The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-09-14
Vicious Children.

Within a few months applications
have been made to US for information
concerning institutions suitable for
children of respectable Christian par
ents, who are going wrong. Some
times they are the children OF pious
widows, again of parents yet in the
the prime of life and of the best repu-
tatiOp, In one instance the boy was
thirteen years of age; in another, the
wayward child was girl Of fourteen.
Some are untruthful, Others steal, and
some are vicious in various unmcntion-
able ways. OF one boy, about seven
teen, it is said that he is disobedient,
impudent, steals all tine money and
other valuables he can lay his hands Oh
that belong to any member Of the tami-
ly, and mocks at his mothers prayers
and admonitions.
No greater calamity can befall par
ents than to have their children be-
come thus corrupt. Some think that
such cases result from heredity, and
when they see children turn out i'll
make sage remarks about its being in
the blood, or in the bone, and perhaps
quote some statistics. Others say that
bad training is the cause, and saga
ciously quote "Train upa child in way
he should CO." The former do not un-
derstand heredity, which is out one of
several elements. Many a child be-
comes the first villain in Il history of
many generations Of honest, industri-
Gus, truthful, and Kind people. OF
four children three may be models, the
fourth in all evil continually. On the
other hand, some of the best persons
that ever lived were descended from
criminals, and in a few cases from the
drunken and licentious.
in way he should go, and when he is
old he will not depart from it," uni
versal law, so as to condemn all per-
ents whose childred do i'll, misunder-
stand the nature Of a proverb, which
states general rule.
Neither the word of God nor nature
has put the absolute control Of child
rem in the hands of parents. These
children become, as their parents did
before them, independent factors.
Starting with an organization and ten-
denotes common to the race, with some
increased, diminished, or distorted by
heredity, capable of being affected by
training or the want of it, for good or
ill, they speedily develop into free
agents, with power to counteract the
effects of training, to resist or increase
the distortions of heredity.
Moreover, from fifteen to twenty
wears of age wild forces-the sources Of
vice, if not he'd in check-are engen-
dered, and training which has been Of
the best kind may seem useless, and
worse than useless. The system is ur-
balanced, almost deranged passion
grows faster than reason, and will out
runs concience; but the training is
there and when the force of passion
subsides-if during the interval the
chains of habit have not been too
strongly riveted-the worst boy may
equal his Christian father, and most
giddy and even depraved girl, if not
self-abandoned and socially an outcast,
my become good wife and mother.
The moral of the whole situation is !;
Do not expect your children to be good
merely because their parents and
grandparents were, nor to he bad be-
cause some ancestor was not q saint.
Do not be utterly discouraged even if
your son mocks at your prayers and
admonitions. Should he become so
depraved as to need for his own sake,
and that of younger brothers and sis
ters, and for the peace of the family, to
be put into an institution, or sent to
sea, still pray for him, still kindly and
atfectlonalely correspond with him,
still hope; and should he at last be-
come such a wretch as to destroy all
affinity, except that which roots in the
maternal and paternal instincts, you
will have special claims upon Gods
grace to sustain you in the dire calami-
ty.