The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-10-10

there are none so humble but that they
have information or warning to impart,
and thus conversations, speeches, sermons
are made to pour helpful knowledge into
the brain day by day Three other main
hobbies fill the creyiees of time that re
main-acculnulating historical and geo
graphical facts regarding the United States;
watching foreign events and endeavoring
to understand their meaning; writing in
these Rambling Thoughts" each week
those things that MUST reach, touch, en-
thuse some heart somewhere.
Along the line of that last mentioned |
hobby let me set down here in closing for
the week thought that came to me as
turned away on recent evening from the
house of friend upon whom deep sorrow
had fallen
The hot-headed and foolish youth says
to himself ''I will see LIFE, and he
associates himself straightway with those
who are clawed all over with the finger
marks of Death. Life is not self-gratifi-
cation. To really live is to be monarch of
oneself Life does not even consist in
having where to lay the head, nor some
what with which to be covered, nor where
withal to be fed. The animals live such
a life almost. To live is to gain and give
away; to gather of good in order to scat
ter it abroad; to travel if needs be the
Via D0lorosd (the way of sadness) so
that the strong hand may be acquired for
leading others to the Delectable Mountains;
to throw out the soul influences freely and
unreservedly so that other souls may be
awakened to their own dormant possibili-
ties These things constitute REAL
life, and their motives and results are the
spirit sword that cleaves a mighty gulf be-
tween the animals and ourselves
TO MINISTER'S We rejoice that
you shepherds of men are growing more
and more practical in your apprehension of
religion. No longer is it solely other
worldliness, nor even largely so. The ap-
proach of the twentieth century is leading
us up to the standards of the first, when
the Man of men fed the hungry crowds
before preaching to them, opened the eyes
of the blind man before giving him advice,
took part in the humble festivities of the
people before performing His initial mira
Gle, and rebuked the foul pursuers Of the
fallen woman before ever a word was
spoken to her own bereaved soul We
listeners of yours are by no means travelling
on ethereal heights; we are down in the
dust and the fray of hard work and hard
ship, and we cry aloud not merely for
religion that shall fit us for the Hereafter
but that shall encourage us and strengthen
us for the Here. We ask religious in
terest in our food, our health, our housing,
as an approximating to your professed
Exemplar. If ye be the Sons of God, ye
then must be the practical, helpful Friends
of men.
TO MOTHERS Study your chill
dren | have no reference at all to that
eager scanning of their features, whereby
you discover the diving image of one of
the progenitors or an ancestor. A careful,
patient intelligent study of their characters
is what is meant As many as are your
children so many are the different charac-
ters you have to deal with. Read the
growing literature on "Child- Study and
by wise application of its more sensible
teachings to your own fedglings, you will
have an immense advantage over teachers
even, and certainly over all Others, in un-
derstanding their mental trend and physical
possibilities. If children were more closely
watched, there would be fewer brutal at
tempts to force square pegs into round
holes, How it is that very marked in
herent differences exist in the members of
family, no one can satisfactorily explain,
but it is your place to find them out even
if you cannot account for them. | am
supposing 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 influences for good and
evil reach over into the next century. ga
nation rises no higher than its mothers. -
TO SCHOOL TEACHERS Your
burdens are heavy, and your patience has
to be monumental. Oft-times your spirit
chafes at the restraint, the weary reitera-
ton, the tread-mill journey of duty year
after year with ever-recurring classes of
restless children whose appreciation Of your
efforts seems to be a little less than moth
ing. Then you grow heart-sick and think
that a short-skirted child might as well be
teaching the ''a-b, alb, and the 20 and
2 are 5, 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 guerilla
fighter after all; yet you feel so. You are
one of vast army, well-organized to save
our country and uplift it from gross and
damning ignorance. When. you realize
that fact fully, the call to you for COM
plete performance of your weary duties
falls not on an unwilling ear, but swells up
an eager heart, anxious to render real, a
lasting benefit to our country, the great
testing place of democracy.
You are not likely to find full satisfac-
ton in the mere details of your work, un
less you yourself understand the principles,
the history, the methods of education; in
other words, unless you study pedagogy.
Yen must know what other teachers have
thought and discovered; you must know the
cbild's mind. Then your profession in its
simplest details will become glorifed before
you.
You are called not only to be the mental
saviour of the children, but your own
knowledge of their imperfect home sur
rnnndings. laws upon Won the need Of being