St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-04-28
PARISH SATURDAY. APRIL 2

At your heart. Our great cities are full
Of temptations, and to vast multitudes
OF parents these temptations become
. matter Of great solicitude.
But now for the nlleyiations. First
of oil, you save yourself a great deal OF
trouble, O. parent. if yon can early
watch the children and educate them
for God and Heaven. "The first i've
years of my life made me an infdel,"
said Tom Paine. A vessel pats out to
sea, and after it has been five days out
there comes a cyclone. The vessel
spring a leak. The hel6 will not work.
What is tile matter? Is it not sea-
worthy? Can you mend it now? 1t is
too late. Down she goes with 250 pas
sengers into watery grave. What was
the time - fix that vessel? What was
the time 10 prepare it for the storm?
In the drydock. All, my friends, do
not wait untn your children get out into
the world. beyond the Narrows and out
on the great voyage of life. 1t is too
late then to mend their morals and
their manners. Zhe drydock of the
Christian home is the place. Correct
the sin now, correct the evil now.
Just look at the character of your
children now and get an intimation of
what they are going to be. You can
tell by the way that boy divides the
apple what his proclivity is and what
his sin will be and what style Of dis
cipline you ought to bring upon him.
You see howshe divides that apple? He
takes ninestknths of it for himself. and
he gives ene-tenth to his sister. Well,
let that 20, and all his life he win want
the best part of everything, and he will
be grinding and grasping to the day of
his death. Cas- sa.s..+ ts,ss
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 change it. But just go to the
source Of that river, 60 to where the
water just drips down on the rock.
Then with your knife make q channel
this way and q channel that way, and
it will take it. Come out and stand
on the banks of your child's life when
it was 30 or 40 years of age, or even
20, and try to change the course Of
that life. It is too late! It is too
late! Go farther up az the source Of
life and nearest to the mothers heart,
where the character starts, and try to
take IL in the right direction. But,
oh, my friend. be careful to make a
line, q distinct line, innocent
hilarity on the one hand and vicious
proclivi9 on the other. Do not think
your Children are going to ruin be-
cause they make racket All healthy
children make a racket. But do not
laugh at your child's sin because it is
smart. II you do, you will crY after
awhile because it is malicious. Re-
member it is what you do more than
what YOU say that is going to affect
your children. Do you suppose Noah
would have got his family to 60 into
the ark II he staid out? No. His sons
would have said: II am not going
into the boat. There'4. something
wrong. Father won't go In. II IA
ther stays out. III stay out" An ON
Ger mayf1tand in case1e and look on
upon = army agAting. but he can
not be much Of an officer, he cannot
excite much enthusiasm on the part
Of his troops standing in . castle or
on hilltop looking off upon the fight.
Il is a Garibaldi or Napoleon /. who
leaps into the stirrups and dashes
ahead. And you stand outside the
Christian life and tell your children
to go in. They will not go. But you
dash on ahead, you enter the king
dom Of God. and they themselves will
become good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Lead if you would have them follow.
Have q family altar. Do not with
long prayers wear out your children's
knees. Do not have the prayer q re-
pulsion. II you have . piano or an
organ or q melodeon in the house,
have it open while you are having
prayers. If you say: II cannot con-
struct a prayer; I am slow Of speech
and never could construct q prayer"
then take Matthew Henry's prayers,
or take the Episcopal church prayer
book. There is nothing better than
that. Put it down on the chair.
gather your children about you and
commend them to God. You say it
will not amount to anything 1t will,
long after you are under the soil.
That SON will remember father and
mother at morning and evening
prayers, and it will be mighty help
to him. And above all, in private
commend your children to God. Say:
Here, Lord, l am--all my imperfec-
tions of discipline and government
here are these immortals-male them
thine forever. The angel that re-
deemeth us from all evil. bless the
lads"
Are your children safe? know 1t
is . stupendous question to ask, but
I must ask it. Are all your children
safe? A mother when the house was
on fire got out the household goods,
many articles of beautiful furniture,
but forgot to ask until too late: "Are
the children safe?" When the ele-
ments are melting with fervent heat
and God shall burn the world up and
the cry of "Fire, firel" shall resound
amid the mountains and the valleys,
will your children be safe?
I wonder il the subject strikes
chord in the heart of any man who
had Christian parentage. but has not
lived as he ought? God brought you
here this morning to have your mem-
ory revived. Did you have q Christian
ancestry? "Oh, yes" says one man.
''If there ever was . good woman, my
mother was good" How she watched
you when you were sick! Others
wearied. If she got weary, she never
theless was wakeful, and the medi-
cine was given at the right time. and
when the pillow was hot she turned
it. And, oh, then when you began to
go astray what grief it was to her
heart!
All the scene comes back. You re-
rr,nmf,ar the chairs vnu remember the