effect of war is to threaten all such standards. In the (Continued on page 8)

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"He who helps a child,

helps humanity with a distinctness and an immediateness which no other help given to human creatures in any other stage of their human life can possibly give

again.”—PHILLIPS BROOKS.

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