The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-11-11
WOMANS TEMPERANCE COL
UMN. ti4
Temperance Work for the
Children.
BY FRANCIS f. WILLARD


first decade, when the soul is fresh from
God, when the unwrapped strings Of the
hearts Eolian respond to the sweet south
wind, with its song of peace and love;
when it Is natural as life to
Look up, and not down;
Look out, and not in;
Look forward and not back
And lend hand.
Our work should begin among the
children. then: first, it has been shown
because it can--beoause this is its most
natural and hopeful field; secondly. be.
cause it ought.
40 little feet that such long years
Must wander on through griefs and fears,
Must ache and bleed beneath your load.
I, nearer to the Waysido Inn,
Where toll shall cease and rest begin,
Am weary, thinking Of your road"
This beautiful and tender thought trans.
lated into our vernaoular az workers,
means al am not 60 weary, dear little
people. thinking of your road, as 1 am
intent to help smooth its rough places, to
gather cut the stones and push aside tho
brambles, that your life path may be less
rugged and sorrowful than my own has
been" And as the genius OF Ohrist's
gospel, ard Of our civilization born Of
that gospel, is to help those not go strong
as we, by teaching them to help them.
selves, we must 60 among the children
With our temperance work. Great temp.
tations lie in wait for ibem-tbey ought
to know it ; mighty weapons will be hurl.
ed against them when they emerge from
the sheltering fortress Of homo--they
ought not to 60 forth unarmed; there is
precipice just ahead, but there is also
path leading safely around tive ought
to warn them Of the one aud point them
to the other.
Thirdly, because We need the children's
help as much as they need ours.
The idea has too generally obtained
that the children are not like empty els.
terms. and we are to be forever pump
ing in" We must remember that they
are the richest depoaitories OF moral ideas
the world contains. Ono who spoke as
uever man spake has left US these words
Suffer little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not, Tor of such is The
kingdom of heaven.
We have inestimable treasure in the
unworked mine of child's brain and
heart and conscience, not for the future
only, but for our present need. If in the
medieval ages, the children Of half.sav.
age Europe gathered of their own free
will to the number Of forty thousand to
Defy our Saviour's sepulchre, what may
We not expect from the children of Amer.
lea to-day when once they ley to heart
the wide meaning of his living words:
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the
least Of these my brethren, ye have done
it unto me?"
| In Hillsboro', Ohio, the cradle of the
Woman Crusade, on December %, 3,1S74,
(the first anniversary Of that whirlwind OF
the Lord)three hundred children marched
through the streets with a scarf and ban.
ner, passing with downcas. head aud
measured steps the "liquor traps" as some
one aptly styles them then, calling halt
upon the public square, they sent forth a
volley of temperance song, closing with
,, my country, it's for thee The liquor
dealers Of the town were greatly exeroi=
ed: they had never seen it iu this fashion.
"Has it then come to this, that the worry
four. yoar.olds pass our doors with their
heads bowed because of the shame our
business brings upon the village ?" was
the thought Of many liquor dealer that
day, as proved by the statement that
"they hated this even worse than the
crusade"
But it is not special demonstrations
that are to be recommended, but rather
, quiet, steady work by tho children in the
temperance cause. Let them acquire the
habit Of striking out from self, that pitt
full pivot On which 20 many human wind
mills turn, and take it as matter Of
course that they are to work fol the good
Of those less fortunate. When. after such
c training, they reach the heyday OF Their
! youth the vital question will not be with
them, "Wherewithal shall we be amused :?
how can we most oDjoyably kill time 2
where most advantageously SOW our wild
J oats 2"-to be answered by tobacco chew
. ing, cigar.smoking billiard playing, aai
social drinking by the boys; to BE- aa
swered by noyel-reading, "hsight oi lash
$ ion" toilets, and "elegant flirtatiops" by
. the girls. No; but in the pitifa needs o.
= "The grea. humanity that beats
!. Its life along the stormy streets"
. they will find full play for the exuberal t
q vitality which now so often (for want,
!, alas of wise and gentle guidance, more
than from any innate tendency leads
8 then to an abuse of power at which our
s silent neighbors, the horses and the dogs
o must wonder, and which is unspeaksbly
b contemplate in men.