National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-03-08

capsize. France as a nation has not the
right kind Of q Christian home. The
Christian hearthstone is the only cornerstone
for a republic. The virtues cultured In the
family circle are an absolute necessity for
the state. II there be not enough moral
principle to make the family adhere, there
will not be enough political principle to
make the state adhere. mo homen means
the Cloths and Vandals, means the Nomads
Of Asia, means the Numdeans Of Africa,
changing from place to place, according as
the pasture happens to change. Con-
founded be all those Babels Of iniquity
which would overtower and destroy the
home. The same storm that upsets the
ship In which the family sails will sink the
frigate Of the constitution. Jails and peni-
tentiarles and armies and navies are not our
best defenses. The door Of the home is the
best fortress. Household utensils are the
best artillery, and the chimneys of our
dwelling houses are the grandest monu-
ments OF safety and triumph. No home.
No republic.
Further, / remark that home is school.
Old ground must be turned up with subsoil
pillow, and It must be narrowed and re-
narrowed, and then the crop will not be rs
large as that of the new ground with less
culture. Now, youth and childhood are
new ground, and all the influences thrown
over their heart and life will come up in
after life luxuriantly. Every time you
haye given smile Of approbation-all the
good cheer Of your life will come up again
In the geniality Of your children, And
every ebullition OF anger and every uncon-
trollablo display OF indignation will be fuel
TO their disposition twenty or thirty or
forty years from now--fuel for n bad fire a
quarter Of century from this. You praise
the intelligence OF your child too much
sometimes when you think he is not aware
Of It, and you will see the result of 1t be-
H.. ii
tations. You praise his beauty, supposlng
he is not large enough to understand what
you say, and you will find him standing on
high chair before a ilattering mirror.
Words and deeds and example are the seed
OF character, and children are very apt to
be the second edition of their parents
Abraham begat Isaac, so virtue is apt to 20
down in the ancestral line; but Herod begat
Arcnelaus, so iniquity is transmitted. What
vast responsibility comes upon parent in
view Of this subject
o make your home the brightest place on
earth, II you would charm your children to
the high path Of virtue and rectitude and
religion. Do not always turn the blinds
the wrong way. Let the light which puts
gold on the gentan and spots the pansy
pour into your dwellings. Do not expect
the little feet to keep step to dead march.
Do not coyerup your walls with such pic
lures as Vests "Death on Pale uorse,n
or Tintoretto's "Massacre Of the Innocents.n
Rather cover them, II you have pictures,
with "The Hawking Party" and "'rhe Mill
by the Mountain Stream,h and "Tbe Fox
Hunt and "The Children Amid Flowers
and "The Harvest Scene," and "The Sat
urday Night Marketing.n
Get you no hint Of cheerfulness from
grasshopper's leap, and lambs frisk, and
quail's whistle, and garrulous streamlet,
which, from the rock at the mountain-top
clear down to the meadow ferns under the
shadow Of the steep, comes looking for the
| just to hear itself taikP II all the skies
hurtled with tempest, and everlasting storm
wandered over the sea, and every mountain
stream went ravng mad, frothing at the
mouth with mud foam, and there were moth
| ing but simoons blowing among the hills,
and there were neither larks carol nor
| humming-bird's trill, nor waterfalls dash,
but only q bears bark, and panther's
scream, and VOLTS howl, then you might
well gather into your homes only the
shadows. But when God has strewn the
earth and the heavens with beauty and with
| gladness let us take into our home circles
all innocent hilarity all brightness, and all
| good cheer. A dark home makes bad boys
and bad girls, in preparation for bad men
and bad women.
Above all, my friends, take into your
homes Christian principle. Can it be that
in any of the comfortable homes Of my con-
gregation the voice of prayer is never
liftedP What No duplication at night
for projections What No thanksgiving
in the morning for care? How, my
brother, my sister, will you answer God in
your children2 1t is plain question, and
therefore / ask It, In the tenth chapter of
Jeremiah God says he will pour out his
fury upon the families that call not upon
his name. parents when you are dead
and gone and the moss is covering the in
scription Of the tombstone, will your chill
dren look back and think of father and
mother at family prayer win they take
the old family Bible and open 1t and see the
mark Of tears of contrition and tears OF
consoling promise wept by eyes long before
gone out into darkness9 Oh, il you do not
inculcate Christian principle in the hearts
Of your children, and you do not warn them
against evil, and you do not invite them to
holiness and to God, and they wander of
last make shipwreck of their immortal soul,
on their death bed and in their day of iudg.
ment they will curse you Seated by the
register or the stove, what II on the wall
should come out the history Of your chill.
dren? What history-the mortal and i'm,
mortal life of your loved ones Every
parent is writing the history of his child
| "
or turning 1t into groan.
My mind runs back to one of the best OF
early homes. Prayer, like q roof, over tt
peace, like an atmosphere, in 1t; parents
peIsoni1cations Of faith In trial and com
fort in darkness. The two pillars Of that
earthly home long ago crumbled to dust
But shall ever forget that earthly home
warns it; yes, when the mariner forgets
the star that guided him; yes, when love
has gone out on the hearts altar and mem
DRY has emptied its urn into forgetfulness
Then, the home Of my childhood, / will
forget thee; the family altar Of fathers
importantly and mothers tenderness, the
voices of affection, the funerals of oui
dead father and mother, with interlocked
arms like INTERVIEWING branches Of trees
making a perpetual arbor of love and peace
and kindness-then will forget them
then, and only then. You know, my
brother, that a hundred times you have
been kept out Of sin by the memory Of
such scene as / have been describing
You have often had raging temptations
but you know what has held you with SUI
penatural grasp. tell you a man who
has had q good home as that never gets
over II, and man who has had bad early
home never gets over IT..
Again, remark that homo Is type of
heaven. To bring us to that home Christ
left His home. Far up and far back In thu
history Of heaven there came period wher
Its most illustrious citizen was about to alb
sent himself. He was not going to sal
from beach to beach; we have often done
that. He was not going TO put out from
one hemisphere to another, hemisphere
many Of us have done that. But he was u
sail from world to world, the spaces unex
plored and the immensities untraveled. NJ
world had ever hailed heaven, and HEAVIER
had never hailed any other world. i thinl
that the windows and the balconies wert
thronged and that the pearllne beach wa
crowded with those who had come to SCI
Him sail out the harbor Of light into tn
oceans beyond. Out, and out, and out