The Portland daily press., 1864-02-04
COMMUNICATIONS.
Written for the Press.
Iudussrv


1t is really necessary to ones enjoyment Of
life to be industrious. Let one sit down and
fold his hands continually and he will soon
weary, but having acquired the habit of indo-
lence, he cannot rise up and shake off the stu
por which has fallen around him, but remain
ing in his droning idleness, growls and frets
at the beautiful world and its moving objects
about him, as if they and not he were blama-
BILE for his discomfort.
Give child the privilege of playing all day,
nay, require 1t of him that he take the whole
day for pleasure alone; even try yourself to
amuse him; he will soon be crying for weari-
ness at his mothers side, discontented, un-
happy and fretful.
Make business of something. Idleness
fosters discomfort and discomfort, mischief,
and sin and ruin sometimes. Fifteen years
ago / knew fond mother who petted her
darling boy in every possible way, for she al
most idolized him. She never tired of prais-
ing his bright but efleminate beauty, and ar
ranged with tenderest care the soft, curling,
golden hair which fell so gracefully to his
ohOutaCtos cucs ticauiub aulo tlC tSCuo, Sui
rounded by every luxury which fond but iu-
iudicious mother could procure, waited on by
hands whose willing service carried anything
but the hoped-for blessing, that boy grew
strong in habits which last through manhood.
But his was no true manhood. His satin
smooth hands had never known labor, his brow,
white and fair, had never worn the honest dew
Of toll. Adverses came. He knew no way TO
procure his daily bread. He became gam
= bleF.- He had learned to play in his mothers
parlor, with her approval, or at least he had
taken his first lesson there. Now her ears
are filled and the very air she breathes is
marred by the coarse profanity which does not
disturb him nor seem anything unusual. He
is bringing her aged feet nearer the grave,
and even now they falter and tremble at its
verge, while the over-wearicd heart longs to
be ut rest.
Poor gray-headed motherl How securely
she once rested in her fond anticipations of
the time when he, grown up to honest and
honorable manhood, should comfort and sup
port her age. Yet no seed from the Masters
Vineyard had she sown in the new, fresh soil
of the boys mind, so thorns and tares grew
there and choked the few little plants which
sprang up spontaneously, and which, nurtured,
might have brought forth fruit of good. No
wonder that mother turns back from the grave
her troubled thought, knowing that ON her
own head rests the blame of the wasted life of
her son. But 1t is now too late for her words
or counsels TO effect what they might once
have done. Years have hardened into marble
frmness the mind she might once have mould
ed at her WILL How many mothers Of to-day,
like her, care for the temporal at the expense
of the eternal welfare OF their children! How
few look into the future and work for the fr-
turel o, Woman! on you, in the beginning,
rests the blame. Mothers. write for your
selves blessings instead of reproaches on the
now pure tablet of your sons minds! Turn
to new page; write new history in Amer
ican life, not of fastness but of purity and
truth; teach your children lessons of virtue
integrity and honor; educate them in habits
of industry. The young are prone to investi-
gate new phases Of life whether good or bad
Fill the heart with good, and leave no room
for evil to find place. Let the working hands
and brain keep the enemy at bay.
Yet how difficult is the task no one who ha.
had no experience can know. If girls are
saucy, rude and bold, what must boys become
who more generally go and come as they
please and choose their own companions! One
who has charge of youth cannot be too care.
full, but yet the constant care essential to the
well-being of their children may drive parents
unconsciously to the other and nearly as dan
gerous extreme. Parents should not utterly
forget their own youth, nor think children il
this generation any less children than they
were in the last. There is such thing posi-
BILE as parents being too strict with children
shutting up the confiding heart of the child
from their scrutiny, and causing him to flee
from an unpleasant home to the very danger.
they shun. There is great, stern and ter
rible responsibility RESTING upon parents
When they see this and strive earnestly to dc
their whole duty, God help them their task
is difficult one even then. WyNpHAM.