The record-union., 1896-10-11
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
BY MEMO.
(C0pyriohfa,y :

copyrighted
(TheSe '"ThOughtS'' by q Ia,-,,,,, ,.o,ob q
quarter OF million homes scattered in
every State of the Union In mis- county
they can be found in the columns of this
ments with the author for their exclusive
appearance)
To Ministers: We rejoice that Won
shepherds OF men are growing more
ana more practical in your apprehen-
sion OF religion. No longer is if solely
other worldiness, 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 before preaching 10
them, opened the eyes of the blind man
before giving him advice, took part in
the humble festivities of the people be-
fore performing His initial miracle. 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 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 encourage us
and strengthen us for the here. We
ask religious interest in our food, our
health, our housing, as an approximate
ing to your profeSsed EXemplar. If ye
be the sons of God, We then must be
the practical. helpful friends of men.
To Mothers: Study your children.
have no reference at all to that eager
scanning OF their features, whereby YOU
discover the living image" of one OF
the progenitors or an ancestor. A care
ful. patient, intelligent study of their
characters 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 wise applica-
ton of its more sensible teachings to
your own fiedglings, you will have an
immense advantage over teachers
even. and certainly over all Others in
understanding their mental trend and
physical possibilities. If children were
more closely watched there would he
fewer brutal attempts to force square
pegs into round holes.' How it is that
very marked inherent differences exist
in the members of one family, no one
can satisfactorily explain, but ii is your
place to find them out, even if you can
not 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 it's influences for good
and evil reach over into the next cen
tury. "A nation rises no higher than
its mothers"
To School Teachers: Your burdens are
heavy and your patience has to be mon
umental. Ofttimes your spirit chafes at
the restraint, the weary reiteration, the
treadimlll journey of duty year after
year with ever-recurring classes of rest
less children, whose appreciation of
your efforts seems to be a little less
than nothing. Then you grow heartsick
and think that short-skirted child
might as well be teaching the ''a-b,
ab," and the % and = are >, as you;
though you have been through Nor
mall and much preparation beside.
Weary heart. you overlook two or
three things, perhaps more.
You are not a stray, unsupported
guerrilla fighter after all: yet you feel
so. You are one Of a vast army, we'll
organized to save your country and
uplift it from gross and damning ignor-
ance. When you realize that fact fully
the call to you for a complete perform
ance 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 salts
faction iE the mere details of your
work unless you yourself understand
the principles, the history, the methods
of education; in other words unless
you study pedagogy. You must know
what other teachers have thought and
discovered you must know the child's
mind. Then your profession in its
simplest details win become glorified
before you.
You are called not only to be the
mental savior of the children, but your
own Knowledge of their imperfect
home surroundings lays upon you the
need of being their moral savior. too.
Then cry aloud, patient, hard working
soul, for less time to be given to learn
ing the names and lengths Of rivers in
China and more time to civics, the
plaineSt principles of our Government.
and ethics, the basal moral ground
work on which all denominations are
agreed.
To Office Holders and Seekers: Be-
fore you lay down your duties or be-
fore you assume them, read Wash
ington's Farewell Address" No one
will accuse you of being a musty anti
Guarian; you will be merely a child
III the presence of master mind.
This prophetic document-beside it
there is one other, Lincoln's speech at
Gettysburg-is as tremulous with sig
niffcance and startling in it's adaptation
one hundred years after its appearance
September 10, 1866 as it has been in
every decade since it was first penned.
See how he emphasizes individual pro-
bity, character in office, the gain or
loss by the whole body because of the
worth or WOrthleSSnesS of one member
of it, Measure yourself beside it's
standards of official integrity and see
whether the comparison is odious as
far as you are concerned. / care not
how obscure an office you hold, or may
want to hold, you are the real anarch-
ist in our midst, the ruthless destroyer
of national honor the heartlesS con-
tributor of poison drops in the stream
of our national life, if you are admin
istering your duties from motives Of
I-Seeklng anu III ldllnltSSlltSS- Let
us all with one accord in these days Of
intense excitement fall to studying the
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 patriotic faith.
To Voters: The patriot, Warren.