St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-07-12
School Temptations.
BY MRS. WIN. A. BUsHEE.

BY MRS. VIM. A. BUSHEE.
The following article was furnished
by Mrs. Bushee for the Congregational
list, and published in that paper about
a year ago. We have been requested
to republish it, and commend it to the
careful perusal of all parents, as it is
believed that many are unaware of the
temptations and vices to which their
own children have already been ex-
posed:
"DO mothers realize how much re-
sponsibility they assume in sending
their children to school2 A new world
is open to them, and temptations come
as they will nowhere else. A school is
no respecter of persons. Not only do
the rich and poor, but the pure and the
vicious, the child of many prayers and
he who knows not what prayer is, play
together, and who shall say which has
the most influence 1t is not a week
since boy not more than six or seven
years, living in a Massachusetts city,
within a stones throw of one of its
finest churches and most flOurishing
| SCHOOlS, WAS HcttIu 10 UOdSb lldG lie lldu
cOrrupted-he used a viler wOrd-every
little girl in the neighborhOod and this
is only one among many.
"Oh mothers, are our sons and
daughters liable to become familiar with
rude and slang phrases, profane express
siOns, and obscene words and acts, and
are we helpless Is there no power
that we can lay hold of by which those
dearer to us than our own flesh can be
kept unspOtted from the world? /
know the religious press speak strongly
upon this subject, and good men are
trying to suppress that which our chill
dren ought never to see or hear; but
there is Il work for parents to do which
no one else can accomplish. How many
mothers make it part of their daily
duties to talk with and advise their
children with reference to what they
have seen and heard, and what their
temptations have been, and so strength
Ell them to resist them ? And how
many mothers pray with their children
before sending them to their school du-
ties, and to temptationP 1t seems to
me here is the power that we are to lay
hold on for our help. Pray not only
for them, but with them. Let the kiss
you give them before they start for
school be given on your knees, after
asking Gods care and blessing upon
them. Ashamed to do it7 You are
not ashamed to let your children see
your anxiety for their bodily welfare,
that they should be properly fed and
clothed, and that their department
should be correct; and should you be
ashamed, oh Christian mother, to let
them know your greater anxiety for
their souls welcOmeq No time? There
is no mother, however much she NAV
have to do, who is so busy that she can
not take ten minutes to gather her chill
dren about her, to ask Gods protection
while they are separated. You take
time for other things. Is there any,
thing of more Importance than this
Not accustomed to it? Feel too timid ?
AS sad as this thought is, | fear it NAV
be too true, but if you have never com
menced, do it to-day. No matter how
old or how young your children are,
they will respect you for it, and in no
way can you gain greater influence
over them. What might we not expect
and hope for in the coming generation,
if all children of Christian parents went
forth to their daily school duties with a
mothers prayer in their hearts, and her
loving kiss upon their lips.
"The following incident is true i'm
every particular: One severely cold day
last winter, two little boys, one seven
and the other two or three years older.
were sitting together at school bv the
stove, when the older one asked, sSay.
Willie, did you ever swearq' After re-
covering little ffom the shock the
question gave him, the younger one re-
piled, unhesitatingly, Mo- what {!
never; not single VOID p No. 'Well,'
said the elder, with sneering voice,
begin now-say God --! saw it
quick A moments pause will he
yieid to TINS the greatest temptation of
his lifeY Come, say it quick Bnt
Willie is thinking. He seems to feel
his mothers arm about him, and he
hears these words again, 'Oh, God, keep
TINS dear little boy, who is SO precious
to us; help him to bear temptation, and
| give him strength to resist evil > and
with this thought in his heart he looks
up. with greater courage, and says, NO,
l shall not say it, The older boy is
astonished; bat nothing daunted he
tnes again. We'll, say just this one
word say Cod No, SIR and he rose
Immediately to leave his tempter, but
not in time to lose the parting words of
the older one, You id old fool
Willie and his mother had a long talk
that night, and as she listened with an
agonized heart to the recital of this ter
rible temptation and the tears came to
her eyes, he put his arms about her
neck, and said, But, mamma, I didn't
say it, and j never WILL
i "God bless our children. And may
we, as mothers, do what we can to
keep them from the evil that is in the
world"