The Newtown bee., 1901-03-29
'ons and every community.

me Sp1rlU or QemOCrdCy-Uno SOVeF' eighty of the people, is strengthening. Even the CZar of the Russians and the Sublime Porte are more or less affected by this spirit. In England and in America the people practically rule public opinion is the supreme power.
 In the spheres of industry, commerce and society, men are more sensitive to public opinion than to anything else. Even matters of conduct and morals are often regulated by public senti- ment. Some people, indeed, are ever more sensitive to public sopinion than to the requirements of civil and divine law. The power of public sentiment is tremendous over all classes of soci- ety.
 To-day the power of Christianity is in the ascendancy. the industrial and social relations of the masses are un- settled, old and man-made methods of fighting wrongs have been tried and found wanting, society is now asking "What next? How can we be Saved?'' And in the midst of all this confusion, uncertainty and expectancy, it is the duty of the Church to bear clear, bold and practical testimony to the saving and healing power of Jesus Christ. It is the duty of Christian people in every practical way to turn public sentiment Christward, to ChristianiZe public opinion.
 We should bear in mind that public opinion is being formed and reformed constantly. Public sentiment is, pri- marily, individual opinion multiplied. The strongest sentiment probably has it's foundations in character. An indi- vidual's moral character often deter mines the nature of his thinking. CHARACTER FORMS PREJUDICE,
 many times. A man of corrupt charac- ter, of evil passions, of vile affec- tions is apt to hold and to promulgate unwholesome and degrading opinions | whether he really knows better or not. On the other hand, a man of clean, true, noble, aspiring character, is apt to hold and to express only the most healthful and uplifting sentiments. Oliver Wendell Holmes was asked as to when the training of a child should begin and he replied, "A hundred years before it is born" And so we might ones opinion begin? The answer might truly be made, "A hundred years before the individual is born.'' The thought is that the same processes and forces, running through severa generations of ones ancestors, which detertime the nature or bent of { child's character, also determine the moral bent of ones sentiments, be cause, as we have said, the strongest sentiment has it's foundations in char acter. Leaving out of consideration the question as to the character O ones ancestors, we would observe tha
 the formation of public opinion begins
 with the training of the child.
 . NOl116 VIC 1nn11 nj hn nt individual cases, we would discover
 l think, that much of our unwhole some public sentiment had it's founda
 tiOn the formation of unwhOleSOm' character in children; while much O.
 our noble public sentiment had it's life
 long foundation in purity and nObilit, of child-life and child-character. w must go to the fountain head ant
 make the source pure, if we would
 have flowing stream of pure public opinion. Character is the fountain
 head of individual and social life.
 is easier and better to form good char
 We must comprehend the importance . and possibilities of the childhood peri
 cd.
 Men and women who desire strong healthful Christian public sentiment , must give great attention to the edu , cation of the children. Parents, edu cators, clergymen, Christian workers : and civil authorities must make pub
 lie education what it should be.
 Public sentiment begins in tn
 home training of the children Even before the child reaches years o . understanding does this training pro cess commence. The influence o mother, of father, and of the home Tiff , must be such as to form noble impres sions on thechild 'smind and conscienc, These impressions will later develo] into sort of second nature-into
 deeply set feelings and principles
 Let this be followed by d careful train
 ing of the child's understand ng, ant we then have the very foundation o l lifelong bent, prejudice, and charac l ter. Let the child have this start il in the right direction, let this b
 the case with thousands and mil lions of children, and very much ha been done towards forming strong public sentiment for good.
 The religious nature should receive
 careful culture, first, in the home then in the Sunday school and in th' church. It is a serious evil to neg lect the religious training of chil dren. The temporal and eterna
 welfare of the individuals concerned and the highest prosperity of the stat' demand that the moral nature should