The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-04-06

pers. There are larger and laTger ex-
penses.
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 house
hold Of which I am speaking: The
officers of the bank would like TO have
you step over a minute" The father
over and a bank officer says, is
that your check?' NO" he
that is not my check. / never make
an H in that way. I never put a
curl to tie " in that way. That is
not my writing; that is not my sigma
ture; that is a counterfeit. Send for
the police STOP" says the bank Off
GER. your son wrote that"
Now the father and mother are wait
ing for the son to come home at night.
It is IL o'clock, it's 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? l gave
you every opportunity. 1 gave you
all h money you wanted, and here IN
my old days I find that you have be-
come a sp~endthrift, a libertine and a
sot." The son says: Now, father.
what is the use Of your talking that
way? You told me TO go it, and l just
ook your suggestion" And so to
strike the med between severity
and too great le.. ncy to strike the
happy medium between the two and
to train our children for God and for
heayen is the anxiety of every intelli-
gent parent.
Another great solicitude is in the
fact that so early is developed child
ish sinfulness. Morning glories put
out their bloom in the early part or
the day, but as the hot sun comes on
they close UP. While there are other
4--o- -L.- AJ4.4 ~Ia;- hoo Ir,- o1nn0
the Amazon for a week at a time with
out closing, yet the morning glory does
it's work as certainly a. Victoria regia,
SO there are some children that just
put forth their bloom, n they close,
and they are gone. There is something
supernatural about them while they
tarry, and there is an ethereal appear
ance about them. There is a wonder
full depth to their eye, and they are
gone. They are too delicate a plant
for this world. The Heavenly Garden
er 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
n show that they are wicked. You
see them in the Sabbath school class.
They are sc sunshiny n 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 t(he
son comes in from the street from a
pugilistic encounter, bearing on his
appearance the marks of defeat, or
the daughter practices some little de-
ception 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 a
household there is the sign of SIM, the
sign of the truthfulness of what the
Bible says when it declares, "They go
astray as soon as they be borne, speak
ing lies"
PICKING AT A BOY
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 n
good thunderstorm than in five days
of cold drizZle. Better the old fash
toned style of chastiSement if hat be
necessary han the fretting and the
scolding which have destroyed so
n
There is also a cause of great solicit
Jude sometimes because our young
people are surrounded by so many
temptations. A castle may not be TAX
en- by a straightforward siege, but sup
pose there be inside the castle an en-
envy, 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 ire
mendouS temptations?
Some man will come to the young
people and try to persuade them that
.,,~,& o-l I@-1 49, -~-s-ht-oC
are a sign of weakness. Some man
will take a dramatic attitude. and he
will talk to h young man, and he will
say: You must break away from
you mothers apron strings. You
must get out of that puritanical strait
jacket. Tt is time you were your w
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, I can't afford to be odd.
I can't afford to be peculiar. I can't
afford to sacrifice all my friends. I'll
just go n 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 con-
sequences. I say farewell to innocence
which once gone never fully comes
back.
Oh, how many traps set for the
young! Styles of. temptation just suit
ed to them. Do you oppose that a man
who went clear to the depths of dissi-
patton went down in n great plunge?
Oh, no! At first it was a fashionable
hotel. Marble floor. No unclean pic
lures behind the counter, but the click
Of u glass to the elegant sentiment
You ask that young man nov to go
into some low restaurant and get a
drink, and he would say, DO you
mean to insult me?" But the fashion
able and the elegant hotel is not al
ways close by, and nov the young mar
is on the down grade. Further and
further down, until he has about struck
the bottom of the depths of ruin. Now
he is in the low restaurant. The cards
so greasy you a hardly tell who has
the best hand. Gambling for drinks
Shuttle away. The landlord stands in
his shirt sleeves, with his hands on his
hips, waiting for an order to fill up the
glasses.
THE WORM THAT NEVER DIES.