St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-03-20
Our Children.
A paper read at the county executive meet
ing at East Barnet Tuesday March H. by
Mrs i. f. Lewis,

Won DO mot prize your blessings over much
You almost are too tired TO pray tonight
There is no subject in the world so
full of interest to mothers as the sub
iect, our children. We plan and
work for their comfort and welfare,
and while | would not ignore the faith
er's love and care for the little ones,
their training seems to rest largely
with the mother "The fountain
cannot rise higher than its source, y
and if women must do this work
then the women must see to 1t that
this generation produces strong,
noble, intelligent and watchtul
mothers. And it seems to me that
there is no work to be undertaken
by the W. c. T. U. in every communi-
tv more needed than this very work
There are scores OF mothers in
every community who are absolute
~ blind TO the danger to which their
children are daily exposed. Mothers
will not believe that their own boys
and girls are capable of anything
but purity and innocence,
For example: When | was
teacher in the public school, | saw
girl OF twelve years pass a note to
boy sitting near her. | walked to
the boy, took the note from his hand,
opened and read it. The language it
contained was perfectly vile. | in
vestigated the matter and found
that it was not the only thing of the
kind that she was guilty of. She
was not a girl who had borne bad
name; she had a good Christian
mother, who was as careful and low
ing as the majority of mothers are.
| called on her that night and told
her all about it. Lulu never could
have written such note" she said,
"she does not know anything about
such things, she has always been so
innocent" took the note from my
pocket, and upon reading it she burst
into tears, saying: Il never could
have believed it if had not seen it
myself"
Her daughter had found associates
among ioul.minded children, who
had impaired to her knowledge
which had poisoned her through and
through.
]. II. Kellogg in one of our leaflets
says: "Of all the yawning pits
which lie concealed beneath the feet
of our boys, none are more numerous
than those through which so many
thousands fall into the stygian sea
of impurity. Every mother ought
to be thoroughly awakened IN the
work of saving those who are yet
pure and rescuing those whose gar
ments are already soiled by contact
with vice" Through the mother S
meetings we can do some of this
work of instructing the mothers,
and it is the duty of the w. c. 7. u
to do it because nobody else does it
Many think that mothers meet
ings do not pay because just the
class they wish to reach do not al
ways attend them. But as think
over my experience in this matter,
can see many reasons for this. A
little leahet, by Jessie Brown Hilton
will be found helpful to any who
wish to begin this work. One point
she emphasizes where we have faileC
is in advertising. She says adver
tise,l advertise, advertise, not only
one meeting but every meeting
Advertise all over town, not only il
the church but in the stores anC
depots and on the street corners
Whatever you do, do it well. Agitat
and invite and the women will come
A short time ago we tried som
mothers meetings and though tn
attendance was small, there cam
two or three mothers who were ther
tor the purpose OF getting some hell
in the training of their little ones
We had provided leaflets and wer
,, able to furnish each mother withjus
what she needed, Shortly after this
a woman who is the mother OF hv
children called on me and as w
= talked about some of the evils t
which our children were exposed,
said, DO you talk with your boy
about these things, do they kno,
that they can get all the knowlede
o they require from your" Oh no, 81
i couldn't talk to them. advised hC
to establish a confidence at once b
tween herself and her boys, and ga,
her two or three leaflets which to
her just how to do it, | met h
about two weeks afterwards ar