Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1899-06-02
VIC. 7. U. COLUMN.

holic drinks Will make the pupil want
TO try them for himself, we reply:
If we tell the boy the perlls of the
rapids in the smooth, safe-looking
stream above the falls, will he imme-
diately wish to embark thereon? Is it
II rule that teaching the consequence of
evil is only furnishing motive for inn
medately plunging into that evil9 If
so, there must be something radically
wrong in the most authoritative of all
teaching; for all through the Bible the
blessings of right doing are coupled
with vivid descriptions of the conse-
quece of following the wrong Geri-
zine and Ebal stand together.
am sure the great body of teachers
in our land will agree tina, it Will be
safe for us to follow in method the Great
Teacher.
He made the human mind, and he
knows the laws of It's development far
better than we ever can. after all our
study
We teach the need Of pure air and
good ventilation by showing its impor-
lance and relation TO health, how to
get it, and the consequence OF its OBJ
seuce.
If you teach the need of oxygen by
showing the consequences of breathing
vltiated air, are you thereby teaching
imperfect ventilation. Such a claim
would be absurd. And yet recent
writer refers to teaching the evil nature
and effects of alcoholic drinks, as
teaching intemperance.
Do the vivid descriptions of intemper-
ance in the woes the Bible pronounceS
upon drunkards teach intemperance?
These obiectors certainly need new
AID expunged version of the greatest
of all manuals of instruction.
Experience after all must decide, and
happily we are not without precedent.
Wherever in the forty-two states OF our
country the spirit and letter of the law
requiring this study are obeyed, and
well graded text books containing the
truths the laws requirers taught on this
topic are used, with the same wise
and thorough methods of teaching as
in the case of other branches, pupils
have not consequently rushed headlong
10 the saloon. Ga the contrary an in
teiligent aversion ,1 >tcOng drink, and
other narcotics I- magnItc>t; fewer
cigarette, are smoked, aud pupils are
more careful 10 obey other laws Of by
gieGe. Irving an occasional temper
ance exhortation in the school room
may take less time and study ON the
part Of The teacher, but compared with
lessons that guide the pupil in in
diligently understanding the reasons
for total abstinence from alcohol, tobac-
co, and other narcotics, and for obedi-
ence 10 other laws of health, the mere
exhortation or socalled moral homlly
falls UNNECESSARILY short. The prophet
said: My people are destroyed for
lack of knowledge no! for lack of
exhortation. To a right minded child
or youth, the most impressive of all
moral lessons is the one that convinces
understanding, and is therefore lodged
IN his reason. That all children and
youth aie not right minded towards
alcohol and tobacco is evidence Of the
deep wound these substances have
made upon our humanity through IN
heritarcc, upon children and children :
children. That some Of these, heavily
weighted with the sins of the fathers,
will 20 wrong any way does not prove
that faithful instruction is useless in all
other cases.
TO the third objection we would put
the question: Shall we make no at
tempt to teach the children better, be-
cause the fathers drink and smoke?
Because some parents murder the
Queens English, we do not therefore
think it useless or disrespectful to par
ents to teach the children correct speech
and as consequence the generations
rise in the scale of better utterance.
The difficulties of teachers who were
commanded to teach this topic and
given nothing to do with but the i'm
perfect, badly graded books first put
upon the market are appreciated. But
better day has dawned. Well graded
manuals of instruction that contain
these truths adapted TO all classes are
published in great abundance and vari-