The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-03-29

straight to perdition. But after awhile
the lad thinks he ought to have a still
larger supply. He has been treated,
and he must treat. He must have wine
suppers. There are larger and larger
expenses.
Result of Lax Discipline.
After awhile one day a messenger
from the bank over the way calls in
and says to the father of the household
of which l am speaking: THE officers
Of the bank would like to have you
step over minute" The father steps |
over, and bank officer says, rs that |
your check?" NO." he says, that is
not my check. l never make an H in
that way. l never put curl to the 'Y'
in that way. That is not my writing;
that Is not my signature; that is a
counterfeit. Send for the police"
stop" says the bank officer, your son
wrote that"
Now the father and mother are wait
ing for the son to come home at night
1t is IL O'clock 1T is half-past IL o'clock,
| it is l o'clock. The son comes through
| the hallway. The father says: my son,
what does all this mean? I gave you
every opportunity. l gave you all the
money you wanted, and here in my old
days l find that you have become a
spendthrift, libertine and sot." The
son says: Nov, father, what is the use
of your talking that way? You told
me to go it, and l just took your sug-
gestion." And so to strike the medium
between severity and too great leni-
ency, to strike the happy medium be-
tween the two and to train our children
| for God and for heaven is the anxiety
of every intelligent parent.
Another great solicitude is in the fact
that so early is developed childish sin
fulness. Morning glories put out their
bloom in the early part of the day, but
as the hot sun comes on they close up.
While there are other flowers that
blaze their beauty along the Amazon
for week at time without closing
yet the morning glory does its work as
certainly as Victoria regia, so there are
some children that just put forth their
bloom, and they close, and they are
gone. There is something supernatural
about them while they tarry, and there
is an ethereal appearance about them
There is wonderful depth to their eye,
and they are gone. They are too deli
cate plant for this world The Heav-
emily Gardener sees them, and he takes
them in.
But for the most part the children
that live sometimes get cross and pick
up bad words in the street or are dis
posed to quarrel with brother or sister
and show that they are wicked You
see them in the Sabbath school class.
They are SO sunshiny and bright you
would think they were always so, but
the mother looking over at them re-
members what an awful time she had
, to get them ready. Time passes on.
They get considerably older, and the
son comes in from the street from a
pugilistic encounter, bearing on his APP
pearance the marks of defeat, or the
, daughter practices some little decep-
ton in the household. The mother
says: II can't always be scolding and
fretting and finding fault, but this must
be stopped" So in many household
there is the sign of sin, the sign of the
truthfulness of what the Bible says
when it declares: They go astray as
t soon as they be born. speaking lies"
Picking at Boys.
Some go to work and try to correct
all this, and the boy is picked at and
picked at and picked at. That always
is ruinous. There is more help in one
good thunderstorm than in five days Of
cold driZzle. Better the old-fashoned
style of chastisement if that be neces-
sary than the fretting and the scolding
which have destroyed so many
There is also a cause of great solicit
tude sometimes because our young peo-
pie are surrounded by SO many tempta-
tons. A castle may not be taken by a
straightforward siege, but suppose there
be inside the castle an enemy, and in
the night he shoves back the bolt and
swings open the door. Our young folks
have foes without, and they have foes
within. Who does not understand it?
Who is the man here who is not aware
of the fact that the young people of
this day have tremendous temptations?
Some man will come to the young
people and try to persuade them that
purity and honesty and uprightness are
sign of weakness. Some man will
take a dramatic attitude. and he will
talk to the young man, and he will say:
you must break away from your
mothers apron strings. You must get
out of that puritanical straitjacket. 1t
is time you were your own master. You
are verdant. You are green. You are
unsophisticated. Come with me; I'll
show you the world. I'll show you life.
Come with me. You need to see the
world. 1t won't hurt you" After
awhile the young man says: well, l
can't afford to be odd. can't afford to
be peculiar. l can't afford to sacrifice
all my friends. I'll just go and see for
myself" Farewell to innocence. which
once gone never fully comes back. Do
not be under the delusion that because
you repent of sin you get rid forever of
, it's consequences. say farewell to in
nocence, which once gone never fully
comes back
Necessity of Early Training.
Begin early with your children. You
stand on the banks of a river and you
, try to change its course. 1t has been
rolling now for 100 miles. You cannot