er been made in the practice of medicine has
been made by the recklessness of patients and not by the doctors?
For thousands and thousands of years the doctors would not let a man
suffering from fever have a drop of water. Water they looked upon as
poison. But every now and then some man got reckless and said, "I had
rather die than not to slake my thirst." Then he would drink two or
three quarts of water and get well. And when the doctor was told of
what the patient had done, he expressed great surprise that he was still
alive, and complimented his constitution upon being able to bear such a
frightful strain. The reckless men, however, kept on drinking the water,
and persisted in getting well. And finally the doctors said: "In a
fever, water is the very best thing you can take." So, I have more
confidence in the voice of nature about such things than I have in the
conclusions of the medical schools.

Let your children have freedom and they will fall into your ways; they
will do substantially as you do; but if you try to make them, there is
some magnificent, splendid thing in the human heart that refuses to be
driven. And do you know that it is the luckiest thing that ever happened
for this world, that people are that way. What would have become of the
people five hundred years ago if they had followed strictly the advice
of the doctors? They would have all been dead. What would the people
have been, if at any age of the world they had followed implicitly
the direction of the church? They would have all been idiots. It is a
splendid thing that there is always some grand man who will not mind,
and who will think for himself.

I believe in allowing the children to think for themselves. I believe
in the democracy of the family. If in this world there is anything
splendid, it is a home where all are equals.

You will remember that only a few years ago parents would tell their
children to "let their victuals stop their mouths." They used to eat as
though it were a religious ceremony--a very solemn thing. Life should
not be treated as a solemn matter. I like to see the children at table,
and hear each one telling of the wonderful things he has seen and heard.
I like to hear the clatter of knives and forks and spoons mingling with
their happy voices. I had rather hear it than any opera that was ever
put upon the boards. Let the children have liberty. Be honest and fair
with them; be just; be tender, and they will make you ri