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CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

_A BOOK OF NURSERY LOGIC_

BY

KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN

  "A court as of angels,
  A public not to be bribed.
  Not to be entreated,
  Not to be overawed."


1892




PREFATORY NOTE


I am indebted to the Editors of Scribner's Magazine, the Cosmopolitan,
and Babyhood, for permission to reprint the three essays which have
appeared in their pages. The others are published for the first time.

It may be well to ward off the full seriousness of my title "Nursery
Logic" by saying that a certain informality in all of these papers
arises from the fact that they were originally talks given before
members of societies interested in the training of children.

Three of them--"Children's Stories," "How Shall we Govern our
Children," and "The Magic of 'Together'"--have been written for this
book by my sister, Miss Nora Smith.

K.D.W.

NEW YORK, _August_, 1892.




CONTENTS

  THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
  CHILDREN'S PLAYS
  CHILDREN'S PLAYTHINGS
  WHAT SHALL CHILDREN READ?
  CHILDREN'S STORIES. _Nora A. Smith_
  THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO SOCIAL REFORM
  HOW SHALL WE GOVERN OUR CHILDREN? _Nora A. Smith_
  THE MAGIC OF "TOGETHER." _Nora A. Smith_.
  THE RELATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL
  OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN




THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

"Give me liberty, or give me death!"


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.

"Dennis," I said, as he was polishing the glass, "I am writing an
article on the 'Rights of Children.' What do you think about it?"
Dennis carried his forefinger to his head in search of an idea, for he
is not accustomed to having his intelligence so violently assaulted,
and after a moment's puzzled thought he said, "What do I think about
it, mum? Why, I think we'd ought to give 'em to 'em. But Lor', mum,
if we don't, they _take_ 'em, so what's the odds?" And as he left the
room I thought he looked pained that I should spin words and squander
ink on such a topic.

The French dressmaker was my next victim. As she fitted the collar of
an effete civilization on my nineteenth century neck, I put the same
question I had given to Dennis.

"The rights of the child, madame?" she asked, her scissors poised in
air.

"Yes, the rights of the child."

"Is it of the American child, madame?"

"Yes," said I nervously, "of the American child."

"Mon Dieu! he has them!"

This may well lead us to consider rights as opposed to privileges. A
multitude of privileges, or rather indulgences, can exist with a total
disregard of the child's rights. You remember the man who said he
could do without necessities if you would give him luxuries enough.
The child might say, "I will forego all my privileges, if you will
only give me my rights: a little less sentiment, please,--more
justice!" There are women who live in perfect puddles of maternal
love, who yet seem incapable of justice; generous to a fault, perhaps,
but seldom just.

_Who owns the child_? If the parent owns him,--mind, body, and soul,
we must adopt one line of argument; if, as a human being, he owns
himself, we must adopt another. In my thought the parent is simply a
divinely appointed guardian, who acts for his child until he attains
what we call the age of discretion,--that highly uncertain period
which arrives very late in life with some persons, and not at all with
