The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-03-21

II children are kept in school,
and studying from nine to three
o'clock, nc, home study except music oughtto
enough for any child. The rest of the day
ought to be devoted to recreation and pure
fun. But you cannot begin too early the
moral culture Of q child or on too COM
piete a scale. You can look back
! upon your own life and remember
what mighty impressions were made
upon You at five or six years Of age. Oh,
that child does not sit so silent during your
conversation not to be influenced by it. You
say he does not understand. Although much Of
your phraseology is beyond his grasp, he is
gathering up from your talk influences which
will effect his immortal destiny. From
the question he asks YOU long afterwari
you find he understood all about what
you were saying You think the child does
not appreciate that beautiful cloud. but its
most delicate lines are reflected into the very
depths. of the youthful nature, and score OF
years from now you WI: see tHe SiaGow Q;
that cloud in the tastes and rerements de-
veloped The song with which you sing
that child to sleep will echo through all
its life, and ring back from the very
arches of heaven. think that often the first
seven years of childs life decides whether it
shall be irascible. wasp;sh, rude, false, hypo-
critical. or gentle. truthful, frank, obedient,
honest and Christian. The present generation
of men will pass off very much as they
are now. Although the Gospel is offered
them, the general rule is that drunk
ards die drunkaris, thieves die thieves,
Gbertines die ioertineS Therefore to ths
youth we turn You ill the hushel measure
with good corn, and there will be no room for
husss. Glorious Alfred Goodman was con-
verted at ten years of age. At Car
is.e Pennsylvania, during the progress
OF q religious meeting in the Methodist
Church, while many were keeling at the foot
of the altar. this boy kne!t in a corner Of the
church all by himself aul said: Precious
not save me- A Presbyterian elder knelt
beside him and led him into the light. En-
throned Alfred Cookman! Tell me from the
skies, were you converted too early! But
I cannot hear his answer. 1t is
overpowered by the hosannahs of
the tens Of thousands who were brought to
Col through his ministry. Isaac Watts, the
great Christian poet, was converted at nine
years of age. Robert Hall, the great Baptist
age Jonathan Edwards. the greatest of
American logicians, was converted at seven
years Of age.
Oh for one generation Of holy men and
women Shall it be the next? Fathers and
mothers, you, under God, are to decide
whether from your families shall 60 forth
covards, inebriateS. counterfeiters. bias
phemers, and whether there shall be those
bearing Your image and carrying your
name fostering in the low haunts Of vice.
and foundering in dissipation. and making
the midnight Of their lives horrid
with long howl of ruin: or whether
from Your family altorS shall come the
Christians, the reformers, the teachers the
ministers Of Christ, the comforterS OF the
~ lo,I oe S,l- Dnto
of good laws, the founders OF charitable in
stitutions. and q great many who shall in the
humber sphere 0; toll and usefulness serve
Col and the best interests O: the human rae.
You cannot as parents sEirii the response
bility God has charged voa with a mission,
and all the thrones OF heavcn are waitingt>
see whether YOU will do vo"r duty. We
must not forget that it is not SO much what
we teach our children as what We are in their
presence. We wish them to be better than
we are. but the probability is that they
will only be reproductions Of our
own character. German literature has
much to say Of the ''Spec.re Of
BrocSen' Among these mountains travellers
in certain conditions OF the atmosphere see
themselves copied on gigantic scale in the
clouds, At first the travellers do noS realize
that it is themselves on larger scale. When
they lift hand or lnoTe the head this mon
large!nent of proportions that the Scele Is
most exciting, and tho@sands have gone TO
that place just To behold ihe spectre
of Broken. The probability is that some OF
our faults, which we consider small aad IN
significant, if we DO not put an end 10 them
will be copied on a larger scale IN cno nVes Oh
our children, and perhaps iusated oQd eAaS
gerated into spectral proportions. You nset
not go as far OF rs the BrocSca TO see tha0
process Tie first thing in Importance IN 1:le
education of our children is to make ourselves,
by the grace Of God. hs examples TO be
copied. The day viii come when You must
confront that child, rot in The church pew on
a calm Sabbath, hut amid the consternatlon
of the rising dead, and the flying heavens,
and burning world From your side that
son or daughter, hone OF your bone, heart
Of your heart. the fathers brow ms
brow, the mothers eye his eye, shall
20 forth to an eternal destiny. What
will be your Joy if at las. you hear their
feet in the same golden highway and hear
their voices in the same rapturouS song, II.
lustrations while the eternal ages last, OF
what a faithful parent could, under God, ac-
compGsh. I was reading Of mother who,
diving, had all her children about her, ana
took each one o: them by the hand, and asked
them to meet her in heaven, ana WIN
tears and sobs such as those oa:y Know
who have stood by the deathoed OF
good old mother, they all PROMISED
But there was 4 young nau OF nineteen VINO
had bean very wild and reckless and hard,
and proud, and when she took his hand she
said: Now my boy. wanG Eou TO pi'o;iliSe
me before die, that you will become q Chris
tian and meet me- in heaven" The young man
made no answer, for there was so much 1or MIN
to give up if te made and kept such a promise.
But tho aged mother ptrslStet IN saving:
"You won'sdeny me that before 50, VIII youf
This parting must not be forever. lei me
now YOU W ii serve God and meet me IN the
land where lhere is no parting" QuaSing
with emotion he stool, making up MS mind
and halting nd hesitatin-, butat last his STUB.
bornnesS vel led and he threw his arms around
his mothers neck and said: Yes, mother:
will, will" And as he finished the last
word OF his promise her spirit ascended. l
thank God tho young man kept his promise.
Yes, he kepsi it. May sod give all n1otners
and fathers the gladneSs OF their chillrens
salvation.
For all who are trying to do their duty
as parents, quote the tremendous passage:
Train up q cb lid in the way in which be
should 20, and when he is Old he will not de-
part from it." If through good discipline
and prayer, and godIy example,
YOU are acting upon that ch,ll,
YOU have the right to expect
him 80 grow up virtuouS And no" many
tears OF joy you will shed when You see YOU,
child honorable, and just. and truthful, and
Christian, and successtul-a holy man
woman in q world OF frivolous preten-
sion. When you come to die they
will gather to bless your last hours
They will push back the Write locks en- your
cold forehead and say: What good father
he always was to ,ren' They will fold yosr