The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1857-07-29
MISCEI4I.A-N
From Ike Marvefs Dream Life,
BOY RELIGION.


moral, or intellectual growth, if left un-
noticed those dreams of futurityg and OF
goodness, which come sometimes to his
quieter moments, and oftener, tozhishoalrs
Of yexation and trouble? 1t would be as
wise to describe the season Of Spring,
with no note Of the silent influences Of
that burning Daygod, which is melting
day by day the shattered ice-drifts Of
Winter which is filling every bud with
sucealences and painting one AoAn with
crimson, ana another with white.
] know there is feeling-by much
too. general as it seems to me,-that the
subject may not be approached, except
through the dicta of certain eeclesiastic
bodies and that the language which
touches it, must not be that every day
language which mirrors the vitality of
our thought-but should have some
twist of that theologic mannerisn, which
is as cold to the boy, as to the busy man
of the world. sss5 easas see s s
l know very we'll that a great many
good souls will call levity, what call
honesty; and will abjure that familiar
handling of the boys lien upon Eternity,
which my story will show. But shall
feel sure that in keeping true to Nature
with word and with thought, / shall in no
way offend against those Highest truths,
to which all truthfulness is kindred.
You have Christian teachers, who speak
always reverently of the Bible: you grow
, up in the hearing of daily prayers: nay,
you are perhaps taught to say them.
Sometime. they have a meaning, and
sometimes they have none They have a
meaning, when your heart is troubled, -
when grief or wrong weighs upon you
then, the keeping of the Father, which
you implore, seems to come from the
, bottom of your soul; and your eve suffu-
! ses with such tears, of feeling, as you
count holy, and as you love to cherish in
your memory.
But, they have no meaning, when
some trifiing yexation Anglers You, and a
distaste for all about you, breeds dis
taste for all above YOU. In the long
hours of toilsome DAYS little thought
comes over you Of the morning prayer !:
and only when evening deepens its shad-
ows, and your boyish vexations fatigue
YOU to thouchtfulness, do you dream of
that coming, and endless night, to which,
they tell you,-prayers soften the way.
Sometimes upon Summer Sunday,
when you are wakeful upon your scat in
chruch, with some strong worded preach
. CT, who saws things that half fright you,
| it occurs to you to consider how much
| goodness you are made of; and whether
there be enough of it after all, to carry
YOU safely away from the clutch of Evil !
And straightway YOU reckon up those
friendships where your heart lies: you
know You are q true and honest friend to
| Frank; and YOU love your mother, and
| your father rs for Nelly, Heaven knows,
! you could not contriye way to love her
better than YOU do.
You dare not take much credit to your
| self for the love of little Madge partly
because YOU have sometimes caught yonr-
| self trying-not to love her: and partly
because the hlack-eycd Jenny comes in
| the way. Yet you can find no command
| in the Catechism, to love one girl to the
exclusion Of all other girls. 1t is some
what doubtful if you ever do find it. But,
as for loving some half dozen you could
name, whose images drift through your
thought, in dirty, salmom-eolored frocks,
and slovenly shoes, it is quite impossible;
and suddenly this thought, coupled with
| lingering remembrance of the pea-green
| pantaloons, utterly breaks down your
hopes. ~
Yet, Won muse again, there are plen-
! ty of good people as the times go, who
have their dislikes, and who speak them
| too. Even the sharp-talking clergyman,
you have heard say some very sour things
about his landlord, who raised his rent
the last year. And you know that he
did not talk as mildly as he does in the
Church, when he found Frank and your
self quietly filching few of his peaches,
through the orchard fence.
But your clergyman will say perhaps,
with what seems to you, quite unnecessary
GOODNESS, that goodness is not to be reck-
oned in your chances of safety that
there is Higher Goodness, whose merit
is AllSufficient. This puzzles yon sadly !;
nor will you escape the puzzle, until in
the presence of the Home altar, which
seems to guard you, as the Lares guarded
Roman children, you teel--yoa cannot
tell how,-that those sources must he in
that Heaven, toward which your boyish
spirit yearns, as you kneel at your moth
er's side. ~ -
Concience too, sail the while approx
ing you for deeds well done; and, wick
ed as you fear the preacher might judge
is-you cannot but found on those deeds,
hope that your prayer at night flows
more easily more freely, and more holly
toward ''Our Father In Heaven" Nor
indeed, later in life--whatever may be
the ill-advised expressions of human teach
ers-will YOU ever find that Duty per-
formed, and generous sadearor will stand
one whit In the way either of Faith, or
of Love. Striving to be good, is avery
direct road toward Goodness; and If
life be so tempered by high motive as to
make actions always good, Faith is un-
consciously won.