The Children of the West 79 



your order; a band furnishes appropriate music; 

 at the grave certain rites are observed. But the 

 solemn procession to the cemetery is robbed of its 

 significance, by the rout that follows the benedic- 

 tion. Peace, indeed, is left with the dead. The 

 living race home, as if Death, with the " tiger-roar " 

 of his voice, were pursuing them. After one of these 

 functions I encountered the chief mourner and mur- 

 mured my condolence. He asked me in return what 

 I thought of the funeral ; then he added, before I 

 could answer : " It was fine. Every thing according 

 to Hoyle. Well sir, she 'd been a good wife to me, 

 and me and my friends appreciated that fact, and 

 so — we gave her a good send-off ! " 

 Children attend these entertainments. 



Talking with the boys and girls of the West, one 

 notes the bias of their minds to what is material 

 rather than ideal. This gives to each child a certain 

 personality — he must be reckoned with as an indi- 

 vidual. His egoism is so plainly manifested that 

 it becomes dominant. And this egoism of the 

 child is pregnant with ill-omen for the future of the 

 race. What makes for character — sense of duty, 

 reverence, humility, obedience — is not inculcated 

 by the majority of parents in the West. On the 

 contrary, they encourage the egoism latent in all 

 children, till each becomes an autocrat. I shall 

 never forget a morning I passed in what is called 

 the " Ladies' Parlour " of a steamship. My mother 

 was with me, prostrated by headache and sickness, 

 and the room was full of fellow sufferers. Suddenly 

 a boy marched in playing — toy bagpipes. The 



