The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1883-07-07
The Fountains Of Character.

Carrie said a lady Of eighty-five
summers to her daughter of tyeight,
- slsee there's stitch dropped in that
$50 bitof lace at your throat; you Lad best
mend it at once and, seeing perhaps
: rHi a note of interrogation in the eye of the
u + listening guest, she added: when
was little girl my mother brought out
~, an old worn book from her private bu-
reau drawer and called me to look at
3s5. it. 1t was tiny volume of letters from
nefi q clergyman to his daughter, which had
rbsutibeen given to my mother in her girlhood,
ega. and in one of the letters was this in
functions Whenever you find break
or a worn place in your clothing, mend
IL inan,ediateiyr | can see the yellow
page now, stained and finger marked,
and Just how those words in italics
looked. Afterward, when / had so
many children, i never saw a rent or
hole in their Clothing, but those itali-
cised words would come up, mend u
RI tnamett6atety!'n aft Isae3 MOI
lH ai That little old yellow book, SO wisely
used, helped the lady of eighty-fve sum-
mers to keep her six boys whole upon a
Methodist itinerant's very narrow in
come. Though often and almost al
ways patched, they were never ragged,
and the lessons of thrift and economy
inculeated by their mother enabled them
when grown to lift themselves and her
above the need of patching and darning,
though not above doing it.
don't use a whole sheet Of paper
for that memorandum slip will do,
said a wealthy banker to his office boy;
and after the boy had gone on his
a4t errand, the banker remarked: The
paper is nothing, the principle is every
thing. When | was o boy, we always
had workbench and tools and more
LA M
cut into a big board, my father would
say when small piece will answer
g your purpose. Hunt round and find a
small piece for small work, and save
slal the large pieces for large work
ID Is his principle carried out, enabled this
banker. when reverses overlook him,
to make five dollars do the work that
twenty-five dollars IS usually expected
Q. to do, and ..get ON his feet again. 20
Ao"The' child that always tells the
1 truth, obeys its parents and keeps holy
aH the Sabbath day, is sure of everything
M good in this world and well-nigh sure
81 Of everything good in the world to
come This was a. constant saving of
"a principal to his pupils. The love of
ta''i truth, the habit Of obedience to lawful
authority, and reverence for God, these
built into child's character insure it
for this life and for the life to COME.
So we parents and teachers sit at the
fountains of character and direct its
70 course for evil or for good. lWhatneed
have we to draw from the fountains of
eternal Wisdom in order thatou teach-
ing may be Just and true what need to
listen that we may with the inner sense
catch strains of that blessed harmony
of the higher spheres, and so keep our
selves ..in tune with Heaventn A
parent cannot always be enjoining on a
child what he does not practise HIM
self; the injunction is a formula from
his own life, and it is his life that in
lluences the child, though later he may
recall chiefly the formula, but he will
recall it as embodying more or less'th
life of the parent. I58 s8N
Grandparents are generally much
more lenient to the faults of children
than parents are, and the reason is
doubtless this They have seen their
own children outgrow so many faults
and weaknesses and tendencies to vice
that they Judging the future by the
past, think their grandchildren will do
the same. ''Don't say anything to
grandma about Jimmie faults" said
a merry girl, shell only say Have
patience, and he'll outgrow them"
The old lady smiled and replied
when l remember how l worried
Gle Harry's, when they were little fell
lows, and see what strong good men
they have becomes i have faith to be-
lieve that little Jimmie will make as
good man as they are. He's weak,
and a little thing upsets him like a
voting hickory sapling, he bends under
"a slight weight, but give him time and
he'll come up all right .'Yes,' said
3sai the mother, ..give him time, and with
it lime upon line precept upon precept,
here little and there'-a great deal,
and hope there will be developed
within him forces that will lift him
~ away from the sins that now beset
him." EW19s. sta@@ ,-
i Into well-prepared soil we put the
seed and leave it in darkness to the
vital force within and the forces sur
rounding it. We do not keep plow-
ing it up to see if it is sprouting, but
having planted and watered it, we
must trust that God will give the in
crease. Even when tares appear, re-
membering the Savior's Injunction, we
let both grow together till the harvest,
lest in uprooting the. tares we uproot
the wheat also. .,4.
There are certain faults inherent in
certain characters, which require allow
ance and liberation, or TIE whole char
acter is spoiled. We cannot make will
lows of oaks or apple-trees of vines 1t
is the nature of oaks to become gnarled
and of vines to cling. We accept Car
lyle for what he was, and rejoice in him
all we can; we accept Emerson for what
he was and rejoice in him.
Vices in our children we must prune
away, as we kill canker worms, and
while blowing the corn kill the weeds
Harvest comes all the way along from
May to October, from youth to age, but
only when the last crops have been
gathered do we celebrate Thanksgiving
Day. The blossom storm scatters
the spring glory of the fruit trees, and
the tiny 'sets" must have weeks and
months to swell and color and ripcn.
The hot suns of July and August must
pour feryid rays upon them, and often
not until frost touches them are they
ripe. So, while we do all that loving
hands can do for these children dearer
than life tn rrs and II that Iov;p<, baa ne