Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-05-26

tncy must execute lnem, perform lnenl,
whether they were wicked or good.
There were two wrong things about
Jephthah's vow. First he ought never
to have made it. Next, having made it,
it were better broken than kept. But
do not take on pretentious airs and say:
81 could not have done as Jephthah
did" If in former days you had been
standing on the banks of the Gangcs
and you had been born in India, you
might have thrown your children to
the crocodiles. 1t is not because we are
naturally any better, but because we
have more Gospel light
Now l make very practical use of
this question when | tell you that the
sacrifice of Jephthahs daughter was a
type of the physical, mental and spirit
ual sacrifice of 10000 children in this
day. There are parents all unwitting-
ly bringing to bear upon their children
a class of influences which will as GER
tainly ruin them as knife and torch de-
stroyed Jephthah's daughter. While
speak, the whole nation, without emo
ton and without shame, looks upon the
stupcndous sacrifice.
In the first place, I remark that much
of the system of. education in our day
is a system of sacrifice. When children
spend six or seven hours in school and
then must spend two or three hours in
preparation for school the next day,
will you tell me how much time they
will have for sunshine and fresh air
and the obtaining of that eXuberance
which is necessary for the duties OF
coming life? No one can feel more
thankful than | do for the advancement
of common school education. The
printing of books appropriate for
schools, the multiplication of philo-
sophical apparatus, the establishment
of normal schools, which provide for
our children teachers of largest caliber,
are themes on which every philanthro-
pist ought to be congratulated. But
this herding of great multitudcs of
children in ill-ventilatcd schoolrooms
and poorly equipped halls of instruction
is making many of the places of knowl-
edge in this country huge holocaust
Politics in many of the cities gets into
educational affairs and while the two
political parties are scrabbling for the
honors Jephthah's daughter perishes.
1t is so much so that there are many
schools in the country to-day which are
preparing tens of thousands of invalid
men and women for the future; so that,
in many places, by the time the child's
education is finished the child is fin
ished! In many places in many cities
of the country, there are large appro-
priations for everything else and cheer
full appropriations, but as soon as the
appropriation is to be made for the edu-
cational or moral interests of the city
we are struck through with an economy
that is well-nigh the death of us.
In my parish in Philadelphia little
child was so pushed at school that she
was thrown into a fever, and in her
dying delirium, all night long, she was
trying to recitc the multiplication Ia
Bile. In my boyhood remember that in
our class Mt school there was one lad
who knew more than all of us put to-
gether. If we were fast in our arith-
J metic, he eXtricated us When we stood
up for the spelling class, he was almost
always the head of the class. Visitors
came to his fathers house, and he was
always brought in as a prodigy. At Is
years of age he was an idiot. lie lived
ten years an idiot and died an idiot,
not knowing his right hand from his
left or day from night. The parents and
the teachers made him an idiot.
You may futter your pride by forcing
your child to know more than any Other
children, but you are making sncri
flee of that child if by the additions tC
its intelligence you are making Il sub
traction from its future. The child vii
go away from such maltreatment will
10 eXuberance to fight the battle o
life. Such children may get along very
well while you take care of them, but
when YOU are old or dead, alas fol
them If through the wrong system o
education which you adopted they
have no swarthiness or force OF charac
ter to take care of themselves. Be care
full how you make the child's head ach'
or its heart huttcr. hear great dea
about black mans rights, and China
mans rights, and Indians rights, ant
woman's rights. Would to God tha
somebody would rise to plead for chill
dren's rights The Carthagians use'
10 sacrifice their children by putting
them into the arms of an idol whicl
thrust forth its hand. The child wa
put into the arms of the idol, and NJ
soonertouched the arms than it dropped
into the fire. But it was the art Of tn
mothers to keep the children smiling
and laughing until the moment the,
died. There may be fascination ant
Il hilarity about the styles OF education
of which / am speaking, but it is onl.
laughter at the moment of sacrifice
Would to God there were only on
Jephthahs daughter!
Again, there are many parents wh'
are sacrificing their Children viii
wrong system of discipline-too grca
rigor or too great leniency. There az
children in families who rule the house
hold. The high chair in which the in
FAINT sits is the throne, and the rattle i
the scepter, and the other childrel
make up the parliament where fathe
and mother have no vote! Such chill
dren come up to be miscreants. Their
is no chance in this world for chill
that has never learned to mind. Sue
people become the botheration of tn
church of God and the pest of the worlt
Children that do not learn to obey hu
man authority are unwilling to lear
to obey divine authority. Children wi
not respect parents whose authorit
: they do not respect. Who arc thes
,,ounr ~, :, 4bat c1yn urpr fbrOuph th