The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-11-16
FOR THE CHILDREN.
Coats of Character Prepared by Mothers
Mental and Moral Garments.

Coats of Character Prepared by Mothers
Mental and Moral Garments.
In the Bible, clothing has figurative
meaning; Christianity is spoken of as
vesture, and believers are commanded
to put on Christ" so that whenever
they are looked at, their godly charac-
ter may be as visible as the garments
they wear. In Heaven the saints are
said to be clothed in white raiment,
which has been washed to celestial
purity by atoning blood. 1t is not a
mere pun to remind my readers that
the word habit is used to signify
both bodily dress and also the dispo-
sition of the mind toward good or evil
Mothers clothe their children, in both
senses of the word. They provide the
raiment for their bodies, and, in no
small degree. the habits for the mind
and heart God puts into your hands,
oh We mothers! an unclothed spirit
as well as an unclothed infant
form. You make for your chill
dren the coats" which no moth
can eat or time deface-the coats 0fchdr-
acter! They are the mental and moral
garments which your children are like
ly to wear through their whole lives.
When you send your children away to
school or college, you send with them
and in them the family likeness. And
the characters you are weaving for
them-stitch by stitch every day-will
outlast your lives, and may be worn by
your children when they stand before
the judgment seat of Christi
This coat-malSing for your offspring
is inevitable and unavoidable. Your
children will put on your ways and
your habits in spite of you. Your
character streams into them-through
their eyes and through their ears every
hour What they see you do, they will
do. What they hear from you will
lodge in their memories, and come out
in their conduct. How quick is child's
eye to observe, and how ready is
| childs mind to receive indelible i'm
pressions. No Photographic plate is
more sensitive to the images which are
painted on it. As Dr. Bushnell has
happily said: Every sentiment that
looks into the little eyes, look back out
of the eyes, and plays in miniature on
the countenance. fright on a
parents face will brighten the child a
smile win l>indle into sunshine on the
which photographs the mothers.
The most effective part of education
is really atmospheric. You mothers COM
monty create the earliest and the most
| influential atmosphere for your chill
| dren's habits and hearts. The uncon-
scious influence, too. is the most abid-
ing. You may honestly want your boys
and girls to be good pure, truthful, un-
! selfish, ovable-yes, you may sincerely
, desire them to be true Christians. Yet
| your daily influence may be most I'M
consciously working right into the OPP
posite direction. Your needless is'ita-
! tions irritate them, and sour their dis
positions. Your destinations make
them tricky and deceitful. If YOUR boy
is handled harshly or jerked into obe-
dience he will probably nm out a
sulky, obstinate, irritable chap-iust
what your rude impatience made him
If gossip and scandal make large part
of your table talk, then your children's
teeth will be set on edge. If you give
your son dollar for the toy-ship and
only dime for a Christian contribution
box, you thereby teach him self-indul-
gence is just ten times as important
as charity. You may fancy that
the playhouse is a safe school
of morals, and that the ball
room is safe school for refine
ment of manners; but if your daughters
shall have learned quite too many
things in those schools how will you
like the apparel that you made for
them? Remember that you are making
the coat of character for your children.
If you fashion it after worldly pat
tern, then they may be poisoned with
worldliness but if you devoutly "seel,
first for them the kingdom of Christ
and His righteousness" and if you draw
them by the powerful traction of low
able, winsome Christian example, then
you may hope to see them arrayed in
the beauty of holiness. Theodore l..
Cuvler, in \. v Independent.