Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-12-02
UhHlNu run T1t CHlLUkEN.
Or. TALMAoE breaches A SER.
MON TO THE FAMILIES.
Parental Anxiety Caused by
knowledge Of Self Weak
nesSes.
Too Much Religion Nearly as
Bad as None at All.
Evils of Too Much Indulgence-Tsmpta-
lions on All Sides and Traps
of Many Kinds.
Influences of Early Training Illustrated
How to Win the Young Set Forth.

Nltt damage, IL. D., preached In the Brook
Ign tabernacle this morning on the subject:
What is to Become of Our Children" The
opening hymn begins
Come, let US Join our friends above
Who have obtained the prize,
And on the eagle wings Of love
| To Joys celestial rise.
After expounding from Genesis, Xix,
Jacobs wonderful discrimination of the char.
acteristics of his sons, the preacher took for
his text Genesis, xiv, 30: Seeing that his
life Is bound up in the lads life," and deliver
cd the following discourse:
These words were spoken by Judah as de-
scriptiye Of the tenderness and affection which
Jacob felt toward Benjamin, the youngest son
of that patriarchal family; but they are words
just as appropriate to many parent In this
house, since 'his life is bound up In the lads
life" have known parents that seemed to
have but little interest In their children. A
father says: my son must look out for him.
self. If he comes up well all right; II he
turns out badly can not help it. am not
responsible for his behavior. He must take
the same risk In life that | took" As well
might the shepherd throw lamb into a den
Of lions and then say: Little lamb, look out
for yourself"
NAhlNu FOX THE LITTLE ONES
II Is generally the case that even the beast
looks after its young. have gone through
the woods on summers day, and I have
heard great cutlery in birds nest, and
have climbed up to see what was the matter.
found out that the birds were starving and
that the mother ird had gone of, not to come
back again But that is an exception. 1t is
| generally the case that the old bird will pick
your eyes out rather than let you come nigh
It's brood. The lion will rend you in twain If
| you approach too nearly the whelps: the fowl
| In the barnyard, clumsy footed and heavy
winged, flies fiercely at you If you come too
near the little group; and God intended every
father and mother to be the protection and the
help of the child Jesus comes into every
dwelling and says to the father or mother:
| You have been looking after this chld's
| body and mind; the time has come when you
ought to be looking after Its immortal soul"
stand before hundreds Of people with whom
| the question, morning, noon and night Isl
| What Is TO become of the child. What will
be its history! viii it choose paths of virtue
or vicei VIII 1t accept Christ or reject Hint
Where will 1t spend eternitym
read of vessel that foundered. The boats
we're launched; many of the passengers were
struggling in the water. mother with one
hand beat the waves and with the other hand
AiAtVN up 4lltIC CIlll lOWdTu the IlIt-DOat
crying: Save my child! Save my childn'
The impassioned cutlery of that mother is the
prayer OF hundreds Of Christian people who sit
listening this morning while | speak. pro-
pose to show some of the causes Of parental
anxiety, and then how that anxiety may be al
leviated.
FOLLOWING Parental VICES.
ma the first cause of parental anxiety in |
the iuetticiency and imperfectiOn Of parents |
themselves. We have slight hope, all Of us,
Rl flFnn mat
hide our imperiectiOns, and think they will |
steer clear Of them. Alas there is a poor |
prospect of that! There is more probability |
they will choose our vices than choose our viz |
tues. here is something like sacredness in
parental impcrfectiOns when the child looks |
upon them. The folly of the parents is not 80
repulslve when the child looks at it. He saws:
Father INDUCES in it; mother INDUCES in 1t;
1t can't be SO bad" Your boy, 10 years of
age, goes up "A back street smoking his cigar-an
old stump that he found in the street-and a
nctghbOr accosts him and says: "What are
you dong this for! What would your father
say If he knew itt" The boy says: 30,
father does that himselfl' There Is not one
OF us this morning that would deliberately
choose that his children should In all hngs
follow his example, and it Is the consciousness
OF lmpertectlon on our part as parents that
makes us most anxious for our children.
