Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-05-04
DUTIES OF PARENTS.
DR.. Talmage's Advice on the Bring
ing Up of Children.
The Dangers and Temptations Which
Surround the Young-Necessity
of Wise Training-Respon-
xibility of Mothers.
copyright, 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l
aabiputOn

copyright, 1900 by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington,
This discourse of DR.. Talmage will
interest young men, while it is full of
advice and encouragement to parents
who are trying to bring up their chill
dren Alright; text Proverbs, 10, /: "A
wise son maketh glad father; but a
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 besses or blights
persons who seem to have no especial
interest in the welfare of their chill
dren. The father says: "My boy must
take the risks took in life. If he turns
out WE'LL all right; if he turns out i'll,
he will have to bear the consequences.
He has the same chancethatI had. He
must take care of himself" A shep-
herd might just as well thrust lamb
into den of lions and say: Little
lamb, take care of yourself"
Nearly all the brute creation are
kind enough to look after their young.
| was going through a woods, and |
heard shrill 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 its clumsy foot and heavy
wing will come at you if you approach
its young too nearly, and God certain
ly intended to have fathers and moth
ers as kind as the brutes.
Christ comes through all our house
holds to-day, and lie says: you take
care of the bodies of your children and
the minds of your children. What are
you doing for their immortal souls?" |
read of ship that foundered A life
boat was launched. Many of the pas
sengers were in the water. A mother,
with one hand beating the waves and
the other hand holding her little child
out toward the lifeboat, cried out:
"Save my child" And that impas-
stoned cry is the one that finds an echo
in every parental hear in this land to-
day. Save my child" That man out
there says: 81 have fought my own
way through life. | have got along
tolerably well. The world has buff
feted me, and have had many hard
struggle. 1t doesn't make much differ
ence what hapepns to me, but save my
child" You see, have a subject of
stupendous import, and am going, as
God may help me, to show the cause of
parental solcitude and then the allevi-
atoms of that solicitude.
The first cause of parental solicitude,
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 eXcellencies they will copy them,
but the probability is they will copy
our faults and omit our eXccllencies
Children are very apt to be echoes of
the parental life. Some one meets a
lad in the back street, finds him smok-
ing, and says: 'Why, am astounded
at you. What would your father say
il 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. Ny father smokes" There is not
one Of us to-day who would like to have
our children copy all our example. And
that is the cause of solicitude 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 insuficiency and unwisdom OF
discipline. Out of 20 parents there
may be one parent who understands
how thoroughly and skillfuIy to dis.
cipline; perhaps not more than one out
| VI Nb' we al vi US VII VII Ont
side or on the other Here is father
who says: 81 am going to bring ur
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 SIX
o'clock in the morning TO recite the
Ten Commandments. They are wax
ened up from the sofa OH Sunday night
to recite the Westminster catechism
Their bedroom walls are covered will
religious pictures and quotations Of
Scripture, and when the boy looks fol-
the day of the month he looks fo { IT. il
n religious almanac If a mia5teI
comes to the house, he is requested tc
take the boy aside and tell him what
great sinner he is. 1t is religion morn
ing, noon and night.
Time passes on, and the parents ar,
waiting for the return of the son a
night IT is nine o'clock, it is ter
o'clock, it is II o'clock, it is IL o'clock
it is half-past 10 o'clock. Then the,
hear rafting of the night key, ant
George comes in and hastens upstairs
, lest he be accosted His father saws
George. where have you been?" H,
says: II have been out" Yes, he hal
been out, and he has been down. and h,
has started on the broad road to ruiz
for this life and ruin for the life I,
come. and the father says to his wife
Mother, the Ten Commandments ar
failure. No use of Westminster cate
shism. | have done my very best TO
, that boy. Just see how he has turne,
out" Ali my friend, you stuffed tina
boy with religion. You had no sym
patty withinnocent hilarities. Youha
, no common sense. A man at midlif
said to me: 81 haven't much desire TO
religion. My father was as God a maj
{ as ever lived, but he iammed religior
| down nv throat when was, n how IN 4