The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-08-16

boys Il years VI uSo ThChluS 1uoAI pt"fi.
over trigonometry! Children upacquainted
with their mother tongue crying over their
Latin, French and German lessons! All the
vivacity Of their nature beaten out Of them
by the heavy beetle OF Greek lexicon. And
you doctor them foc this, and you give
them little medicine for that, and you
wonder what Is tho matter with them.
will tell YOU what is the matter with them
they ara finishing their education.
In nv parish in Philadelphia child was
40 pushed st school that she was thrown INTO
a fever. and in her dying dellrtum all night
long she was trying to recite the multipltca-
lion table. In my boyhood I remember that
In our class at school there was one Lad who
knew more than all of u5 put together. II
ve were fast in our arithmetic, he extricated
ns When we stood up for the spelling class,
he was almost always the head Of the class.
Visitors came to his fathers house, and he
was almost always brought in as prodigy
At IS years Of age he was an idiot. He lived
10 wears an idiot aud died an idiot, not know
Ing his right hand from his left. or day from
night. The parents and the teachers made
him an idiot
You may aatter your pride by forcing your
children to know moro than any otner cnI-
dren, but you are making sacrifice o! tnae
child II by the additions to its intelligence
YOU are making a subtraction from its fu-
ture. The child will go away from sucn NAL
treatment with no eIuberance to light the
battle Of life. Such children may get. ong
yery we'll while you take care OF them, but
when you are old and dead, alas Tor them
II through the wrong system OF educatlon
which you adopted, they have no swsrthi-
ness or force OF character to take care OF
themselves. Be careful how you make the
childs head ache or its heart futter.
hear a great deal about black mems rights
and Chinamen's rights and Indians rights
and women's rights. Would God that some
body would rise to plead for children right
The Carthaginians used to sacrifice their
children by putting them into thearms OF an
idol which thrust forth its hand. The child
was put into the arms OF the idol, and no
sooner touched the arms than it dropped into
the fire. But it wes the art OF the mothers
to keep the children smiling and laughing
until the moment they died. There may be
a fascination and hilarity about the styles
OF education Of which am speaking, but 1t
Is only laughter at the moment OF Sacrtdce.
Would God there were only one Jephthaths
daughter.
Again, there are many parents who are
sacrificing their children with wrong sys.
tens of discipline-too great rigor or TOO
great lenisncy. There are children In fam
lilies who rule the household. They come to
the au hority. The high chair In which the
infant sits is the throne. and the rattle Is the
scepter, and the other childen make up the
parliament where father and mother have no
vote Such children come up to be- mis-
creants.
There is no chance in this world for child
that has never learned to mind. Sucn peo-
pie become the botheration Of the church OF
<Na nF
that do not learn to obey human authority
are unwilling to learn to obey Divine author
ity. Children will not respect parents whose
authority they do not respect. Who are those
young men that swagyer through the street,
with their thumbs In their vest, talking
about their father as 1.-The old man."
.'the governor" ''the squire" .'the
old chap" or their mother as the
old womsn?" They are those who in youth,
in childhood. never learned to respect au.
thority. Eli having heard that his sons had
died in their wlckedness, fell over backward
and broke his neck and died. Well he might.
What is life to q father whose sons are de-
bauched? 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 hsrmlny between the
fathers government and the mothers gov
ernment. The father will be tempted to too
great vigor. The mother will be tempted to
too crest ,leniency. Her tenderness VIII
overcome her. Her voice is little sotter;
her hand seems better fit to pull out tnorn
and soothe panG Children wanting any
thing from the mother cry for it. They hope
to dissolve her will with tears. Bat the moth
er must not interfere, must not coax on,
must not beg for the child when the
hour comes for the assertion OF parental
supremacy and the subjuGation OF
child's temper. There comes in the history
of every child IN hour when it 1s tested
whether the parents SHALL rule or the child
shall rule That is the crucial hour. 1.-THE
child triumphs in that hour, then ne WIN
some day make you crouch IL Is norrloie
scene. I have witnessed it-a mother come
to old age, shivering with terror in the pres,
ence OF a SON who cursed her gray hairs and
Knocked her wrinkled face and begrudged her
the crust she munched with her toothless
gums
How sharper than serpeass tooth IT
To lave thankless child
But, on the other hand. too great rigor
must be avoided. 1t is sad thing when do
mestic government becomes cold military
despotisn. Trappers on the prairie fight hre
with fire, but you cannot successfully nghts
your child's bad temper with your own pad
temper. We must not be too minute ID our
inspection. We cannot expect our chlidren
to be perfect. We must not see everything.
Since We have two or three faults OF our own,
we ought not to be too rouSh wnen We ol5,
cover that our children have as many. Ii
tradition be true, when we were children we
were not all little Samuels, and our parents
were not fearful lest they could not raise US
because OF our premature goodness.
You cannot 5cold or pound your chloreD
into nobility of character. The bloom OF
child's heart can never be seen under cold
drizzle. Above all, avoid frettlnS and
scolding In the household. Better than IL
years OF fretting at your children ls one
good. round, old fashioned application OF
the slipper! That minister Of the Gospel Of
whom we read in the newspapers that he
whipped his child to death because he would
not say his prayers will never come to can
onization. The arithmetics cannot cnl-
culate how many Thousands OF children
have been ruined forever either through too
great risor or too great leniency. The heav-
ems and the earth are filed with the groan OF
the sacrificed. In this important matter seek
divine direction, o father, o mother. Soma
one asked the mother OF Lord Chief Justice
Mansfield II she was not proud to have three
such eminent SONS and all OF them so good.
mo, she said, lit is nothing to be proud OF,
but something for which to be very grateful"
Again, there ara many who are sacrificing
their children TO a spirit OF worldliness.
Some one asked mother whose children
had turned ou: very we'll what was the secret
by which she prepared them for usefulness
and for the Christian life, and she said
This was the secret. When in the morning
washed my children, I prayed that they
might be Washed i'm the fountain OF