Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-07-20
How to Raise Children.

Rev. Robert A. Collyer, the New York
minister, who In early life was a black
smith, during recent sermon said: It
was one of the secrets of my craft, in
the olden times, when l wanted to weld
iron and steel and make good Sx and
hammer, to begin gently, for 1 found
out in time that if began to strike hard
at first might make bad job where
ought to make good one. So 1 found
it was the first condition of good work
to begin gently, then by and by could
come down with more forcible stroke,
And l used to notice this trouble in the
great iron mills, and 1 found that the
reason why the great hammers could
come down so gently as not to crack an
egg, and then come dswn like an earth
quake, was that there must be in the
machinery combination of force and
gentleHess to make it effective. Machi-
merry in the hands of the mechanic was
his child in a certain sense. If there
was screw loose he got a little pur-
chase to turn it to the right, and so at
last 1t worked well and there was no
trouble Gentleness was master of the
situation.
l have watched the development Of
little childen. There must be a right
way and wrong way to train little
children. They must not seem to US
like wrought iron, or brutes that we can
break to our will. Children are tender;
you must lead them tenderly on. Solo
mons doctrine, Spare the rod and spoil
the child, is an abherrent doctrine-a
doctrine that l will not have about my
house. l took it out of my eldest son
when he was little fellow, thinking he
had told me lie, and l felt as if some
one would take it out of me, and found
at the end of the week that tho child
had told me the exact and simple truth.
We should cultivate the virtue of the
wisdom of infinite love with little chill
dren. Children are not things, but hu-
man beings, possessing power we cannot
even guess at. We bend over these lit
tie ones and seek our image in them. If
we detect fault we probably say: "Oh,
always walk softly when we don't know
our way, and particularly when we walk
in shadows. The child is tender; we
should lead on softly. Hold your hand;
if you must whip somebody turn the
lash to your own shoulders. Don't sap
the flower in their lives by trying to
pluck out the weeds.
A great many fathers and mothers lay
heavy burdens upon the backs OF their
children. / remember when I was Q
child how glad used to be to get half q
day to 60 into the woods to cut hazel
rods for our master. We knew what
they were for, but we didn't care. Chill
dren will sometimes get into a little
mischief. New, l have known children
when they did wrong to go and tell their
father and mother. Children, no more
than grown-up people, like to be caught
in a naughty act Sometimes people
are inhuman when they detect their
children wrong-doing. said to Luere-
tia Mott once: "How do you manage
YOUR children" well" the old lady
said, 81 never touch them with my hand,
but tell them to 60 into the room, and,
after reflection, tell me what they think
about it." In all our dealings with little
children we must be gentle, patient and
forgiving; win them with our love, and
not terrify and repel them with harsh
ness or severity.