Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-03-29

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 household
of which I am speaking: THE officers
| OF the bank would like to have you
step over minute" The father steps
over, ard a bank officer says, "Is that
your check" NO" he says, that is
not my check. never make an H in
that way. never put curl to the ~
in that way. That is not my writing;
that Is not my signature; that is a
counterfeit. Send for the police"
STOP" says the bank officer, "your son
wrote that"
Now the father and mother are wait
| ing for the son to come home at night
1t is IL o'clock,it is half-past IL o'clock.
| 1t Is 1 o'clock. The son comes through
the hallway. The father says: "My son,
what does all this mean? gave you
every opportunity. gave you all the
money you wanted, and here In my old
days find that you have become a
spendthrift, libertine and sot." The
son says: Now, father, what is the use
| OF your talking that way? You told
me to go it, and Just took your sug-
| gestion." And so to strike the medium
| between severity and too great leni-
| ency, to strike the happy medium be-
| tween the two and to train our children
for God and for heaven is the anxiety
OF every intelligent parent.
Another great solicitude is in the fact
that so early is developed childish sin
fulness. Morning glories put out their
bloom In the early part of the day. but
| as the hot sun comes on they close up.
While there are other flowers that
blaze their beauty along the Amazon
for week at time without closing.
yet the morning glory does its work as
certainly as Victoria regia, so there are
some children that just put forth their
bloom, and they close, and they are
gone. There is something supernatural
about them while they tarry, and there
is an ethereal appearance about them.
There is wonderful depth to their eye,
and they are gone. They are too deli
cate plant for this world. The Heav-
! emily Gardener 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
and show that they are wicked. You
see them in the Sabbath school class.
They are so sunshiny and 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 the
son comes in from the street from
| pugilistic encounter. bearing on his ap-
pearance the marks of defeat. or the
daughter practices some little decep-
tion 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 household
there is the sign of sin, the sign OF the
truthfulness of what the Bible says
when 1t declares: They go astray as
soon as they be born. speaking lies"
Picking at Boys.
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 one
good thunderstorm than in five days OF
cold drizzle. Better the old-fashioned
style of chastisement II that be neces-
sary than the fretting and the scolding
which have destroyed so many.
There is also cause of great solicit
tude sometimes because our young peo-
pie are surrounded by so many tempta-
tions. A castle may not be taken by
straightforward siege, but suppose there
be inside the castle an enemy. 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 tremendous temptations?
Some man will come to the young
people and try to persuade them that
purity and honesty and uprightness are
a sign OF weakness. Some man will
take a dramatic attitude. and he will
talk to the young man. and he will say:
You must break away from your
mothers apron strings. You must get
out of that puritanical straitjacket. 1t
Is time you were your own 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. II won't hurt you" After
awhile the young man says: We'll.
can't afford to be odd can't afford to
be peculiar. l can't afford to sacrifice
all my friends I'll just go and 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
its consequences. l say farewell to in
nocence. which once gone never fully
comes hack.
Necessity of Early Training.
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 1t. But just go to the source Of
that river, go to where the water Just
drips down on the rock. Then with
your knife make channel this way
and channel that way. and 1t will
take 1t. Come out and stand on the
banks Of your childs life when 1t was
30 or 40 years of age, or even 20. and
try to change the course of that life.
1t is too late! 1t is too late! Go furth-
er up at the source of life and nearest
to the mothers heart. where the char
acter starts. and try to take 1t in the