The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-03-30
DUTIES OF PARENTS.
DR.. Talmage's Advice on the Bring
ing Up of Children.
The Dangers and Temptations Which
Surround the NOunE-Necessity
of Wise TrafninE-ResPOn-
sibIIIty of Mothers.
copyright, 1903. by Louis Slopsch.l
Washington

Washington,
This discourse of DR.. Talmage Will
interest young men, while il is full of
advice and encouragement 10 parents
who are trying to bring up their chill
dren Alright; text, Proverbs, 10, l: "A
wise son maketh a glad father; but
foolish son IS the heayiness of his
mother"
In this graphic way Solomon sets
forth the idea that the good or evil be-
havior of children blesses or blights
the parental heart. / know there are
persons who seem TO have no especial
interest in the welfare of their emil
dren. The father says: MY boy must
take the risks / took in life. If he turns
out well. ali right; if he turns out i'll,
he viii have TO bear the consequences.
He has the same chance that had. lie
must take care of himself" y shep-
herd might just as well thrust a lamb
into Il den of lions and say: Little
lamb. take care of yourself"
Nearly all the brute creation are
kind enough TO look after their young.
l was going through a woods, and l
heard a shrill cry in Il nest. L climbed
up to the birds nest, and l found that
the old bird had left the brood to
starve. But tnat is a very rare occur
renee. Generally a bird will pick your
eyes out rather than surrender her
young to your keeping or your touch.
A lion will rend you if you come too
near the whelps; even the barnyard
fowl, with its clumsy foot and heavy
wing will come at YOU if you approach
its young too nearly, and God certain
" intended TO have fathers and moth
erS as kind as the brutes.
Christ comes through all our house
holds to-day, and He says: You take
care of the bodies of your children and
the minds of your children. What are
YOU doing for their immortal soUls?" l
read of a ship that foundered. A life
boat was launched. Many of the pas
sengers were in the water. y mother,
with one hand beating the waves and
the other hand holding her little child
out toward the lifeboat, cried out:
Save my child" And that impas-
stoned cry is the one that finds an echo
in every parental heart in this land to-
day. Save my child!" That man out
there saws: Il have fought my own
way through life. 1 have got along
tolerably well. The world has buff
feted me. and l have had many a hard
struggle. ii doesn't make much differ
ence what hapepns to me, but save my
child" You see. 1 have a subject of
stupendous import, and l am going. as
God may help me, to show the cause of
parental solicitude and then the allevi-
ations of that solicitude.
The first cause of parental sOlicitude,
/ think, arises from the imperfectiOn
of parents on their own part. We all
somehow want our children to avoid
our faults. We hope that if we have
any excenencies they Will copy them,
but the probability is they Will copy
our faults and omit our eXcellencies.
Children are very apt to be echoes of
the parental life. Some one meets
lad in the back street, finds him smOk-
ing. and says: why, am asJounded
at YOU. What would your father say
If he knew this? Where did you get
that cigar2' "Oh. picked it up on the
street" What would your father say
and your mother say if they knew
this?" oh" he replies, that's moth
ing. Ny father smokes" There is not
one Of us to-day who would like o have
cur children copy all our example. And
that is the cause of solicitude on the
part of all of us. We have so many
faults we do not want them copied and
StereCtyped in the lives and characters
Of those who come after us.
Then sOlicitude arises from our CON-
scious insufiiCiency and unwisdom of
discipline Out of 20 parents there
may be one parent who understands
how thoroughly and Sllillfully to dis
cipline: perhaps not more than one out
of 20. We. nearly all of us, err on one
side or on the other. Here is a father
who SAYS: - am going TO bring up
my children right. My sons shall know
nothing but religion. shall see nothing
but religion. and hear nothing but re-
ligiOn." They are routed out at six
o'clock in the morning 10 recite the
Ten. Commandments. They are wax
ened up from the sofa on Sunday night
TO recite the Westminster catechism.
Their bedroom walls are covered with
religious pictures and quotations of
Scripture. and when the boy looks for
the day of the month he looks for it in
a religious almanac. If a minister
comes to the house. he is requested to
take the boy aside and tel him what
great sinner he is. 1t is religion morn
ing. noon and night.
Time passes on. and the parents are
waiting for the return of the son at
night. 1t is nine o'clock. il is ten
o'clock, IL is II o'clock. it is u o'clock.
IL is half-past 10. o'clock. Then they
hear a rafting of the night key. and
George comes in and hastens upstairs
lest he be accosted. His father SAYS:
George. where have you been?" He
saws: II have been out" Yes. he has
been out, and he has been down, and he
has started on the broad road to ruin
for this life and ruin for the life to
come. and the father says to his wife:
Mother. the Ten Commandments are
q failure No use of Westminster cate
,hism. / have done my very best for
that boy. Just see how he has turned
out" All! my friend, you stuffed that
boy with religion. You had no sym
pathy with innocent hilarities. You had
no common sense. a man at midlife
said TO me: Il haven't much desire for
religion. NV father was as good n man
as ever lived. but he jammed religion
down my throat when was boy until
I gos disgEsted with it. and haven't