The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-04-10
..rIL FAKE WHAT FATHER TAKES

"What will you take to drink ?" ask
ed waiter Of young lad who, for
the first time, accompanied his father
to public dinner. Uncertain what
to say, and feeling sure that he could
not do wrong if he followed his fathers
example, he replied, "I'll take what
father takes"
The answer reached his fathers ear,
and instantly the full responsibility of
his position flashed upon him. If he
said, "rll take ale," as he had always
I said before, his son would take it also,
and then ? And the father shuddered,
as the history of several young men
who, once promising as his own bright
lad, had been ruined by drink, started
up in solemn warning before him.
Should his hopes also be blasted and
that open faced, noble lad become q
| burden and curse, as they had become?
But for strong drink, they would have
been active, earnest, and prosperous
men; and if it could work such ruin up
on them, was his own lad safe ? Quick
er than lightning these thoughts pass
ed through his mind, and in a moment
the decision was made. eff the boy
falls, he shall not have me to blame ;"
and then in tones tremulous with e.
motion, to otheastonishmento ofthOse who
knew him, he said, "Waiter, I'll take
water;" and from that day to this,
strong drink has been banished from
that mans table and from that mans
home.
That young lad, in this brief utter
ance, was really the representative of
the generation to which he belongs
God has so decreed it, that the father
is the highest authority in the world
to his child Who does not know that
"My father said so," is the end of all
controversy with the little ones around
us? Who does not see the parents
tones, and gait, and manners repro
duced continually in the children,
whose nature is now "sOft as wax to
receive an impression, and rigid as
marble to retain it )" and who watch
with quick and initiating eye those
who, to them, are Gods vicegerents
Would that we could impress upon
the fathers and mothers of this coun-
try the solemn fact, that the future
character of the children is being form
ed by them. That if they are trained
up in the way they should go, when
they are old they will not depart from
it. But if they become vain, sensual,
and degraded, the seeds will have been
deposited and the bias given in the
early morning of their lives. If we
teach them that strong drink is good
creature of God, they will believe us
and when depending upon our judg-
ment and truth, they shall have taken
it, and it shall have shown itself to be
the DEVILS master piece, and have bit
ten, and crushed, and dragged them
down to ruin, we may weep and pray
as we pleaSe-the blame will be our
own, and we must not accuse God, or
cast reflection upon the gospel. We
shall have sOwn to the flesh, and of
the flesh have reaped corruption. God
will have visited the sins of our faith
ers upon the children. They only "took
what their fathers took" If, on the
other hand, we Danish the fend when
their young and trusting hearts are
most open to our teaching, we
tell them that wine is a mOcker, that
strong drink is raging, and warn them
that no serpent is so dangerous, no
adder so much to be dreaded, we shall
be CO. workers with an all-merciful and
wise God, who to preserve them from
taking it, has sent them into the world
with loathing of its very taste. Our
children will believe US. They will
grow up with their natural instinct for
titled by our instruction and example.
They will be preserved from the poi
sonus influence of the destroyer
There will be bridgeless gulf between
them and the companions who are
most likely to lead them into the ways
of sin. They will be preserved from
habits of extravaganza and waste
They will haveno companions but those
who walk in the ways of God no en-
: ployment for their spare time but that
which is elevating and purifying, and
when we pass to our reward, they will
rise up and call us blessed, for they
''toOk what their fathers took"