Connecticut western news., 1900-03-29
FOR YOUNG AND OLD.
DR TALMAGE BREACHES A SERMON
 ON HOME LIFE.

stun the Young People With Reli- zion, Says the Great Divine.
 ] WARRINGTON, March 25.-This dis course of Dr. Talmage will interest young men, while 1t is full of advice and encouragement to parents who are trying to bring up their children alright; text. Proverbs x, 1, "A wise son maketh a glad father, but foolish son Is the heaviness 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. l know there are persons who seem to have no especial interest in the welfare of their cbil- dren. The father says; My boy must take the risks I took in life. If he turns out well, all right. If he turns out III, he will have to bear the conse- uuences. He has the same chance that I had He must take care of him self" A shepherd might just as well thrust a lamb into a den of lions and say, ''Little lamb, take care of your self"
 Nearly all the brute creation are kind enough to look after their young. was going through woods, and heard a shrin cry in a nest. I climbed up to the birds nest, and I found that the old bird had left the brood to starve. But that is very rare occur renee. Generally 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 certainly intended to have fathers and mothers as kind as the brutes.
 Christ comes through all our house. holds today, 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 soulsg l read of a ship that foundered. A, life boat was launched. Many of the pas sengers were in the waters. A mother, with one hand beating the wave and the other hand holding her little child out toward the lifeboat, cried out, Save my childv' And that impassion- ed cry Is the one that finds an echo in every parental heart in this land today. Save my childw That man out there says: "I have fought my own way through life, have got along tolerably well, the world has buffeted me, and I have had many a hard struggle. It don't make much difference what hap pens to me, but save my childp' You see have a subject of stupendous inn port. and am going, as God may help me, to show the cause of parental solic- itude and then the alleviations of that solicitude.
 Parental soncitude.
 The first cause of parental solicitude, I 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 excellences they will copy them. But the probability is they will copy our faults and omit our excellences.
 
 the parental life. Some one meets a lad in the back street. finds him smok- ing and says: Why, I am astounded at you! What would your father say if he knew this? Where did you get that cigar?" .'Oh, I picked 1t up on the street." What would your father say and your mother say if they knew this?" Oh" he replies, that's noth- ing. My father smokes" There is not one of us today who would like to have our children copy all our exam pies. And that is the cause of solici- tude on the part of all of us. We have so many faults we do not want them copied and stereotyped in the lives and characters of those who come after us.
 Then solicitude arises from our con- scious insutticiency and unwisdom of discipline. Out of 20 parents there may be one parent who understands how thoroughly and skillfully 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 father who says. "I 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 6 o'clock in the morning to recite the Ten Commandments. They are awakened up from the sofa on Sunday night to recite the Westminster Catechism. Their bedroom walls are covered with religious pictures and quotations of -S rfy,fu ylA,x k~<r l~o 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 tell him what a 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. It is 9 o'clock, it Is 10 o'clock, it is II o'clock, it is 12 o'clock, it is half past 12 o'clock. Then they hear a rat itling of the night key, and George comes in and hastens up stairs lest he be accosted. His father says, George, where have you beenW He says, "I 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 a failure; no use. of Westminster Catechism; I have done my very best for that boy; just see how he has turned out" Ah, my friend. you stuffed that boy with religion; you had no sympathy with innocent hilarities; you had no common sense. A man at midlife said to me, q haven't much desire for religion; my father was as good a man as ever nv. ed, but he jammed religion down my throat when I was a boy until I got disgusted with it, and I haven't want ed any of 1t since" That father erred on one side.
 Why Discipline Fails.