Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-01-24
Mrs. Eva Mlnkler's paper.


the soul;
And she 1t 10 who stamps the coin of character,
makes the being who would be a savage
But for her gentle care. a christian man."
Home lie the first and most important
school of character. 1t 10 there that every
human being receives his best training, or his
worst. tits there that he imbibes those princi.
pies which In after years will help to form the
standard of morality.
The christian mother can especially plant and
cherish the seeds Of truth and morality, for she
becomes what che has been called, ''the divinity
of infancy" The mother 10 the angel spirit Of
the home. Her love CLOVIS in her sympsshies and
reigns in all her thoughts and deeds.
It's swofld wide fact that woman equips nan
for the VOYAGE Of Life; thao though man executes
. project she dts him for 1t, beginning In his
childhood. A man discovered America, but q
woman equipped the voyage. Every effective per
son leaving his mark on the world 10 but another
Columbus fer whose furnishing some Isabella In
the form of his mother lays down her jewelry,
her vanity and her comforts
Southey says: "Live o. long ~ you may, the
first twenty years Is the longest half of your life
1t 10 in the training for service through life that
lies the most important moulding of the hrst
twenty years Of life, and It Is in this training
school of home that the mothers may hope 70
raise the present standard Of morals for 1t 10 here
that the child the man. forms those principles of
conduct which endure through life and cease only
when life closes. The tiniest bits OF opinion
sown In the minds of children In private life
aftsrward Issue forth to the world and become
Its public opinion. For nations are gathered out
of nurseries and they (the mothers) who hold the
leading strings Of children, may even exercise q
greater power than those who WELD the
rcigns of government Well did the poet say:
"The hand that rocks the cradle
IL the hand that rules the world"
mother with her four year old child in hsr
arms asked clergyman when she ought to COM
inence to teach her child. He replied: "If you
have not already begun YOU have lost just four
years. From the first smile that CLEANS upon an
infants cheek your opportunity begins. The
child's character 10 the neceus Of the mans, all
after education is but superposition, the form of
the crystal remains the same"
The homes, which are the nurseries of our
children who are growing up into men and
women, will be good or bad according to the
power that governs them. Where the daily life Of
the parents 10 honest and virtuous, where the
VIC
expect to find boys and girls who will live above
impure acts and help to make the community In
which they live purer and better, hence, the Inn
portance of parents making good tracks. Zone
good mother" said Geo. Herbert sis worth a
hundred school masters. In he home she Is q
loadstone, loadstone to all eyes. Example is
far more than precept It is instruction In action.
1t is teaching without words. BY the instruction
of acts the character is formed. The several acts
of daily life may seem trivial; like snowaakes
they fall unperceiyed, each flake added to the
pile produces In itself no sensible change, yet the
accumulation Of snow flakes makes the avalanche.
SO repeated acts, one following the other, deter
mine the actions of our children for good or evil;
In word. form their moral character. The
mother has better opportunity to shape the
character Of the child than the father has, so her
examp'ei is of greater Importance in the home.
Why 30! The home is womsn's domain, It is her
kingdom, where she exercises entire control. The
little people there look mp to her for everything.
She Ia example and model, and unconsciously
they initiate her. These influences one writer
likened to the cutting of letters In the bark of
young tree. He said they widen and grow with
age The carly impressions made for morality
and principal are like seeds dropped in the
ground which lie there and terminate for time,
afterwards springing up into acts and thoughts
and habits. Thus the mother lives again in Ter
children. Her habits become theirs, and her
moral character is ylsibly repeated In them. I,
is not saying too much to aver that the happiness
or misery, the enlightenment or Ignorance, the
civilization or barbarism Of the world depends
In very high degree upon the exercise of won.
ans power in her special kingdom-the home
Emerson says: "A sufficient measure OF ciyilIzo
ton Ia due to the influence of good mothers. The
real worth and stability and virtue and future
hope OF our republic lie in such homes where the
mother aspires to cultivate love, truth and purity
therein.
Let MS educate our girls and our boys will soon b,
there. So long as our girls are willing to asso
ciate with young men who use tobacco OF
whiskey, whose aspirations are low and evil, &c
long the boys will gravltate to that level, bu
when the girls demand fewer cigarettes and more
brains; when they ask honor for honor, pnrity
for purity, the boys will soon see light in thei,
light, and begin to climb to higher place. oul
daughters can do much to raise the present stand
ard of morals. And mothers in making th,
ideal home for our children, let us not center al
our affections there, making just our family tn,
Alpha and Omega Of our exertions, but let III
reach out helping hand 10 those about US show
Ing to the world that eno life can be pure In 4,
purpose and strong In its strife and all life not b
made purer and stronger therby.' A mother hs
personal work and duty relating to her owl