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Families
84. Children
I asked, "If, Sir, you were shut up in a castle, and a newborn
child with you, what would you do?" Johnson: "Why, Sir,
I should not much like my company." Boswell: "But would
you make the trouble of rearing it?" He seemed, as may well be
supposed, unwilling to pursue the subject; but upon my
persevering in my question, replied, "Why, yes, Sir, I would;
but I must have all conveniences. If I had no garden, I would
make a shed on the roof, and take it there for fresh air. I
should feed it, and wash it much, and with warm water to please
it, not with cold water to give it pain."
Boswell: Life
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141. Children; Parents!!!
Grrrrrr!!!
He used to condemn me for putting Newbery's books into their
hands as too trifling to engage their attention. "Babies do not
want (said he) to hear about babies; they like to be told of
giants and castles, and of somewhat which can stretch and
stimulate their little minds." When in answer I would urge the
numerous editions and quick sale of Tommy Prudent or Goody Two
Shoes: "Remember always (said he) that the parents buy
the books, and that the children never read them."
Piozzi: Anecdotes
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142. Appropriateness; Children;
Parents!!! Grrrrrr!!!
If you had had children, Sir, said I, would you have taught them
anything? "I hope (replied he), that I should have willingly
lived on bread and water to obtain instruction for them; but I
would not have set their future friendship to hazard for the sake
of thrusting into their heads knowledge of things for which they
might not perhaps have either taste or necessity. You teach your
daughters the diameters of the planets, and wonder when you have
done that they do not delight in your company. No science can be
communicated by mortal creatures without attention from the
scholar; no attention can be obtained from children without the
affliction of pain, and pain is never remembered without
resentment."
Piozzi: Anecdotes
Link
144. Children; Parents!!!
Grrrrrr!!!
"Poor people's children, dear Lady (said he), never respect them:
I did not respect my own mother, though I loved her: and one
day, when in anger she called me a puppy, I asked her if she knew
what they call a puppy's mother."
Piozzi: Anecdotes
Link
340. Children; Sibling Rivalry
"I would rather have the rod to be the general terror to all, to
make them learn, than tell a child, if you do thus or thus, you
will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters. The rod
produces an effect which terminates itself. A child is afraid of
being whipped, and gets his task, and there's an end on't;
whereas, by exciting emulation, and comparisons of superiority,
you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make brothers
and sisters hate each other."
Boswell: Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
Link
775. Children; Consolation; Old
Age
"Nothing seems to have been more universally dreaded by the
ancients than orbity, or want of children; and, indeed, to a man
who has survived all the companions of his youth, all who have
participated his pleasures and his cares, have been engaged in
the same events, and filled their minds with the same
conceptions, this full-peopled world is a dismal solitude. He
stands forlorn and silent, neglected or insulted, in the midst of
multitudes, animated with hopes which he cannot share, and
employed in business which he is no longer able to forward or
retard; nor can he find any to whom his life or death are of
importance, unless he has secured some domestic gratifications,
some tender employments, and endeared himself to some whose
interest and gratitude may unite them to him."
Johnson: Rambler #69 (November 13, 1750)
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777. Children
"It may be doubted, whether the pleasure of seeing children
ripening into strength be not overbalanced by the pain of seeing
some fall in the blossom, and others blasted in their growth;
some shaken down by storms, some tainted with cankers, and some
shriveled in the shade; and whether he that extends his care
beyond himself does not multiply his anxieties more than his
pleasures, and weary himself to no purpose, by superintending
what he cannot regulate."
Johnson: Rambler #69 (November 13, 1750)
Link
1,240. Children
"To see helpless infancy stretching out her hands, and pouring
out her cries in testimony of dependence, without any powers to
alarm jealousy, or any guilt to alienate affection, must surely
awaken tenderness in every human mind; and tenderness once
excited will be hourly increased by the natural contagion of
felicity, by the repercussion of communicated pleasure, by the
consciousness of dignity of benefaction."
Johnson: Rambler #148 (August 17, 1751)
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