San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-06-02
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLS.

puppy So'AS youA ootVhuoh W eAS
evil influences of the education
given your children in the "school
of the street." Beginning in the
lowest strata of the little life these
influences grow with its growth
and strengthen with its strength un
til 1t is as securely bound as Samp-
son was after his strength was
taken from him by the shears OF
Delilah.
We have seen that the under
mining of the sweet influences OF
home and the growth in untruth-
fulness, coarseness, vulgarity, pro.
family are the direct result OF this
street education. These undesir-
able requirements come early and
stay late. 1t is seldom that they
are fully eradicated. To attempt
to root them up is. like roofing up
the foundations Of the nature, for
they are seated in its very substra-
tum. They only go out by prayer
and fasting, that is by strong de-
sire and actual starvation; perfect
abstinence from that which has
fed and strengthened them. This
will be found no easy matter, and
it is right here that the ounce Of
is better than the
pound of cure.
Hard upon the heels OF these
evils already mentioned tread
those OF disobedience and idleness.
Just as soon as the home influence
is weakened just so soon is the res
pect for parental wishes disregard
ed. The command Of father and
the request of mother do not weigh
along side of the persuasions Of
street acquaintance that the child
has made. The home orders not
to 60 into certain forbidden places,
such as the saloon or the dance
hall, or not to associate with cer-
tain tough kids known to be such
by the parents, are disregarded (;
the disobedient habit formed
obedience ceases to be virtue and
the authority Of home is gone.
AS the boy or the girl grows
this confirmed habit Of disregard
ing the wishes of father and
mother grows more pronounced
and the habits of those who loaf
around and in the prohibited
places are initiated. Thus the
love Of impure things is inculcated,
the sweetness and charm of the
clean home life no longer attracts
and the boy growing into manhood
is lost to the purity Of thought and
association that is his greatest safe
guard through the temptations Of
his earlier years. The girl learns
to associate in secret with those
whom mother would not approve
of and the mischief is done that
ruins the innocence and ingenious
ness and purity of the young
woman.
This habit Of disobedience goes
down deeper than this. 1t leads
necessarily and inevitably to that
disregard Of authority that is the
foundation of all lawlessness and
ends in downright breaking Of the
laws made by the state. No boy
or girl who has been trained in
habits of obedience at home and
given the reasons for the obedience
demanded, grows disobedient to the
ldWb vi VIC bbdt6 III ldUol lllc. Al
least not one in ten thousand do
and the other one only proves the
worth Of the law of home obedience
that works out 80 great salvation
from criminal practices. There is
no prisoner in the jail of any coun-
ty in this country today who did
not get there by disobedience, and
If he was brought up properly al
home his first disobedience was
that to his parents.
Boys and girls who are properly
trained cannot 60 into open wrong
doing without being ashamed Of
themselves, and it is this must be
overcome before the habit of such
wrong doing can become con
tirmed. The first act of dis
obedience always makes gen
erous boy or girl feel as mean as
the man who has been caught at tn
hencoop of his neighbor. 1t is no
pleasant to think Of, and the NOR,
L I4xra &haro - .-I fo@L