SELF-CONTROL AND THE PUBLIC SAFETY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 103, 24 January 1908, Page 3

SELF-CONTROL AND THE PUBLIC SAFETY.

A writer in the "Sydney Morning Herald" draws a moral from the story of tlnj .'reccnt panic which resulted in the death of 16 little children in Yorkshire, and " points out !:tho need of i teaching children self-control. Life, ospecially life in a big city,, says the writor, is hemmed round with 'dangers; which may without a moment's warning close in upon us—dangers which by their very hor;ror may paralyse a strong'man's brain,, and cause him to act-like a cliild. - The bravest, heart will; quail before such .dangers, and physical courage and physical strength aro swept away, or used fiercely for; self-pro-tection; tho kindest, gentlest ! mail ' will roughly thrust aside a little child, .or a'delicate n'omiin, once the horror of "a panic seizes upon him. There is but one.'quality which will serve a man or woman in such a crisis, : and that' is'self-control.: One cairn, reassuring word from a man who .lias not lost his proseneo of mind will do.'hibra. t-iiari anything . on earth to check, a-. frightpried stampede. : '/ The virtue of. self-control is one that cannot be inculcated too early in.life. It; is ,ono of-the very first lessons a child should learn for itg 'own sake, as well as for Jhose.'irouh.l it. The child With a hot, .ungovernable temper, is a source of worry to.many,.a< mother's mind,'hut too often the punishment, ijiflicjted produces-., merely, sulkiness and resentment, and a new enemy is added to the, child's character; or else, the parent gives in '■ "fcr peace sake," and the child .' knows it has gained-an ; unholy victory. ' ■ ;

If a mother lvou'd send her thoughts into tho future, and picture tho ultimate result of such a. building-up of character; if she could realise that her failure to teach her child st If-victory at the psychological moment may , menu the loss of his life and . maiiy i other, lives in Inter years, how much more"patient and painstaking" she would be. ; Almost'every accident that,happens oil tho water is caused by, carelessness or fright. Tho drowning parson," losing; all self-control," clutches the would-be rescuer, - and both perish ; the nervous. Woman, imagining daiiger in- a passing roll, jumps' up . excitedly and upsets the rowing boat, causing the death perhaps of-thc whole, boatload. ' - ... To nervous, and, excitable, nature sclf-re-pression' in any form is more difficult, than to phlegmatic, .stolid , souls. But much may be 'clone- by training. The practice of self-con-trol should be as much insisted- upon in. a child as truth-telling-, and ■ cleanliness; . tly} : - kriowledge of. how to behave in an should be so ingrained in childhood that'.tt becomes second nature,' and dangers will l/e faced with nerve and quietness in later years. And in tho teaching of such lessons every mother holds within her hand a power,* not only for the future happiness of her child, but for 'tho'welfare arid safety of her fellows.'