KNOWLEDGE VERSUS IGNORANCE.

White Ribbon, Volume 1, Issue 7, 1 January 1896, Page 3

KNOWLEDGE VERSUS IGNORANCE.

“Don’t keep your boys in ignorance of things they should know. It is not the wholesome truth, but it is the unwholesome way in which it is acquired that ruins many a young man ” The above quotation from a leading periodical hears directly upon a question which is at the present time taking up much space in newspapers, and much attention from every thinking man and woman. Up to a certain point parents and ! guardians, who have the welfare of a child at heart, will spare no pains to show the enquiring | child what he may do with safety, and what will lead to trouble and suffering. The child is early I taught that the tiresome ache is caused by the injudicious eating of a green apple, and that the troublesome sickness is brought on by himself through an over-indulgence in sweets. 1 he sharp knife is quickly coaxed from tin; tiny hand, and I infinite pains are taken to instil into the tiny mind that to play with edged tools almost always ends in disaster. Later on the child is sent to school, and is taught something of almost every branch of knowledge except a knowledge of himself—the laws of his own being. It is obvious tins cannot be taught at present as ordinary lessons arc taught. But in nine cases out of ten 11 is at school, or from play fellows on road and street, that a boy or girl first learns something ot that mysterious and beautiful object—himself. It is in nine cases out of ten also that the glimpse he gets ! from this source of the most marvellous —aye, and most sacred—things of life is so distorted and filth-bespattered that the child’s mind takes years to recover from the shock 1 his should not be. It is an unspeakable pity that any child should be allowed to grope along 111 darkness, learning what I little hr can in an unhealthy atmosphere, till he comes to ibink of things as shameful which he should be taught to think of as purr and sacred. L'lie child nature must be dwarfed and low indeed that will not be inspired by the thought of the baa ti ful responsibility of young manhood and womanhood. It must begin at home, and be told lovingly, kindly, and purely by mother, sister, fath< r, or brother; not all at once, but bit by bit, as the need arises and tin age requires it. (fiice let a confidence of this sort be established between a child and one member of his household, and there will he no fear of his listening t > a false and impure statement, nor will a prurient thought on these subjects find a lodging place in his mind. The writer has several times been asked, “ But how can a mother approach these subjects with her own daughter ?” The question rather is, “ How can a mother not tell her child something of the marvellous mechanism of her own being, and of the

sweet, unalterable bond between parent and child ?” It has been said that a girl cannot sympathise with her mother till she is a mother herself. This need not be. The writer has on three occasions had the privilege of answerings not evading with foolish, though well-meant, untruths, the questions of a young, ignorant, and innocent girl. When one has once seen the sweet seriousness, the sudden kindling of the eye, and finally the steadfast look of conscious power and responsibility which has in each case shown itself in the face of the hearer, one will never doubt again the propriety or duty of arming a girl with knowledge which will keep her innocent , no matter who assails her ears with false statements. I have seen those same eyes flash, and I have heard one of those girls say, in answer to such a statement, “It is not true, I know it is not. Ignorance and innocence should never be confounded. In my opinion the innocent man or woman is the one who. knowing of evil, has kept himself or herself pure and unspotted, and who has been saved from falling, through ignorance, into pitfalls from which pure knowledge has saved him. Member Malvern W omen’s Institute.