The Children of the West 83 



his " adnoids," another his tonsils ; this one goes 

 twice a week to an aurist ; an oculist has just oper- 

 ated upon that ; a nose specialist Qie won't be long 

 without a name) has the fifth under special treat- 

 ment, and so forth. 



And yet, despite the money spent on them, de- 

 spite the care and anxiety of the parents, despite 

 the pampering, despite the endearments, the children 

 of the Pacific Slope are emphatically neglected. 

 You seldom see a father or a mother patiently 

 and laboriously teaching a child. The common 

 round is distasteful to the people of the West, the 

 trivial task is abhorrent. The " grind " of slowly 

 imparting to a child habits of self-control, obedience, 

 and a sense of duty is a treadmill that few care to 

 mount. Those who can afford it pay others to train 

 their children for them, and this training is, as a 

 rule, intermittent and ineffective. 



The religious training is practically in the hands 

 of the Sunday-school teachers. The more intelli- 

 gent of these will tell you, if you ask them, that 

 their efforts are often futile, because at home the 

 men of the family habitually make light of sacred 

 things and names. I remember one very small 

 boy who astonished his mother one night by sud- 

 denly sitting up in bed and saying, ** Well, I am 

 a dam fool ; I Ve forgotten to say my prayers ! " 

 Here again is the blend of sacred and profane. 



The good qualities of the children of the Pacific 

 Slope are : originality, independence, pluck, and 

 perspicuity. They are extraordinarily quick-witted 

 and plastic, full of quips and odd turns of speech, 



