Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-01-21


should 60, and when he is old he will
not depart from it."
do not doubt that this sacred com.
mand was given from tho fact that
fathers and mothers are keenly alive
10 the faults of their neighbors' chill.
dren, while they are nearly or quite
blind to any defect that may exist in
their own precious boys and girls.
The home life Of the child is his
prophet Of the future. The boy is,
indeed, father to the man, and the
home must stand responsible for the
kind of man the child becomes. The
child should be taught early to be in
dustrious. There is more truth than
poetry in the saying that can idle
brain is the devils Workshop"
A boy in any of our large towns
without legitimate employment to en-
gage his attention, will soon become .
loiterer on the corners Of tho streets,
and worse than an idler in the saloon
and other places of retreat, and this,
not unfrequently, without the least
suspicion on the part of his too great
ly trusting parents.
1t is sad fact that many of our
children are reared in homes that fur.
nish no employment for hands and
brain that should be busy, and sadder
yet, 1t is to see many such so early
initiated into the vices that so often
oyertake more mature years. Cigars
and pipes held in the mouths of those
still infant in their speech, are the first
manifestations of course of life,
which, if pursued, must end in those
necessarily larger evils that are 80 im-
peritivcly demanded to satisfy the
stronger passions of the man. The
home should be made so attractive
that the child wonld have little incl.
nation to seek pleasure and amuse-
ment elsewhere. Fathers and moth.
ere have lesson to learn from the
lower order Of animals in personally
caring for their young. The child is
now too frequently turned over to
Bridget, while the mother 10 making
ready to receive calls or to return
such.
Instead of rearing the children az
we ought, by giving them onr first
care and attention, we turn them out
and let them run. The nature of the
child is but imperfectly understood
and it's wants but partially supplied.
We expect him TO love that which is
presented to him in q most disagree
able aud unAttrActive manner, and
hate that which, to his unbiased mind,
seems he might rightly love. This is
all wrong. There are but few chill.
dren who, for instance, more sincerely
love the bible because they are COM
PEELED to read it during the entire Sab
bath, or who more greatly enjoy the
thought of heaven from the fact
their good parents have taught them
that it Is either place of absolute and
continual rest, or at most one of never
ending song. There was apparently
at least some reason in the startling
question asked by the little girl of her
mother after listening to usual de-
scriptions of heaven. She saws, Won
remember, with much natural simple.
ity, "Mother, il l am good oil the
week when In heaven, don't you sup.
pose God will let me take my doll and
60 down to hell to play, some Satur.
day afternoon 2" The truth 10, we 90
rigidly and unnaturslly teach the vir-
tues, that their opposites in vice come
to be more attractive to the children.
An overstated truth becomes lie, and
an excess of virtue is but another
name for vice. Our first duty, as par.
ents, is to so carefully study the ma.
turc of the child, that we may be able
to meet and provide for it naturally.
Truth must be given the children in
childish and attractive form. Heaven
itself can only be reached through and
by the simple and unpretending spirit
OF the child. Our homes should be
the center of interest and attraction to
the children-they should furnish them
amusements 90 they will not be tempt
ed to seek them elsewhere. We
should keep the children's library well
filled with reading matter suited to
their taste and capacity. I am glad to
know that the subject of q Free Libra
~ and Reading Room for this city is
being agitated. Will 1t pay to make
our Library free 10 all is an ill-founded
and illegitimate question. Can we
afford to have it other than free
sho ws DC Inc in9n asy; .lssrary assocla
tons aud benevolent institutions shall
show Themselves willing to expend
literally of their means to advance the
interests of the young, there will then
be less occasion to make war upon
those temptingly gilded places of re-
treat that lead down to the chambers
of death.
1t is your business. parents, TO be-
come more Familiarity and intelliSently
with your children, and
then with an eye single to ,thefr welfare
care for them. You cannot place this
responsibility upon the day teacher or
the Sabbath School teacher-the duty
is yours and you must meet it.
A PARENT.
FATAL ACCIDeNT.-Last Thursday,
Fred Chick. AGED abOut 25. sOn Of John