Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-12-05
Home Influence,

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Home Influence.
1t has been said by one Of our most
successful authors Of juvenileliterature
that to be able to lead n YOUTH to a
pure and noble life is worth the efforts
of a life time. The responsibilities we
owe to humanity are many and appar-
ent. There steps from some threshold
every hour a son or daughter to try the
realities Of life. The lines of life radi-
ate from childhood. All through the
tempest and sunshine of experience
they come, light, with tender glow, or
somber as gray twilight. Their touch
is magical and the influences u charm
or pang. Memory, often truant and
capricious through the busiest piano.
rama of life, concentrates these lines,
when the head wears the silver crown
and the windows Of the soul are dim.
then of all the pictures in "Memory's
Hall" those Of childhood are the truest
and the best.
How far u influence will go to
brighten dark places and make'"crook-
ed paths straight for our children in
the years to come, who can tell?
The homeinluences-lessons inneat-
ness, order. cleanliness, decorations,
flowers and pictures, notices of cheer
and welcome on the wall, books, those
shades Of softening light; gifts, tokens
Of love that fill the hearts desire; con-
tentment and happiness; 0, how much
it is due to a bright and nappy child
hood! Sad it is that all homes are not
blessed with peace, that temptations
and w~ickedness should prey upon and
consume the spirit. and stamp a blight
! upon everything that is sacred and pure.
A dear friend Of mine once said, 90, if
| could only look back upon q happy
childhood. [ could better endure these
disappointments OF these later days,
but it only makes things 0rearer. the
bright places in my memory are few"
II it were not that courage mounteth
with occasion, and shoulders strength
en- as; duties are laid thereon, we should
succumb. The influences of a pure
home are never confined to its particl-
lar inmates and as much less thou
canst bind the sweet influences OF the
Pleiades" as those whose one thought
and effort, in the words of MISS Willard,
is "to make the Whole world %homelike.'
This going Oh and reaching out through
all the avenues Of life work scattering
home blessings to the %outcast and wan
derer, is done only as those who have
the most at stake can do. There are
millions to be taught, to be lead. hence
the necessity Of leaders, dictators, law
makers, legislators and executors. The
law OF nature is to advance, the de-
mands are never the same. In the
worps of Hon. Thomas Bicknell, "The
great reform Of Il day IS temperance.
Compared with it, all other reforms are
born of its healthtul and omnipotent
generation. Two persons stand ut the
threshold to protect the incoming gen
Grafton from becoming al easy prey to
the devourer 0 fhealth, happiness, hope,
life and heaven. the natural protect
ors of our youth are the parent mi the
teacher 1.-the home and school are the
citadels for their defense. Formation
! not reformation is now the educational
watchWord which woman has pro
claimed rs the signal to be sent TO all
| her allies in the world, and the two
words, Woman and Temperance, each
the symbol Of the true and good shall
be forever united. 1t is a marvel to
many that this new gospel OF teaching
the gospel children the laws of health,
of chastity, Of purity, Of hope II OF
temperance, should havesuch a remark
able spread, and meet with SO general
acceptance: that legislators in town.
city. country, state and nation should
listen, hear and legislate to protect
childhood from the rayages of rum and
that a literature should spring up as by
magic from a hitherto sterile intellect
ual soil"
What we would have a power and
s,,ccess in church or state must De
brought about by education, Great re-
s,,1ts are achieved step by step. "Early
impressions are the most lasting we
a'4 +roi, the children to purity and