The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-03-21
PARENTAL BLUNDERS,
DIR. TALMAGE,S SUNDAY. SERMON.
4 Few Words of Wisdom About Train
ing Children,

TEXT: he fell off from the seat back,card
oy the side of tie gate, and Els neck brake,
and he died; for Re .rGs On old man, ana
heory."-I Samuel iv., Is.
This is the end of long story Of parental
neglect, Judge Eli was a good man, but he
let his two boys, Rophni and Phinchas, do as
they pleased, and through over-in;u! !gence
they went to ruin. The blind old Judge
ninety-eight years Of cge, is seated at the
gate waiting for the news OF an important
battle in which his two sons We're at the front.
An express is coming with tiGings from the
battle. This blind nonagenarian puts his
hand behind his ear and listens and cries:
wv hat meaneta the noise OF this tumult|
An excited meSSenger, all out of breath with
the speed, said TO hua: Our army is defeat.
ed The sacred chest called the ark, is cap
Sured, and Your soGS are dead on tile field. y
No wonder the father tainted and expired.
The domestic tragedy in which these two
so1s were the traged!auS had finished its fifth
and last act ''He fell from OF the seat
backward by the side Of the gate, and his
neck brake and he died; for lie was an old
Unn and heavy
Eli had made an awful mistake in regard
10 his children. The Bible distinctly says:
s.His sons made themselves vile AMI hs re-
strained them not" Oh. the ten thousand
mistakes in rearing children, mistakes Of pi-
rents, mistakes Of teachers IN day school and
Sabbath classes mistakes which we all make
Win it not be useful to consider them.
This country is going to be conquered by a
great army, compared with which that Of
Baldwin the First, and XerveS, and A!ezan-
der, and Grant, and Lee, all put together,
wers in numbers Insignificant. They will
and halls of legislation, al oar shipping. all
our wealth, aal all our hono.S They
ity, from the Uni,el States Presi-
dency down to the humblest eonstabulary
of everything between the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans They arc On the march now,
and they halt neither day nor night. They
will soon be here, and all tine present active
population OF this country must surrender
children. Whether they shall take poses
sion of everything for good or for bad. de-
pends upon the style OF preparation through
which they pass on their way from cradle 20
throne. Cicero Acknowledges he kept in his
desk a collection Of p.efares for booSs, which
prefaces he could at any time attach to any
thing he wanted to publish for him
self or others; and all parents and
teachers have all prepared the pre-
face Of every young life under their
charge, and not only the prefacs, but the ap-
farce. Families and schools and legislatures
are IN our day buSily engaged in discussing
what IS the best mode Of educating children
Before this question almost every other
dwindles into ins!gni6cance, Will, de
pendent upon its proper solution is the wel-
fare Of governments and ages eternal
Macaulay tells Of the war which frederick
the Second made against Queen Marie
Theresa. And one day she appeared before
t,o III, For
and held up in her arms before them her
child, the Archduke. This so wrought upon
the officers and deputies Of the people that
with half drawn swords they broke forth in
the war cry: Let US die for our Queen,
Maria Theresa" So, this morning, realizing
that the boy Of to-day is to be the ruler OF
the future, the popular sovereign, mold him
before the American people 20 arouse their
enthusiasm in his behalf, and to evoke their
oath for his defense, his education and his
sublime destiny.
Il a pareut, you viii remember when you
were aroused to these great responsibilities,
and when you found that you had not done
all reou;red after you mad admired the tiny
hands, and the glossy hair. and the bright
eyes that lay in the cradle. You suddenly
remembered that that hand would yet be
raised to b.esss the world with It's benedic-
ton, or to suite it with a curse. In Aries
so's great poem there is g character called
Ruggiero, who has shield Of :nsuEerable
splendor, but it is kept veied, save on certain
occasions, and when uncovered it startled
and overwhelmed its beholGer, who before
had no suspicion OF its brightness. My hope
to-day is to uncover thedeStiny Of your child
or student, about which you have no especial
appreciation, and flash upon you the splen-
dors Of its immortal nature. Behold the
shield and the sword of its coming conflict!
propose in this discourse to ssS forth what
Iconsider to be some CT the errors prevalent
In the training Of children.
First: Iremark that many err IN TOO great
severity or too great leniency Of family gov.
eminent Between parental tyranny and
ruinous laxativeneSs Of discipline there is a
medium. Sometimes the father errs on one
side and the mother on the oth.r side Good
family government is all important. An
archy and misrule in the domestic circle is
the forerunner Of anarchy and miSule in the
State What a repulSive spectacle is home
without order or discipline, disoSedieace and
impudence, and anger and falsehood lift
ing their horrid front il the place which
snould be eonsecratad to all that is holy, and
peaceful, and beautiful In the attempt to
avoid all this, and bring the children under
proper laws and regulations, parents have
sometimes carried themselves with great
rigor. John Howard, vino was merciful
to the prisons and iazarettos, was
naerciless in the treatment Of his
cniIiren. John Milton knew everything but
how to train his family. Severe AMI unrea-
sonable was he in his carriage toward them,
He cornpelled his daughters to read to him in
four or i've languages. but would not allow
them TO learn any Of them, for he said that
one tongue was enoughfor a woman. Their
reading was me tianical 6rpdgerv. when, If
they had understood the languages they read,
the employment OF reading might have been
q luxury. No wonder MS children deSpise3
him, and stealthily sold his books and hoped
3or his death. In all ages there has been need
Of society for prevention Of cruelty to chill
dren When Barbara was pat to death by
her father because she had countermanded his
order, and had three windows put in room
instead of two. this cruel parent was a tyre
Of many who have acted Tho Nero and the
Robespierre in the home circle The heart
sckens at what you sometimes see, even in
families that pretend to bc Chrisslau-per-
petual scolding, and hair-pullng, ear-5oH-
ing, and humping. and stamping. and fault
finding, and teasing. until the children are
vexed beyond bounds, and gfowl in the
sleeve, and pout, aud rebel, and vow
within themselves that in after days
practiced. Many home has become as full
Of dispute as was the home Of john OGroat,
who built his house at the most norcherly
point in Great Britain. And tradition saws
that the house had eight windows. and eight
doors. and table OF eight sides, because he
had eight children, and the only way to keep
them out of bitter quarrel was to have a
separate appointment for each one of them.
That child's nature is too delicate to be
worked upon by sledse-hamo!er, and .gouge,
and pile-6river Such fierce laShing, instead
Of breaking the high !pettla to b;t and trace,
will make it dash off the more uncomfortable.
Many seem TO think tnat children are tlaN-