THE CHILDREN'S MORALITY CODE

This is meta description.

Published in 1924. I don’t agree with all of this, but its neat that it was a thing that got published at the time.

This morality code by Win. J. Hutchlns was awarded the Donor’s prize of $5,000 in the National Morality Codes Competition, 1916, for the best Children’s Code of Morals, the judges being Professor George Trumbull Ladd, of Yale University; Justice Mahlon Pitiney of the Supreme Court of the United States; and President Mrs. Phillip North Moore, of the National Council for Women. All the slates participated, and the competition was under the auspices of the Character Education Institution, Chevy Chase, Washington, D. C. Arranged as a four page folder, the Children’s Morality Code is available in quantities from the National Capital Press, Washington, D. C.

FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

BOYS and girls who are good Americans try to become strong and useful, worthy of their nation, that our country may become ever greater and better. Therefore, they obey the laws of right living which the best Americans have always obeyed

I: THE LAW OF SELF-CONTROL

The Good American Controls Himself, Herself

Those who best control themselves can best serve their country.

  1. I will control my tongue, and will not allow it to speak mean, vulgar or profane words. I will tell the truth and nothing but the truth.
  2. I will control my temper, and will not get angry when people or things displease me.
  3. I will control my thoughts, and will not allow a foolish wish to spoil a wise purpose.
  4. I will control my actions. I will be careful and thrifty, and insist on doing right.
  5. I will not ridicule nor defile the character of another; I will keep my self-respect, and help others to keep theirs.

II: THE LAW OF GOOD HEALTH

The Good American Tries to Gain and Keep Good Health

The welfare of our country depends on those who are physically fit for their daily work. Therefore;

  1. I will try to take such food, sleep and exercise as will keep me always in good health.
  2. I will keep my clothes, my body and my mind clean.
  3. I will avoid those habits which would harm me, and will make and never break those habits which will help me.

III: THE LAW OF KINDNESS

The Good American is Kind

In America those who are different must live in the same communities. We are of many different sorts, but we are one , great people. Every unkindness hurts the common life, every kindness helps. Therefore:

  1. I will be kind in all my thoughts. I will bear no spites or grudges. I will never despise anybody.
  2. I will be kind in all my speech. I will never gossip nor will I speak unkindly of anyone. Words may wound or heal.
  3. I will be kind in my acts. I will not selfishly insist on having my own way. I will be polite: rude people are not good Americans. I will not make unnecessary trouble for those who work for me. I will do my best to prevent cruelty, and will give help to those who are in need.

IV: THE LAW OF SPORTSMANSHIP

The Good American Plays Fair

Strong play increases and trains one’s strength, and sportsmanship helps one to be a gentleman, a lady. Therefore:

  1. I will not cheat; I will keep the rules, but I will play the game hard, for the fun of the game, to win by strength and skill. If I should not play fair, the loser would lose the fun of the game, and the winner would lose his self-respect, and the game itself would become a mean and often cruel business.
  2. I will treat my opponents with courtesy, and be friendly.
  3. If I play in a group game, I will play, not for my own glory but for the success of the team.
  4. 1 will be a good loser or a generous winner.
  5. And in my work as well as in my play, I will be sportsmanlike—generous, fair, honorable.

V: THE LAW OF SELF-RELIANCE

The Good American is Self-Reliant

Self-conceit is silly, but self-reliance is necessary to boys and girls who would be strong and useful.

  1. I will gladly listen to the advice of older and wiser people; I will reverence the wishes of those who love and care for me, and who know life and me better than I; but I will learn to think for myself, choose for myself, act for myself, according to what seems right and fair and wise.
  2. I will not be afraid of being laughed at. I will not be afraid of doing right when the crowd does wrong. Fear never made a good American.

VI: THE LAW OF DUTY

Good Americans Do Their Duty

The shirker and the willing idler live upon others, and burden fellow-citizens with work unfairly. They do not do their share, for their country’s good. I will try to find out what my duty is, what I ought to do as a good American, and my duty I will do, whether it is easy or hard. What it is my duty to do I can do.

VII: THE LAW OF RELIABILITY

The Good American is Reliable

Our country grows great and good as her citizens are able more fully to trust each other. Therefore:

  1. I will be honest in every act, and very careful with money. I will not cheat, nor pretend, nor sneak.
  2. I will not do wrong in the hope of not being found out. I cannot hide the truth from myself.
  3. I will not take without permission what does not belong to me. A thief is a menace to me and others.
  4. I will do promptly what I have promised to do. If I have made a foolish promise, I will at once confess my mistake, and I will try to make good any harm which my mistake may have caused. I will so speak and act that people will find it easier to trust each other.

VIII: THE LAW OF TRUTH

A Good American is True

  1. I will avoid hasty opinions lest I do injustice and be mistaken as to facts.
  2. I will hunt for proof, and be accurate as to what I see and hear. I will learn to think, that I may discover new truth.
  3. I will stand by the truth regardless of my likes and dislikes, and scorn the temptation to lie for myself or friends: nor will I keep the truth from those who have a right to it.

IX: THE LAW OF GOOD WORKMANSHIP

The Good American Tries to do the Right Thing in the Right Way

The welfare of our country depends upon those who have learned to do in the right way the things that ought to be done. Therefore;

  1. I will get the best possible education, and learn all that I can as a preparation for the time when I am grown up and at my life work.
  2. I will take real interest in work, and will not be satisfied to do slipshod and merely passable work. I will form the habit of good work; mistakes and blunders cause hardship, sometimes disaster, and spoil success.
  3. I will do the right thing in the right way if I can, even when no one else sees or praises me. But when I have done my best, I will not envy those who have done better, or have received larger reward. Envy spoils the work and the worker.

X: THE LAW OF TEAM-WORK

The Good American works in Friendly Cooperation with Fellow-Workers

One alone could not build a city or a great railroad. One alone would find it hard to build a bridge. That I may have bread, people have sowed and reaped, people have made plows and threshers, have built mills and mined coal, made stoves and kept stores. As we learn better how to work together, the welfare of our country is advanced.

  1. In whatever work I do with others, I will do my part and encourage others to do their part.
  2. I will help to keep in order the things which we use in our work. When things are out of place they are often in the way, and sometimes they are hard to find.
  3. In all my work with others, I will be cheerful. Cheerlessness depresses all the workers and injures all the work.
  4. When I have received money for my work, I will be neither a miser nor a spend thrift. I will save or spend as one of the friendly workers of America.

XI: THE LAW OF LOYALTY

The Good American is Loyal

If our America is to become even greater and better, her citizens must be loyal, devotedly faithful, in every relation of life.

  1. I will be loyal to my family. In loyalty I will gladly obey my parents or those who are in their place. I will do my best to help each member of my family to strength and usefulness.
  2. I will be loyal to my school. In loyalty I will obey and help other pupils to obey those rules which further the good of all.
  3. I will be loyal to my town, my state, my country. In loyalty I will respect and help others to respect their laws and their courts of justice.
  4. I will be loyal to humanity. In loyalty I will do my best to help the friendly relations of our country with other countries and to give to everyone in every land the best possible chance. If I try simply to be^ loyal to my family, I may be disloyal to my school. If I try simply to be loyal to my school, I may be disloyal to my town, my state and my country. If I try simply to be loyal to my town, state and country, I may be disloyal to humanity. I will try above all things else to be loyal to humanity; then I shall surely be loyal to my country, my state and my town, to my school and to my family. And those who obey the law of loyalty obey all the other ten laws of the Good American.