Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-02-01
HOME EDUCATION.


within the writer's knowledge, and obtained by
taking note of the way the boys turned out"
in the families of an hundred clergyman, we
were glad to have such proof that the popular
notion in regard to this matter, like great
many other popular notions, was a popular fall
lacy, Still, as the world goes, taking the gen
erdt average of young men, we apprehend that
n wider observation and comparison would
show that ministers sons, if they were no
worse, on the score of moral characteristics,
were, in no degree, better, taken as class, than
the sons of the laity and we think that that
person who expects that they should be, by
reason of the fact of their close connection with
the clergy, expects that which is unreasonable.
Admitting the truth of the poetical axiom
''Just as the twig is bent, the trees inclined"
and who can dispute that ave must ever bear
in mind that there are many characteristics of
humanity which are hereditary, and the strong
er those characteristics are developed in a
child's earliest years, so much greater or less
will be the influence of the outward circum-
stances which act upon the child's nature
A plant springs up by the side of a garden
wall. 1t has room enough to grow the sun
light falls upon it, the showers of heaven water
it, the roots find room for expansion and
growth, in the soft mould, derived from the de-
cayed vegetation which the winds have drifted
around the spot where it springs, and it grows
up tall, stately, beautiful tree. Its shade is
grateful to the passing traveller, its BIOS
SONS fill the air with fragrance, at the same
time that they delight the eye, and its rich,
ripe fruit gladdens the farmers board, when
dwelling, and the tree that bore it is stripped
and bare. Here all the conditions were favor
able, and, by an inevitable law of nature, the
result is as we see.
Another similar plant springs up by the side
OF another wall. But there are weeds about
it which keep off the rays of the bright sun
shine-which have already sucked out the nu-
triment of the soil. 1t cannot gather strength
enough from the exhausted forces of nature,
which encompass it, to strike its roots deep in
to the ground, and SO it survives, stunted,
mis-shapen shrub, eft only to be cut down and
cast into the fire."
Given, the soil, the sunshine, and the show
er, in due proportion. the husbandman will rear
for you trees, either straight or crooked.
They shall shoot upward to the skies in fairest
forms of majestic beauty and loveliness: or,
by his neglect, they shall be moss covered,
worm-eaten, eanlzered in the root and in the
branch-unsightly objects, to rebuke, by con-
trast that mental verdancy which made them
so.
As in the garden, SO with the household,
save only in this that the plants that spring
up in the latter are germs of immortality, hay
ing their rootlets in the very heart of the uni
verse. No lily Of the valley was ever half so
fair, as the spotless innocence of little child.
No cedar of Lebanon was ever half so stately
as the perfect character which may grow up
In the sunlight of happy home, where just
ice, meekness, and love, blending together like
the dew, and the rain, and the light, in the
physical world, conspire to the growth and de-
velopment of the human soul in all that makes
the manliness of man, and the grace, beauty,
and loneliness of woman. 1t has seemed to
u.s. oftentimes, very strange, that men and wo-
men, with families of little ones growing up
around them, do not recognize the analogies of
nature in these two departments of culture
Who has not seen, in the course of his life,
some pains taking farmer or nurseryman, with
pruning-knife and scraper in his hand trim
ming up his young trees in due season, while,
for want of similar care and treatment, the i'm
mortal scions of his own stock were going to
the Devil! Who has not seen some prudent.
Woodworking mother, placing flaming sword
over what should be the Paradise of home, by
an irascibe temper; and driving the lambkins
OF the flock abroad, in their early years, to
seek those pleasures and amusements, (which
the young heart always craves) wherever they
can md them, and which it is as likely to seek
In questionable places as anywhere, when the
word OF encouragement and the smile of pa
rental appreciation are withdrawn.
The difficulty seems to lie in an erroneous
estimate of life's duties AS in reference to
the duties of employers and employees it has
been well said by one of England's profoundest
philosophers, that cash payment alone never
did, and never would, discharge the rich man
from his obligations to his poorer neighbors."
So never will the furnishing of bread, butter,
beef, raiment, and shelter, discharge parents
from those much more sacred obligations
which rest upon them.
II it was ever true that ministers sons were
less likely to turn out well than the BOYS whose
fathers were not clergymen, we think it must
have originated in the fact, that too many
preachers of the gospel of glad tidings have
felt themselves called upon to preach gospel
of sad tidings.-That the hard study, severe
thought, and anxious duties of the profession.
have sometimes engendered an ascetcism,
which has given vinegar flavor to what
should have been the sweetest moments of
their lives, and dimmed the sunshine of their
homes to such degree that the children turn
ed to the lights out of doors, whether sunlight,
moonlight or "ignis Jdtui," just as naturally ,as
the terminating plant in the damp, dark, UNI
healthy cellar, reaches out of the window, even
slough the winters frost may blast il in an
instant
With our present excellent system of schools,
Doth Sunday and secular, it seems to u.s. that
one OF the greatest wants Of this age, when the
abundance Of bad boys and the scarcity of
good girls Is SO universally depored, is, a wider
appreciation OF the benefits and blessings of
home culture. Let parents earnestly strive IN
make home tho happest spot upon earth 10
their children, by sharing in their sports
amueQments and iovs whom tI,a t,;l. -