Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-01-10

public schools of the State the use of some
textbook upon the evil effects Of alcohol on
the human system, with the hope that IL will
aid In banishng from our midst the wide
spread miseries of drunkenness. OF course,
already in the moral restraints and discipline
of our schools, the virtue ut temperance has
been u matter of careful attention, and
the effort has been Ia give To- our
young such measure of scltcontrul
rs may keep them from the thousand temp
tations 10 vice in all its varying forms. The
school has joined with the family in this Us
scntial work of all training and we are fully
convinced that our school rooms and school
intercourse have been ~ free from the pres
cnCe and example of drunkenness rs any
well conducted Christian household of the
commonwealth. But the children, as they
leave school, are often thrown at once into the
midst of derraved social life, crowded with
all the giidcd iacinations of evil which over
master the instructions of home and school
All the forces, therefore which can be used
To- fOrtitv the will to resist the evil aud gain
strength for the good, ought To- be brought to
bear upon children in the school aS well as at
home. one of these forces in aid of temper
anCe is a clear knowledge of the evil effects of
alcohol upon the body, and, through it, upon
the mind. Such knowledge will deepen the
fear of transgrcssion by keeping in view its
dreaded consequences, and thus serve, to
some extent at least, TO strengthen the re-
proving voice Of conscience which challenges
the will to pause before plunging into
such an abyss. We are glad, there
fore to SEQ that in many of
our text books on physiolgy and hygiene
this subject is made specially prominent and
that in this way 1t has been, and is now,
more and moro entering into the inStruc-
ton of the school. This instruction, how
ever may be made more definite and uni
NcrSll by requiring, through an act of As
sembly, that it shall bc given in every public
school OF the commonwealth rs part of the
regular curriculum. We must not be too
sanguine however, about the results for
knowledge of sin in all its worst consequent
coS Is something quite distinct from the pres
CncC and power of virtue in the soul.
THE INFLUENCE or EXAMPLE.
So much depends upon the teacher, and So
little upon the text; so much depends upon
his personal presence. with a character al
ready well formed, whose habits of moral
sclt-reStraint are a continual lesson read and
understood by processes of the soul far deeper
than any acts Of intellectual apprehension,
| aud so little upon outward rules and schemes
of clsuistry so much upon the inspiration
OF the good as this touches the Child's heart
through hourly association with good
man OF noble woman rs teacher,
and so little upon cold, abstract maNims
into which no warming breath of
| life has yet been brcathed So much depends
/ upon the one and so little upon the other, in
| all matters of moral discipline that we must
not, as Just said, be too sanguinC about the
/ results which such legislation is likely Ia
! produce. Tho very highest claim of Christi.
/ anlty, whether acknowledged or not, is that
/ lnhnlte love and wisdom, the very Divine OF
l the Law, became flesh and dwelt among us In
/ the Lord and that in the presence and power
/ OF His inspiration, the law becomes a life and
/ light in the depths of the human soul in
way far transcending all knowledge of cxter
! nal statutes or ordinances which without
| this are in reality dead.