We are also distressed on account of the uu-
wisdom Of our discipline and instruction. II
requires q great deal of ingenuity to build
house or fashion a ship; but more ingenuity
to build the temple OF a child's character and
launch 1t on the great ocean OF time and
eternity Where there is one parent that
seems qualified for the work, there seem to be
twenty parents Who miserably fail.
TOO MUCH RELIGION BAD.
Here is a father who says: my child shall
know nothing but religion he shall see moth
ing but religion" The boy is aroused at 6
O'Clock in the morning to recite the ten com
mandments. He is awakened off the sofa on
Sunday night to see how much he knows of
the Westminster catechism. 1t is religion
morning, noon and night Passages of Script
ure are plastered on the bedroom wall He
looks for the day of the month IN religious
almanac. Every minister that comes to the
house Is told to take the boy aside and talk
to him, and tell him what great sinner he
is. After while the boy comes to that period
OF life when. he Is too old for chastisement
and too young TO know and feel the force of
moral principle. Father and mother are sit
ting up for the boy to come home. 1t is
O'Clock at night-10 o'clock-it is IL O'clock
1t is 1880, and they hear the night key Jingle
In the door. They say he is coming. George
goes very softly through the hail. hoping 10
get up stairs before he is accosted. The
father says, George, where have you beenin
Been out" Yes, he has been out and he has
been down, and he is on the broad road to
destruction, for this life and the life to come
Father says: There is no use in the Ten
commandments; the catechsm seems to be
an utter failure All, my friend Won make
very great mistake. You stuffed that child
with religion until he coull not digest it; YOU
made that which is joy in many households
an adherence in yours man in mid-ife
said to me: 81 can't become q Christian. In
my fathers house I get such q prejudice
against religion ! don't want any of it. NY
father was one of the best men that ever lived |
but he had such severe notions about things
and he jammed religion down my thront until
don't want any OF 1t, SIR" There have been
some who have erred in that direction.
RAD TRAININGS FOR CHILDREN
There are households where mother pulls
one way and father pulls the other. Father
says: my son, l told you the first time I |
caught you in falsehood / would chastise
you, and now ! am going to do it," Mother
says: Don't, let him off this time" In some
families 1t is all scoldng and fretfulness with
the child; from Monday morning to Saturday
night it is that STYLE OF culture. The boy Is
picked at and picked at and picked at. Now,
you might better give one sound chastise-
ment, and have done with II, than to indulge |
in the perpetual scodIng and fretfulness |
There Is more health in one good thunder |
storm than in three or four days OF cold |
drzzle.
Here is parent who SAYS: II will not err |
on the side that parent has erred, In being too |
strict with his children. / will let mine do as |
they please. IL they want TO come In to pray |
ers they can; If they want to play at cards |
they can they can do anything they please |
are tickets for the opera and theater, son. Take
your friends with you. Do whatever you de- |
sire" One day gentleman comes In from |
the bank to his fathers Office and says: "They |
want TO see you over at the bank minute.h |
Father goes into the bank. The cashier says:
SIS that your checkr' Father looks at 1t and
says: mo, never gave that check; never
cross ~ in that way; i never make the curl
to " in that way It is not my check; that's
forgery. Send for the police" "Ab," says
the cashier ''don be SO quick; your son did
tbatn The fact was that the boy had been
out iu disspating circles and ten and fifty dol
| lars went In that direction and he had been
| treated and he had TO treat others and the boy
felt that he must have $500 to keep himself in
| that circle.
| EVILS OF TOO MUCH INDULGENCE.
That night the father sits up for the son to
come home 1t is one o'clock before he comes
into the hall He comes in very much flushed,
| bis eyes glaring and his breath offensive.
| Father Gays: "My son, how can you do SOL /
have given you everything you wanted and
ever thing TO make you comfortable and hap
| Ply, and now find, In my old age, that you are
| a spendthrift, a lbertine and a drunkardn
L Hk.a Gal - Il. a.