The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-12-22
THE CHILD
AT HOME
Sermon By Rev. ". NJ.
Kincaid.
SEVENTH IN THE SERIES
Duties of Parents and Of Sons and
Daughters Dwelt on by
Speaker.

The following Is tine SSNch'i SSii
in the series being delivered by Rev
w. M. Kincaid on The Making of
Happy Home" and is directed particu-
larly to the duty toward the child;
The debt of a child to a true home is
one that can never be paid. 1t dates
from the first moment of their being;
IL increases as the days and the years
pass on There is first the period Oh
helpless infancy with it's broken nights
and toilsome days, its unsleePlhs
fhoughtfulness and unselfish sacrlnce
There is the period of training and
teaching when the bodily powers are
being developed, the feet taught 10
walk the hands to handle, the TONGUE
TO speak; when the mental faculties are
being drawn out, and when all inc
functions of life are being trained 10
their several uses. There are the DAYS
and weeks of sickness when the lamp
never goes out in the room py night
and the pale, weary watcher accepts no
relief till the danger is passed. lnefe
are the long years of anxiety, OF hopes,
of disappointments, of pains and tolls.
No the best that a child can do Tor a
true father and mother VIII never re-
paw them for what they have done ior
Them. The question, then, of the chill
.draIrs mart in the home is an important
one They have their place In the mar
ing of the home-life. Dreary, indeed, -
that household where children nave
never come: and very lonely ana ues-
olate is the home where they hdNe
come. only to stay for while and then
vanish. From their earliest infancy
,biIdren have a very sacred part In
the family life. Then through all tne
years that they remain under the snei-
5er Of the old home-roof. and even art
mr. tbev have left il to- set up homes OF
their own. they have duties to perform
and obligations to fulfill TO those VIM
rave them birth and watched over
their helpless years. ,,o
There is no child in any true nolle
90 small as to have no influence. EVEN
.be newborn baby affects UNCONSCIOUS
Nv the whole family life by lts coihlhs.
Indeed, il is an emperor, Win crow w =
and sceptre and from its throne on lls
mothers breast. II rules the houS ,hot
,,,lar of ancient Greece, who pointing 10
his little child, said to visltlng piince;
.-Tbere is the real ruler of Greece Anu
when he was asked To- explain hlnsen,
said. II rule Greece; put ms Iilosne
rules me. and he rules his mother
Therefore, he rules Greece. Ana, ne
added there never was a worse deS-
not" The old proverb says, The world
Is ruled from the nursery. Ana there
IN a most deep sense in which II is true.
The father out in the busy world at his
work, has a lighter, warmer, drawer
heart because of the baby at home
The mother gets through her duties
more easily because or the little one
sleeping in it's crib or kicking up It's
heels on the floor beside her. The Older
children are gentler, more quiet, more
thoughtful since baby came. And s.
the old prophet says, "A little chllc
shall lead them" Yes. from the nur'
sery the world is ruled; within th'
nursery our future patriots and citi
zens are to be found in word, the
generation which, in twice ten years
will be the ruling generation.
What then, is the child's part in tn
making of a home what ii should be
I have tried to show you in these ser
mons I have been preaching what
true home ought to be. 1t ought to b
a place where love rules, beautifu
bright. joyous. full of tenderness, .
place in which both parents and chill
dren are growing better and happie
each day. No matter how humble il /!
how plain. how small. il should be tn
dearest spot on the earth to them.
should be made so full of affection,
attractive that though in after yea'
one may wander to the very ends
the earth, the home of his childhoC
will still cast its invisible lines of IL
nuence about him and draw irresistib
upon his heart. AS long as 1t exis
il ought to be the one spot in all Il
world to which he instinctively tur1
in the hour of trouble and danger, Il
one refuge of his soul in trial and gri'
Have childhood and youth anything
do in helping to realize this ideal
home? Is 1T altogether the paren
work? So far as infancy goes the
certainly is no responsibility. Here t
father and mother must do all. p
with the years of growing consciou
ness come obligations and duties, n
then the child helps either to make
to mar the home blessedness and joy
The first great duty of the child
the home is obedience. Children, oh
your parents in the Lord: for this
right" 1t Is right, not only because
Is commanded by God, but because {
reason and conscience assent to it;
only because it is enjoined by Chris
anity but because it is customary ey
among non-Christian people; not OF
because a voice from heaven enjoins
but because the voice of nature in ,
own breasts tells us that children Gus
to be obedient to their parents; Il
they ought to serve, not commal
that they ought to rejoice their d
ents' hearts by deferring to their wis
and not to grieve them by their unf
conduct. Hence when Paul says to
~ child in the home: "Obey your p
ents, ne Is not demanding anyth
unreasonable. anything unfair, a
thing new, but simply what is natu
To refuse to obey is to run the ris
nay. more-to ensure the certainty
wrecking the life and making imr
sible the realization Of all its fai,
brought up in a family where it is
taught to obey is pretty sure to t
out a bad citizen, a breaker of the I;
of his country, violator of the RIG
of his fellow-men. The parents st
to the child in place of God; they st
In place of law-giver and magistr;
they stand in place of nature itself;
therefore the child ought to be tau,
as the earliest lesson, to obey its 7
ents
Am / speaking this evening to So
lad In whose mind the question sol
times arises, rs it manly to yield
my parents-to DO their bidding in
THINGS" Behold Jesus till thirty "
of age yielding to the control Of
parents. Was IL manly in Him? 7
manliness never wants to know II
than that a thing is right, that 4
duty. Devotion to duty at any cos
one Of the first elements of manlin
This does not mean that the child
the home Is to be n slave The bo,