Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-03-14
THE RISING GENERATION.

From Recent Sermon by DIR. II. W. Thomas,
of CHICAGO.
I" Train up child in the way he should go;
and wicn he is old he will rot Gepart from IL.
-lror., Icai, d. ...
Shall the next generation be healthy wise
aud virtuous. and shaft learning, aud piaty
and plenty abound TO bless their lives; or shall
theS be DurdenSd VITA ignorance, and dis
ease, and sin? That Is a OF estlon to be deferL
mined by the training of the chiuren of 10.
day; for whist the laws'of God remain and
mankind must journey a ong the path marked
out, they may plant flowers or thorns ny the
way; they may IN. Ike their paths OF song or OF
sorrow, OF peace Or war, of plenty or want.
1t i no. necessary TO argue SO evident a
proposition as that man is an educab.e being.
Nor viii II be questioned that childhood is the
1a.Gral and hence the proper time to begin
the training that is to shape the future years.
by the common consent of all this is 80. The
early years are tender and inlpressible; and as
YET the minu is Tree from I4re-oCcupalon or
bias. Habits are yet Uniformed, ana the
young life may be easily cast into good or evil
mod.
This double Tossibil ty of shaping life for
good Or evil Is III itSeiT a two old argument
ler early trainingt The possible evil 10 be
o.ded IS worthy OF serious tuought; not
only The injury that may cone to The chiid's
own nature and lie i'll tue form OF wasted OPP
PortLnitlcS and weakened powers, bum the
power of the young to in Jure others. One
neglected and really had boy may cause doz-
en- associates to go astray, and maze TAR more
| saving them from ruin. Now her. perhaps Is
| IL SO true us i'll youth, that evil comma nic,i-
| LUIS SOOu LllnlGrS. Anu tncn, with
the prccochy OF our times it Is TO be reinem-
beret that the trial tnat is often decisive In
Character comes now IN carrier years tnan
when We were children. The amount of actual
crimes committed By those of less than six
teen years, AMI the number or arrests OF mere
boys ia our country, should cause the thought
tu minds no little concern. With such q be-
ginning, with SuCh habits forming 20 cary.
| what may society not fear irvm these thou
sands of young criminals twenty years hence?
But the olner side of this double argument
is the possible good thar IN ght come To all
these IIegIectei youth could they he properly
tralncj. W hat gcnileneSs and swec mess OF
! temper; what love OF truth and honesty and
right; what noble resolves and habits might
soon be The Ts-be plrt of themselves, were
their tender mind Il and ht ar wisely directed!
ana, luriher, wnas good nie he result TO soce-
ty-not IN the future alone but nowI Chill-
hood anu youth enter far more largely into
tue WORK ana happiness OF the world than we
haze thought. Iuey are only child en-.
say: ana thu is so, but how much OF tn pres
eit happiness OF the home, and the school,
anu the community depends upon their cnli-
dren! Can any pillow kiI g the mother rest Ii
the feet OF her boy arc entering upon the
downward paths! Gan wealth or business
| Danish sorro from the fa hers hcait If his
| son IS growing up III ignorance and idleness
and haS:enihg 10 proLIgacy! Certainly no:.-
Good children are the 10y of home and the
| comfort of CID age. Ana how much power is
| there I'm the beauty and example of n life ear
| ly trained in the light to inaucnce others :.
| Anu II the early " airs he well spent, Tor what
! good may society not hope wuen youth Is
crowned with the added :, rcngth oil inannuoi!
n tnss HFEi,tncnt 1Cf carry FRAMING NAV
be carried further suppose THAI the neg
| lected youth may reform at the aye of twenty
| hye; even thea, so many years have been lost
aud so much evil has ucen done aud suffered.
