The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-11-25
thunderstorm than in three or four days of

thunderstorm than in three or four days Of
cold drizzle
Here is parens who says: GI viii not err
on the side that parent has erred, in being too
| strict with his children. will let mine do
as they please. If they want to come in to
prayers, they can; if they want to play at
cards, they can; they can do anything they
please-there shall be no hindrance Go i'll
| Here are tickets for the opera and theatre,
son Take your friends with you. Do what
ever you desire" One day c gentleman comes
in from the bank to his fathers Office and
says:
'They want to see you over at the bank a
minute" Father goes into the bank. The
cashier says: as that your checkqn Father
looks at it and says: "No; never gave that
check. never cross t. in that way;
never make the curl to a " In that way. It
is not my check; that's forgery. Send for
the police" HAh," says the cashier, @don't
be so quick; your son did that" The fact
was that the boy had been out I'm dissipating
circles, and SO and $50 went in that direc-
ton; and he had been treated and he had to
treat others; and the boy felt he must have
$500 to keep himself in that circle That
night the father sits up for the son to come
home. It is 1 o'clock before he comes into
the hail. He comes in very much flushed,
his eyes glaring and his breath offensive.
Father says: "Ny son, how can you do so9 I
have given you everything you wanted and
everything to make you comfortable and
happy, and now find, in my old age, that
you are a spendthrift, libertine and a
drunkard." The son says: @Now, father,
what's the use of your talking in that wayl
You told me might have good time and
to go it. / have been acting on your sug-
gestion, that's ALL" And so one parent errs
on one side, and another parent errs on the
other, and how to strike happy medium be
tween severity and too great leniency, and
train our sons and daughters for usefulness
on earth and bliss in heaven, Is a question
which agitates every Christian household in
my congregation. Where SO many good men
and women have failed, it is strange that we
should sometimes doubt the propriety of our
theory and the accuracy Of our kind Of gov
ernment
Again, parental anxiety often arises from
an early exhibition of sinfulness in the child.
The morning glories bloom for a little while
under the sun, and then they shut up as the
heat comes on; but there are flowers along
the Amazon that blaze their beauty for weeks
at time; but the short lived morning glory
fulfills its mission as well as the Victoria
Regia. There are some people who take forty,
fifty or sixty years to develop. Then there
are little children who fling their beauty on
the vision and vanish. They are morning
glories that cannot stand the glare Of the hot
noon sun of trial Yor have all known such
little children. They were pale; they were
ethereal; there was something very wonder
fully deep in the eye; they had gentle foot
and soft hand, and something almost super
natural in their behavior-ready to be waited
away. You had such a one in your house
hold. Gone nowl It was too delicate plant
for this rough world. The heavenly gardener
saw it and took it in. We make splendid
Sunday school books out of such children
but they almost always die. I have noticed
that, for the most part, the children that live
sometimes get cross, and pick up bad words
in the street, and quarrel with brother and
sister, and prove unmistakably that they are
wicked-as the Bible says, going astray from
the womb, speaking lies See the little ones
in the Sabbath class, so sunshiny and beauti-
full, you would think they were always so,
but mother, seated a little way off, looks
over at these children and thinks of the awful
time she had to get them ready.
After the boy or girl comes little further
on in life the mark Of sin upon them is still
more evident The son comes in from a !
pugilistic encounter in the streets, bearing
the marks of defeat. The daughter prac-
dces positive deception, and the parent says:
'What shall I do2 1 can't always be cor
recting and scolding, and yet these things |
must be stopped" 1t is especially sad if the |
parent sees his own faults copied by the |
child. 1t is very hard work to pull up a |
nettle that we ourselves planted We re-
that the greatest frauds that ever |
shook the banking houses of the country !
started from boys deception good many
years ago; and the cleaning blade of the |
op1y another hIada Of
with which the boy struck at his comrade !
The cedar of Lebanon, that wrestles with the |
blast, started from seed lodged in the side of |
the mountain, and the most tremendous dis
honesties of the world once toddled out from |
the cradle. All these things make parents
anxious
Anxiety on the part of parents also arises
from the consciousness that there are so
many temptations thrown all around our
young people. 1t may be almost impossible
10 take castle by straightforward
;iege-but suppose in the night there is q
5raitor within and he goes down and draws
5he bolt and swings open the great door, and
hen the castle falls Immediately That is
he trouble with the hearts of the young:
hey have foes without and foes within.
There are great many who try to make our
young people believe that it is q sign of weak
less to be pure. The man will toss his head
md take dramatic attitudes and tell of his
,wn indiscretions, and ask the young man if
le would not like to do the same And
hey call him vertlant, and they say he is
green and unsophisticated, and wonder how
le can bear the Puritanical straight jacket.
They tell him he ought to break from his
mothers apron strings, and they say: II will
how you all about town. Come with me-
You ought to see the world 1t won't hurt
7ou. Do as you please, it will be the making
If you." After a while the young mar! says:
L don't want to be odd, nor can 1 afford to
acrifice these friends, and I'll go and see for
nyselfn From the gates of hell there goes
. shout of victory. Farewell to all inno-
,ence; farewell to all early restraints favor
.bIe to that innocence which once gone never
zones back. heard one of the best men /
ver knew, IS years of age, say "Sir, God
las forgiven me for all the sins of my life
ime, know that; but there is one sin 1 COM
nitted at 30 years of age that 1 never win
orgive myself for. 1t sometimes comes over
ne overwhelmingly, and it absolutely blots
,ut my hope of heaven"
Young man, hear it. How many traps
here are set for our young peoplel That is
What makes parents so anxious Here are
emptations for every form Of dissipation
nd every stage Of it. The young man when
10 first goes into dissipation Is very particu-
ar where he goes. 1t must be a fashionable
otel He could not be tempted into these
orner nuisances with red stained glass and
mug of beer painted on the sign board. You
SIX the young man to go into that place and
e would say: "Do you mean to insult me7"
70; it must be a marble foored barroom.
here must be no lustful pictures behind the
ounter; there must be no drunkard hiccup-
ng while he takes his glass. 1t must be
lace where elegant gentlemen come in and
lick their cut glass and drink to the an
of fattering sentiment. But the
oung man cannot always find that kind Of a
lace; yet he has a thirst and it must be graf
fed. The down grade is sleeper now, and
e is almost at the bottom. Here they sit in
n oyster cellar around card table, wheez-
1g, bloated and bloodshCt, with cards SO