The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-05
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
BY MEMO.


10 MlllSleES.--NN e rejoice lndl you Sneil-
herds of men are growing more and more
practical in your apprehension of relig-
ion. No longer is it solely other-worldli-
ness, nor even largely so. The approach
of the twentieth century is leading us up
to the standards of the first, when the
Man of Men fed the hungry crowds be-
fore preaching to them. opened the eyes
of the blind man before giving him ad
vice, took part in the humble festivities
of the people before performing His ini-
tial miracle, and rebuked the four pur-
suers of the fallen woman before ever
word was spoken to her own bereaved
soul. We listeners of yours are by no
means travelling on ethereal nights; we
are down in the dust and the fray Of
hard work and hardship, and we cry aloud
not merely for a religion that shall fit Us
for the hereafter but that shall encour-
age US and strengthen us for the here.
We ask a religious interest in our food,
our health, our housing, as an approx
mating to your professed eXemplar If
we be the sons of God we then must be
the practical helpful friends of men.
To Mothers-Study your children. l have
no reference at all to that eager scan
ming of their features, whereby you dis
cover the living image" of one of the
progenltorS or an ancestor. A careful, pa
tient, intelligent study of their charac-
terS is what is meant. AS many as are
your children so many are the different
characters you have to deal with. Read
the growing literature on "Child-Study,"
and by a wise application of its more
sensible teachings TO your own fledgiings,
you VIII have an immense advantage over
teachers even, and certainly over all
others, in understanding their mental
trend and physical possibilities. If chill
dren were more closely watched, there
would be fewer brutal attempts to force
square pegs into round holes" How 1t
is that very marked inherent differences
exist in the members of one family, no
one can satisfactorily explain, but It IS
| your place TO find them out, even if you
| cannot account for them. l am suppos-
/ ing you have not turned your babes over
! to the tender mercies of servants. Do
not minify, but glorify the office YOU hold.
Recognize that its influence for good, and
! evil, reach over into the next century. "a
nation rises no higher than its mothers"
| To School Teachers-Your burdens are
! heaVy and your patience has to be mon
! umental OftimeS your spirit chafes at
! the restraint, the weary reiteration, the
! tread-mill journey of duty year after year
! with ever-recurring classes of restless
! children, whose appreciation of your eff
| forts seems to be a little less than moth
| ing Then you grow heartsick and think
| that a short-skirted child might as well
be teaching the ABB abb and the '3 and
are s." as you; though you have been
through normal and much preparation
| beside Weary heart, you overlook two or
three things, perhaps more.
You are not stray, unsupported guer-
! lila fighter after all; yet you feel so. You
| are one of a vast army, well organized to
save our country and uplift it from gross
| and damning ignorance. When you real
| ize that fact fully the call to you for a
! complete performance of your weary du-
| ties falls, not on an unwilling ear, but
| swells up an eager heart, anxious to rem
der a real, a lasting benefit to our coun-
try, the great testing place of democracy.
You are not likely to find full satisfac-
| ton in the mere details of your work. I'M
less you yourself understand the princ-
pies, the history, the methods of educa-
| ton; in other words, unless you study
| pedagogy. You must know what other
teachers have thought and discovered; you
must know the childs mind. Then your
profession in its simplest details, will be-
| come glorified before you.
You are called not only to be the mental
savior of the children but your own
| knowledge of their imperfect home sur
roundings, lays upon you the need of be-
ing their moral savior too. Then cry
aloud, patient, hard working soul, for less
lengths of rivers in China and more time
to civics, the plainest principles of our
| government, and ethics, the basal moral
! groundwork on which all denominations
are agreed
To Oficeholders and Seekers-Before
you lay down your duties or before you
assume them, read "Washington's Fare
well Address" No one will accuse you
! of being musty antiquarian; you will be
merely a child in the presence of mas
| ter mind. This prophetic document-be-
| side it there is one other Lincoln's speech
! at Gettysburg-is as tremulous with sig
| nifcance and startling in its adaptation
one hundred years after it's appearance,
| (Sept 10, 1856 as it has been in every de-
| cade since it was first penned. See how
| he emphasizes individual probity; char
acter in office; the gain or loss by the
| whole body because of the worth or
! Worthlessness of one member of it. Meas
ure yourself beside its standards of Off
| cial integrity and see whether the COM
| parison is odious as far you are con-
| cerned / care not how obscure an office
| YOU hold, or may want to hold, you are
! the real anarchist in our midst, the ruth
| less destroyer of national honor, the
! heartless contributor of poison drops in
| the stream of our national life, If you are
| administering your duties from motives
of self-see1ing, and in faithlessness. Let
| us all with one accord in these days of
| intense excitement ran 10 studying tne
| dangers that Washington foresaw; and
see what contribution we are rendering
towards the accomplishment of the fin
| ished splendor of our destiny which these
| early men saw dimly by the eye of pa
triotic faith.
To Voters-The patriot, Warren, said:
at is sweet to die for ones country"
! This obscure hand writes down, at is SOL
emn to live for ones country" The dead
rest from their labors; but upon the living
devolves the choice of men to bear on
their shoulders the mantle Of power 1t
! is a truth as immutable as the throne of
| God, that only men who resemble in some
| degree in breath and nobility Of purpose,
! the founders Of our republic, are worthy
| to carry it on. Be neither sheep to be
| driven nor donkeys to be led when the
moment comes for exercising your man.
! hood suffrage. Study the great questions
| OF the day, not merely from the interests
| that seem TO most Immediately gather
| about your own doorstep, but from the
point OF view OF the general welfare OF
| the whole country; in other words, let