CHILDREN WHO ARE CALLED "COWARDS"
Recently we overheard a little fellow say, "Father says I'm the only coward in the whole family." Looking him straight in the face we said to him: "You're not a coward. Such a fine boy as you couldn't possibly be a coward." The boy was greatly amazed, and, as we left him, he was saying over to himself, "I'm not a coward. She said I'm not a coward," finally adding, "She said I couldn't be a coward." This one thought, repeated to him several times and turned over and over in his mind, eventually overthrew the false fears instilled by his father.
A short time ago the daily papers contained the story of the ten-year-old son of a New York business man who drew his few dollars from the savings bank, boarded a train for Chicago, and, after three days of amusement and loneliness, his money all gone, was found in a hotel bitterly weeping. His identity was revealed, the parents were notified at once, and the boy was sent on the first train back to his home. On the way to the station he sobbed out through his tears, "Well, my brother can't call me a coward any more, anyway." Who knows but that this everlasting taunting of the child with the accusation of being a baby or being a coward has much to do with many such escapades and other daring exploits on the part of the juveniles who are chafed by such unjust insinuations? Those of us who are acquainted with the vice and crime of a great city can imagine just what might have happened if this boy had been a little older, if his heredity had not been so good, if his money hadn't run out, if he had been able to remain in the big city long enough to make undesirable acquaintances.
Many criminals have confessed behind prison bars that when they were children they were called cowards. After a while they actually came to believe that they were cowards, and in their efforts to acquire courage and demonstrate their bravery they were led to desperate and even criminal acts. They prowled around the dark alleys just to convince themselves that they were not afraid, that they were not cowards, and there they made the acquaintance of the criminals who led them into new and dangerous paths. Even if a child enters this world handicapped by heredity, let us not lessen his chances of success by adverse suggestion.
Faith-thoughts, thoughts of bravery and of courage, may just as easily be instilled into the mind of the normal child as thoughts of fear and cowardice. A child should never have suggested to him that he is afraid. He should be constantly assured that he is brave, loyal, and fearless. The daily repetition of these suggestions will contribute much to the actual acquirement of the very traits of character that are thus suggested. This does not mean that a child should not be taught caution and forethought.