SEPTEMBER 15 



not clear, and the impression conveyed is certainly not 

 what I intended. What I really think is that the old 

 have no right to command the young to sacrifice their 

 lives to them. But, on the other hand, the voluntary 

 sacrifice by the young of their own lives, though it should 

 be carefully watched by those about them, is certainly 

 not without immense benefit to themselves, self-sacrifice 

 being acknowledged by all moralists to be the greatest 

 strengthener of human character. There is, however, 

 the great risk and danger of self -suppression. 



I continue my quotations: 



' You put the question of unselfishness in parents or 

 children as being a difficult one, but I have always felt 

 that to help each person to be as they ought to be, in the 

 best and highest way for their own characters, is the only 

 right love and influence that each can have for the other, 

 no matter in what relations of life. If you either spoil 

 a child or a parent or husband or wife, so that you make 

 them behave wrongly, you are sure to be distressed by 

 their not doing right, and other people feel the same.' 

 Everyone must agree that to make those we love behave 

 well is the object to be attained. The difficulty is the 

 best method of bringing it about. Is it by unselfish 

 example or by exacting unselfishness on the part of 

 others ? Who can say ? 



Here is a severe condemnation from a father of several 

 children: 'I don't agree one bit with your theoretical 

 subordination of old to young. I think it innately ridicu- 

 lous, essentially false, and at once morbid, superficial, 

 and mischievous.' 



Nobody actually wrote it to me, but I heard it from 

 several people, that the advice about giving the latch-key 

 to very young boys harassed and worried a great number 

 of mothers. Why, I do not quite understand; as showing 

 confidence in the boy seems to me the beginning of all 



