San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-05-12
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLS.

The school having been considered
and the fitness of the teachers for
their work, the instructions to be
given follow next. If, as already
set forth, love is the great quail
fer for the work Of teaching, then
love is to be the first thing taught.
Perfect love casteth out fear.
Fear is the last thing that should
be taught in any home. 1t only
numbs the sensibilities, and
frightens the little soul out of it.
self. Love casts out fear, and fear
is the incarnate devil of home.
Love casts out fear and gives con-
fidence. Out of confidence trust is
born. Trust is the foundation Of
all true obedience. This is the first
work; to teach love so that fear
Will have no place fear displaced,
confidence is established; confid-
ence breeds trust, the only true
foundation on which obedience
rests.
You cannot fool dogs and little
children. They have an instinc-
tive confidence in that which is
worth it, and an instructive dis
trust of the unreal. If as husband
you are not sound at core your
wife may not find it out, but if as
father you are not sound at heart
the little ones will discover it. II
you, as parents, truly love your
little ones and are sound at root,
they will not miss it. They will
ia Ike you for what you are. Your
love will beget theirs, and your
genuineness will engender con-
fidence. To your little ones you
are always the first. To them you
are their first objects Of worship,
their first objects Of reverence, their
refuge and defence and instruction.
There was a deep sense Of the fit
ness and necessity of things in
those old heathens who made pa
rental love and reverence their re-
ligion. Out of this grew the wor-
ship Of ones ancestors. Unnatural
and low in the scale as we deem it,
it is natural.
This confidence in father and
mother comes as natural to the
child as its breath. Just as it takes
its nourishment from mothers
breast, so will it take its truth
from mothers lips. All that you
tell the little ears they drink in
and believe. They will always do
this until you teach them other
wise. You cannot continue the
little ones confidence in you with.
out you are truthful. You must be
uniformly so. What you are to
the child today you must be to-
morrow, or you will confuse its
mind and disturb its trust and
make it suspicious. Not that your
instructions will not take a wider
range, but they will be true to
what the child has already under
stood. If you have taught your
child to be certain in its little
mind that what father and mother
say is so, because they say so, you
have laid the foundation for all
after instruction. They will ma.
turally believe this at the first, but
what is necessary is to have them
believe 1t upon the testimony OF
their own little experiences. When
this is accomplished you have
made marked progress.
When fathers word is taken as
truth and mothers say so for Cos
pei, then obedience comes in as
naturally as light and air when
the doors are opened to the sun. No
boy was ever made truthful by be-
ing told that all liars have their
portion in the lake that burns with
fire and birthstone. Girls are made
liars by the white lies that they
hear mother tell, and boys are
made untruthful by the black lies
and big yarns that father tells. II
your children trust you, and they
cannot unless you tell the truth
they will do as you ask them
They will do this because they dc
trust you. Obedience is the natur
al fruit Of confidence. AS grown
up boys and girls we follow in the
path Of those other grown up boys
and girls whom we have confidence
Mo-, 10