Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-03-26
FOR YOUNG AND OLD.
DR.. TALMAGE breaches A SERMON
ON HOME LIFE.

Stuff the Young People With ReI-
Eion, Says the Great Divine.
WASHINGTON, March 25.-This dis
course of Or. Talmage will interest
young men, while it is full of advice
and encouragement to parents who are
trying to bring up their children Alright;
text. Proverbs Y, /, "a wise son
maketh glad father, but foolish son
lis the heaviness of his mother
In this graphic way Solomon sets
forth the idea that the good or evil be-
hayior 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 chill
dren. The father says: 'My boy must
lake the risks 1 took in life. If he
turns out we'll, all right. If he turns
out ill, he will have to bear the conse-
uuences. He has the same chance
that had. He must take care of him
self" 4 shepherd might just as we'll
thrust q lamb into den of lions and
say, Little lamb, take care Of your
SELF
Nearly all the brute creation are
kind enough ito look after their young
L was going through a woods, and L
heard shriH cry in nest. l climbed
up to the birds nest, and found that
the old bird had left the brood to
starve But that is a very rare occur
renee. Generally "a 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 it's 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 souls?" i
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 cullu. AHu CudI IIlpdSSlOL-
ed cry is the one that finds an echo ia
every parental heart in this land today.
''Saye nay child!'' That man out there
says: Il have fought my own way
through life, l have got along tOlerably
well, the world has buffeted me, and /
have had many Il hard struggle. It
don't make much difference what hap
pens to me, but save my child!' You
see l have q subject of stupendOus i'm
port, and l am going, as God may help
me, to show the cause of parental solic-
itude and then the alterations of that
Solicitude.
Parental SoIicitude.
The first cause of parental solicitude,
think, arises from the imperfectiOn of
parents on their own part. We all
somehow want cur 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.
Children are very apt to be echoes of
the parental life. Some one meets q
lad in the back street, finds him smok-
ing and says: "Why, am astounded at
you! What would your father say if
he knew this? Where did you get that
cigar?' 'Oh, l picked it up ON the
street" "What would your father say
and your mother say if they knew
this?" oh he replies, that's moth
ing My father smokesr' 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 solicit
tude on the part of all of us. We have
20 n
copied and stereotyped in the lives and
characters of those who come after us.
Then solicitude arises from our con-
scious insuficiency 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 a father
who says, Il 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-
iigion." 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
Scripture, and when the boy looks for
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 1t is 9 o'clock, it is 10 o'clock, it