Bat the chances or reformation in after years
are not 50 encouraging as To lie venCrel
upon. Take one illustration of this III oar
own city. DIR. Earl for nriny ears the ply 81
clan of the Nashin9tonian Home, said IN his
annual report that of all the hundreds who
came 90 that homo to be treated for lnteinper-
ancc seYenty-fyc out OF every Que hundrel 4,
| after going out, returned to Their old habilsof
drinking. AND the Home is not To blame; for
| all that skill, aid kindness. and cr su;sion
can do is done for those VITO enter its oyeu
doors. HABIT, at mrs. AZ easily worn or thrown
! OIL as garland of fOwe:s, becomes nj last as
strong rs letters or steel
And thus it appears that "a man l. an cdu-
cable being, and youth tue 4 opportnne
period tor beginning s3ch education; and rs
| the present generation of men and women
must soon pass away and leave all tho great
interests OF life TO those now. young the duty
| and responsibility oruaining them should be
| our most serious coiscern. 90
Sometimes a new or clearer meaning rises
up Outof Hebrew or Greek word or text
| opening of his path ." The word translate
| train means 10 stuff into ones mouth or
| Jaws; or TO give the pa,ate taste; and by
an easy metaphor is transferred to the mind,
aud hence means TO lmDue 70 initiate, to
| train. And thus we have the thought OF n
! child standing before the open paths of life;
| but with tastes ali uniform; and the idea of
training is to bring to the sense of tasting aud
| which the taste should bc cultivated. The
simplest illustration may be drawn from
taste found for food. IL is easy TO yiiiatc the
! appetite and ruin the hea III OF the child by
! filling its mouth with candies and pastries
and strong tea and coffee, and sometimes
brandy These delight the paia q, and "a rel
| i<h FOR plain, healthy food is not found. But
| we know a child will grow up with natural
and healthy tastes il IL be fed on proper food.
And the same thing Is true of the mind. 1t
| lies before the mother or The teacher to lie
educated; and so OF the moral nature. Place
| this mind aad heart in the midst OF tender
ness, and beauty. and love. and purity, and
| literature and art, and desire for these
things naturally arises. Place before the
child tue thoughts of industry, and economy.
| and tie dignity OF lator. and the duty OF
obeniencc, and the joy OF doing rigat, and is
feet will be inclined to run along these paths.
1 BRING TO the child the thoughts OF Heaven
! ~ Father, and His love. and of Heaven, and
the sense of the Divine will appear, and con-
science will awaken. But bring TO the un-
formed tastes of The child only the low and
coarse in language, and manners. and temp.
ers. and a. associations, aud Il 1t strange that
the youth shou-a come to love Profanity, and
/ quarIeling. and lighting. and ia school. ard
dishoncsty--that the budding passions should
be led on TO the lie Of the impure?
Aud now. enlarge the thought and you have
not one child, but more than ten millions OF
| children In this land standing at the opening
OF the paths to be trained. Their tastes are to
be formed; their rcceptiYi'ies 70 be fiiied;
their capacities to he unfoided; and their
lives for good or for evil to themselves and
the " ord, soon TO be actuaiLed. That is the
scene as 1t rises up before the though ful
mind.
! Upon whom does the responsibility of train
4 ing these millions devolrei
Naturally, we look first to the home. The
roNisicntial order OF society Is the farniiy.
Nowhere else and by no other means could
there be provided such tenderness. such
love. such undying interest for any rising gen.
Grafton As through the Divinely- appointed in
stiiution OF riairirnony. and hence of regu
lated parentage. In this way the great masses
l. q divided into little groups or companies,
and these placed under the care OF the nafu-
raj affection oil fathers and mothers Here
are their own lives reproduced and standing
sell-love- And bus children are bonn OF love
and Torn into love. and there is over them
love less only than the love Of God. And here
Is the world of the Guild: here the first faces
! s.e seen snd the first voices heard. Here the
mind and the heart first awaken to conscious
lie: here are experienced the frst lessons OF
discipline and authority. and here are taught
/ the first lessons OF right and duty.
Could our earth have ideal homes we should
J soon have an ideal society And, OIL could
parents realize the importance oil these cary
years. and the sacrenDess OF their trust. and
The greatness of their work. they would feel
that no other success IN iiic--weaith. position,
powcr for moment compares with the hon
! or. .hc Joy Of children well tIained and turned
out into the great world strong aud capable
/ In the worn and hattie OF II. 49, 81 =
1 We naturally look next TO the school as
place Of training for youth. in ogr country we
Ecarly J0000bJD cisiidres IN this l,nd are daily
| gathered inio these places OF INSTRUCTION:
t5bcrc ~ no Ohio pDfyiic ID. cfcsg that should
: be 10 near oug hrarts. -. rhcSn ectloo1s- Hc
Lave nearly $00. O0,6np In schooi-hopsee and
ffursitiiy~. esa -~c -f--y many .thoossnds- -ot
teseisrA AHt aor ncness ,ng Lsser-is doing 20