The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-08-02


Again, there are many parents who
are sacrificing their children with
wrong systems of discipline-too great
rigor or too great leniency. There are
children in families who rule the house,
hold They come to the authority.
The high chair in which the infant sits
is the throne, and the rattle is the scep-
ter, and the other children make up the
parliament where father and mother
have no votel Such children come up
to be miscreants.
There is no chance in this world for a
child that has never learned to mind.
Such people be come the botheration OF
the church of God, and the pest OF the
world. Children that do not learn to
obey human au thority are unwilling to
learn to obey divine authority. Chill
dren will not respect parents whose
authority they do not respect. Who
are these young men that swagger
through the street, with their thumbs
in their vest, talking about their father
as "the old man." ''the governor"
"the squire" "the old chap" or their
mother as "the old woman9' They are
those who in youth, in childhood, never
learned to respect authority. Eli hav-
ing learned that his sons had died in
their wickedness, fell over backward
and broke his neck and died. Well he
might. What is life to father whose
sons are debauched? The dust of the
valley is pleasant to his taste, and the
driving rains that drip through the
roof of the sepulcher are sweeter than
the wines of Helbon.
There must be harmony between the
fathers government and the mothers
government. The father will be tempted
to too great rigOr. The mother will be
tempted TO too great leniency. Her
tenderness will overcome her. Her
voice is little softer, her hand seems
better fit to pull out thorn and soothe
pang. Children wanting anything
from the mother, cry for it. They hope
to dissolve her will with tears. But
the mother must not interfere, must
not coax off, must not beg for the child
when the hour comes for the assertion
of parental supremacy and the sublu'
CATION Of child's temper. There comes
in the history Of every child an hour
when it is tested whether the parents
shall rule or the child shall rule. That
is the crucial hour. If the child tSi
umphs in that hour, then he will some
day make you crouch. 1t is horrible
scene. l have witnessed 1t; mother
come to old age, shivering with terroi
in the presence of son who cursed hel
gray hairs, and mocked her wrinklet
face, and begrudged her the crust sh'
munched with her toothless gums!
How per than serpents tooth IT'S
To have thankless child
But, on the other hand, too grea
rigor must be avoided. 1t is sad thint
when domestic government become
cold military despotism. Trappers OF
the prairie fight fire with fire, but yo'
! : cannot successfully fight your child
bad temper with your own bad temper
We must not be too minute in our in
spection. We cannot expect our chill
dren to be perfect. We must not Sc,
everything. Since we have two o
three faults of our own, we ought no
TO be too rough when we discover tina
= our children have as many. II trad
tion be true, when we were childrei
we were not all little Samuels, and on
parents were not fearful lest they coul
. not raise us because of our prematur
), goodness.
y You cannot scold or pound your chi
Z dren into nobility of character. TIL
y bloom of child's heart can never b
l. seen under cold drizzle. Above al
I avoid fretting and scolding in tn
, household. Better than ten years c
l. fretting at your children is one goot
round old-fashioned application OF tn
, slipper! The minister of the Gospel {
3 whom we read in the newspapers thu
L he whipped his child to death becaus
= he would not say his prayers, wi
d never come TO canonization. The aritl
y metics cannot calculate how man
} thousands of children have been ruine
l. forever either through too great rigc
or too great leniency. The heavens an
Q the earth are filed with the groan {
D the sacrificed. In this important ma
Y ter, seek divine direction, o fathe
o mother. Some one asked the moth6
of Lord Chief Justice Mansfield tif sh
e was not proud to have three such EN-
e nent sons, and all of them so goo'
Il NO" she said, 'it is nothing TO |
$ proud OF, but something for which
' be very grateful"
J. Again: there are many who are sacr
ficing their children TO spirit of worl'
, illness. Some one asked mother who's
!, children had turned out very well, wht
was the secret by which she prepare
u them for usefulness and for the Chri
s tian life, and she said, "This was tf
S secret: When, in the morning / washe
z my children, prayed that they migl
L. be washed in the fountain of Saviour
d mercy. When put on their Carmen
prayed that they might be arrayed
8 the robe of Saviour's Righteousness
When gave them food l prayed thi
g they might be fed with mama fro
y heaven. When started them on d
a road to school Iprayed that their pat
l. might be as the shining light, bright'
g and brighter to the perfect day. Whe
e put them to sleep | prayed that the
T. might be enfolded in the Saviour
e arms" "o," you say, "that was vel
It old-fashioned." II was quite old-fas
Il ioned. But do you suppose that chi
|, under such nurture as that ever turnC
& out bad2
t.. .,,,. do,, r,oat hova start ont yyii