Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-01
THE NATURAL HUMAN
Very Often Comes Out In All Its
Original Sin In the Family.
A VERY HARD PLACE TO BE GOOD.
Another That Brings Out the Bad Side ID
the Boarding House.
IMAGINATION IN TOUGH BEEFsTEAK
WRITTEN FOB THE pIsPArcH.l

day IL the Christian In the 1am1ty. oeSire
to say q word in the beginning In regard to
the Christian who is not in the family.
mean the Christian who lives in boarding
house. I am sure that that touches good
many people in my newspaper congrega-
rion.
am sorry for the Christian who lives in
a boarding house, In house that Is not
home, in which he Is honored in proportion
to the regularity with which he pays his
bills. believe that great many men and
women who live under these conditions are
lonely and homesick and heartsick. And
yet am sincerely thankful when reflect
upon the many good boarding houses that
there are in this city, houses where those
who live find homes, and where the board
ing house keep per is a mother to the young
people beneath her root. It seems to me
that Christian boarding house keeper can
show her Christianity in the most practical
way by taking personal interest in those
young people who are for the time members
of her family, by looking after them when
they are sick, by being genuinely and
heartily concerned in their welfare.
A Common Disease With Boarders.
I am more sorry for the Christian In tho
boarding house when reflect upon the
temptations that he has. One of these is
the temptation to be continually complain
ing, to take critical look at life, to be all
the time under the impression that every
thing is not being done that ought to be
done, and that one is being misused and
cheated. Everybody who has lived in a
boarding house knows how that spirit grows
Al fIar fap ,&otf -
the danger of being exceedingly solicitious
about eating and drinking, and of caring
more for these things than for much more
important matters. The chief relation, in
| deed, which the boarder has to the boarding
house is in the table, and there is that con-
| slant temptation, which ought to be looked
after, to think about those things which
really ought to be beneath the emphatic
| notice of Intelligent people.
st. Paul had experience of boarding
| houses, yet he had learned no matter where
ne was, to be content. The Christian spirit
| is the spirit of content Our Lord in all
His ministry had no home of His own, yet
| He said we should not think about what we
should eat or drink, but about higher
things, we should first seek the kingdom Of
God and His righteousness
Boarding House Christians Are Few.
Christian in the boarding house is the
temptation to be unsettled. to have no
anchor, to feel alone aud to act without refer
ence to other people, not to go to church.
1t is very hard to be good Christian in o
boarding house. I am much more sorry,
however, for the Christian in the boarding
house when she is the keeper of the board
| ing house. I have a good many friends
who keep boarders, and know something
about the look at life that they get, and
know that there are very few people in the
world who see more selfshness and ingrati-
| tude than they who serve in that capacity.
| 1t seems to me that the duty of the Chris
| tian in the boarding house is to remember
| all those who work in that house, to be con-
| siderate, to be careful of their feelings and
| their time, to be on the watch for making
life pleasanter for them. These are very
practical and homely duties; but that Is e1-
actlv what Christianity is concerned with.
If the Christian religion is not good for
| everything, says Ruskin, it is not good for
anything. We ought to realize that.
Now that have spoken of the Christian
who is not in the family let me 60 on and
say something about the family in which
| there is not Christian. That, I am'afraid,
would describe good many families.
Barely Get Enough to Live.
But the family have chiefly in mind, is
that in which it is almost impossible to be
| Christian. mean the family that lives
| in tenement house, the family that lives
| unclean and narrow dwelling. We who
have the privilege Of family life ought to
| remember that vast multitude of our
brothers and sisters have not that privilege
at all They live under conditions which
| make decent life almost impossible.
They are engaged in such struggle for
bare subsistence that it becomes almost out
of the question for them even to think about
religion.
And although do not know that there
is anything practical that we can do in
the matter, we ought to have it in mind.
| We ought none of US to be content in our
comfortable houses to sit down in satisfac-
tion there, without remembering the multi
| tudes of our brothers and sisters who are
living under these unspeakably unchristian
| conditions. Somehow there must be a
change I hope the time will come when
| there will be no boarding houses and no
tenement houses on the face of the earth;
when every family will live in its own
| house and have the blessing of real family
| life. At any rate, We know that there will
one time be day when there will be land
| of "many mansions, not one of which will
house.
Importance OF tho Family.
come now to the Christian in the family.
The family is the most important institu-
tion on the face of the planet. The family
is more important than the State. The
family is more important than the Church.
The ftmily is the heart of the State and of
the Church. The present and future of both
Church and State depend absolutely upon the
family. Because the family is the training
school of character. The family is
that institution in which human be-
ings are gathered together in their
most impressionable time of life, and in
which impressions are made which are never
afterward forgotten. What kind of man
hood or. womanhood the children are to
grow up into will depend in very great
degree upon what kind of children they are,
and what kind of training they get in the
family. And so say that the family is of
immense Importance. 1t is hardly possible
to exaggerate the importance of the family.
Accordingly, it is hardly possible to e1-
aggerate the importance of being a good
Christian in the family. Because there is
thing else. Church Christianity is very
we'll, and society Christianity is still better,
but home Christianity is best of all. Be-
cause whether the boys and girls are to be
Christians or not depends upon the fathers
and mothers.
AS tho Father, So the Son.
The boy is going to be like his father and
the girl like her mother. 1t seems to me
that one Of the most foolish ideas that can
be held by sensible people is that the pa
rents ought not to try to "bias" the reli-
gious feelings of their children. The great
purpose of the family, the great reason for
its existence, is in order that 1t may set its