West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-12-09

would freeze into a solid cake OF ice at the
heart Do you wonder that fathers aud
mothers are anxious about their children and
that they ask themselves the questions day
and night: What il 20 become OF them
What will be their destinyl
L shall devote the rest OF my remarks 60
alevlatiou OF parental anxiety, Let me say
to you, as parents, that great deal of that
anxiety viii BE- lifted II you viii be siu sarly
with your children. Tom Paitie ssiil: The
first five years OF my life l becafne 6u In
nueL A YES, = goes out TO sea; II has been
live days out A storm comes on IL IL springs
n leak; tho helm will not work everything l.
out Of order. What is the matteri The shipis
not senworthy and never was. IL Is pooi
time time 70 hnd it o1t now. Under the fury OF
tho storm the vessel goes down, With tive
hundred and fifty pas engers, TO watery
grave. The time 10 make the ship seawoithy
was in the dry dock, before it started. Ala,
for us; IL we wait until our children get out
Into the world before we try e. bring upon
them the influence OF Christs re
ligion tell you the dry dock of
the Christian homie + the place where
we are to tit them for usefulness aud
for heaven. In this worll. under the storm
81 vice and temptation, ii win be too late
In the domestic circle YOU decide whether
your child shall bo truthful or false-whethei
II shau be generous or penurious You can
tell by the way child divides an 0ple lust
what Its future history will be You ough;
to oversee the Tro cSs. TX the chill take nine
tenths OF theapple giving the other tenth to his
sister. If he should live to be one hundred he
Will be grasping aud want the biggest piece
OF everything. stood in house In one of
me Long Island villages, aud saw n beau.
tiful tree, and / said TO the owner: THAT /.
very hne. tree, but what, curious crook
that tree, and when 10 was a year old |
went 20 New York aud worked as n me.
chanlc Tor year or two. and when ca nc
BACK found that they had allowed some
thing to stand against the tree, 50 A. has
always bad that crook Aud so / thought n
was with the Influence tipon children. IN you
allow anything 10 stand in the way OF moral
influence against a child on this side or that
side. TO the latest day Of It's lie on earth and
through all eternity 10 will show the pras
sure. No wonder Lord Byron was had DO
you know his mother said 10 him, when She
saw saw, him one day, limping across the floor
You lame bratn What chance for boy ike
thatl INV
Two young .-.cn come 10 tho door or sin.
They consult whether thev will ~ in. The
one young man goes In and the other retreats
- you say. the last la better resolution.
NO, that was no it, The first young mar
had no early good influence: the last had
been piously trained, and when he stood al
the door OF sin discussing the matter he
looked around as III tp SEQ some one and
he felt an invisible hand on his shoul
der, snving; Don't go in: don't 20
in'' Whose hand was ftl A mother.
hand, fifteen years ago gone to dust. a gen
t'eInah was telling ME Of the fact that some
years ago there wero two young men who
stopred at the door of the Park Theatre. In
New ork. The question was whether tbev
shouid go I'm. That night there was 20 be a
very Immoral play enacted i'm the Park Thea.
ire. One man went in the other STAYED ont
The young man who went in, went on
cTomd cTom SIN in ,h,ri,. to sin. and and through
hospital, Of delirium tremens The other
young man who 'retreated, chose Christ
went into the Gospel, anl is now one OF the
most eminent ministers Of Christ in this
country. And the man who rotreated gave as
his reason for turning back from the Thea
ire that night, that there was an early
voice within him, saying: Don't 90 inl
don't go inF And for that reason, my
friends, j believe so much i'm Bible
classes But there is something better than
the Bible class, and that is the Sunday-school
class. like it because 10 takes children at
an earlier point; aud the infant class like
stu better he 'ause 1t takes children before
thoy begin TO walk or 20 talk straight, and
puts them on the road 10 heaven. You can
not begin too early. You stand ON the bank
of a river flowing by. You cannot
stop that river, but, You travel days
and you find after awhile where it
comes down dropping from the rock, and
with your knife you make q course in this or
that dire tion for the dropping 30 take, and
you decide the course Of the river You
stand and see your clldren's characters roll
ing on with great impetuosity and passion.
and you cannot aGectThem. Go up toward
the source where the character first starts,
aud decide that 10 shall take the right direc.
ton, and it will follow the path you give IT,
But want YOU 70 remember oh father
oh mother that it is what you do that is
going to affect yonr children, and not what
You say. You tell your chilren 10 become
Christians while you are not aud they will
not Do You think Noah's family would
nave gone into the ark III no had not gone
in! They would say "No, there is
something about that boat that Is not
right; father has not gone i'm, You can
not push children into the kingdom OF
God; you have got 20 pull them in There
mas been many general IN a tower or castle
looking at his army fighting, but that is not
among his troops. IL is a Garibaldi OF Ma
poieon J. who leaps into the stirrups and
dashes into tho conflict aud has his troops
following bin with Will huzza. SO you
state, and tell your children 10
go ahead into the Christian life. and
have them go. You must yourself dash into
the Christian conflict; you must lead them
and not tell them TO 20. DO you know that
all the Instructions you give 20 your chill
dren In a religious direction goes FOR nothing
unless you illustrate IL in your own lifel The
teacher at tho .hOol takes a copy book,
writes specimen Of gOo1 writing across the
top OF the page. but he makes a mistake in one
y
the noNt line, copies the top line and makes
tho mistake and II there be fifteen lines on
that page they will have the mistake there
was In the copy on the tJp. The father has
an error in his life-a very great error. The
son comes along and copies 10 now. to-mor-
row. next year, copies IL 60 the day OF his
death. IL i what you are, not 50 much what
you teach
Have a family altar Let IL be a cheerful
place. tho brightest room In your house DO
not wear your childrens knees out with long
prayers Have the wloe exercise spirited.
lf yoI have n melOdeon, or an organ or a
piano in the house, have it open. Thon lead
in prayers. III you cannot make a prayer Of
your own, take Matthew Henry's Prayers
or the Episcopal Prayer Book. None
better than that Knecl down with
your little ones morning and nigbt
and commend them to God Do Won
think they viii ever got over itl Never
After You are under tho sod a good many
years. there will be some powerful tompta-
ton around that son. but the memory Of
father and mother AZ morning and evening
prayers will have its effect upon him: it will
bring him back from the path Of sin and
death.
But want you 70 make q strict mark a
sharp, plain line between innocent hilarity
on the part Of your children and n vicious
prociivity. DO not think your boys will 20
70 ruin because they make n racket "A glun.
uurospOn ave child makes the worst form Of
a villain. Children, when they are healthy al
ways make racket 4 wautyOu. at tho very
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