The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1902-12-19

y ments. In those homes every tathe
| and mother, brother and sister, oush
| to be busy all the time trying to CON
| pound old fashioned, inyigorating allo
| pathic doses of gospel encouragement
They should be quick to recognize ah'
praise one another's good points Il
well as their faults They should en-
courage each other with words of III
spring good cheer as well as cautloi
them with words of trenchant warning
against the quicksands and the hlddel
snares of life
The Giving of Praise.
, If a mans friends do not give MN
the announcements he needs for llfe's
struggle, surely his enemies never will
God knows, an average man gets
enough knocks from his enemies
enough blows upon his head and heart
to make it absolutely necessary for
at least some one to say something
pleasant. You do not want your loved
ones to start out in life with de-
pressed idea of their own abilities ana
capacity for future work, as my ia
ther had when he started, which youth
full depression he was never able to en-
tirely overcome. My grandfather ana
grandmother were old fashioned folks,
who brought up their children i'll the
old fashioned way, never telling them
anything cheering about themselves
The nearest to a parental compliment
my father ever received was when his
mother read his graduating speech i'll
the little village paper of SomeVille.
After she had finished reading it she
turned to my grandfather and said,
David, that speech of De Wits must
have sounded quite well when he spoke
it."
Then came the depressing influences
of his college and seminary life With
but one exception all his professors
tried to instill into my fathers brain
the idea that he could never preach.
He was so discouraged that he deter
mined to go to a foreign field and be a
missionary. He thought that perhaps
the heather Chinee" or the Fiji island
ers might be persuaded to listen to his
preaching if he were only able to get
into a region where no white man had
ever been before. The most surprised
being in the seminary-and nearly all
the students were dumfounded-was
young De Witt Talmage when he re-
ceived a call to the church and parson-
age at Beleville, n. j. The solemn adj
vice which the New Brunswick profess
or gave, You will have to change your
ice. Vel will 10 N
change your STYLE" found its echo in
the advice of old DR.. Thomas De Witt
of the Collegiate church of New York
city After my father had been short
time in the ministry this great and
good man, DR.. De Witt, after whom
my father was named, sent this mes
sage to him: Tell my namesake never
to allow his sermons to be published.
He may be able to preach, but he GER
tainly does not know how to write"
The effect of all this depressing and
depreciating advice was such that my
father was never able to fully shake
off the discouragements of his youth.
NY mother had to urge him on and on
or without doubt in those first years of
struggle he would have given up the
fight and gone into the law. So, my
friends. urge you never to discourage
young man. You may be mistaken in
anticipating his failure Rather cheer
him with commentator whenever it is
possible Who can tell whether at the
end of his career his Divine Master
may not pronounce upon his service the
wit oh ho
faithful stewards?
encouragement Wanted.
Some years ago by an explosion OF
firedamp four miners were entombed in
a coal mine near Scranton, Pa. Their
friends worked a whole night and a
day trying to liberate the imprisoned
men. At last the rescuers We're about
to give up in despair. Just then the
youngest member of the firm rapidly
drove up in buggy. AS he leaped out
he cried: Boys, you have done well!
1t is only a little work more! Come on,
boys, and in a short time we will get
those poor fellows freew He threw off
his coat and grabbed a pick and began
to strike the rock At the sound of his
reassuring voice and example the other
men went to work with renewed ener-
gy. The entombed men were soon safe
in the arms of their wives and children.
Today the vast majority of our rela-
tives do not need words of depreciation.
Like those miners digging for their
entombed companions, they want
words of encouragement, words of good
cheer, words of inspiration, words of
assurance, that if they only trust God
and do right certain success will come
to every one of them. Their success
may not necessarily come right away,
but true success will surely come in
time.
Discouraging depreciation is often
found in the dealings of employers
with their employees. Many men and
women who are at the head of large es-
adjustments do not like to commend
their employees. They say if you
praise a clerk even a little that clerk
will get too good an opinion of himself
and will ask for an increase of salary.
Or, if you praise an employee, some
rival firm will hear of the cOmmenda-
ton and come and steal your man
away. Thus some men never speak
kindly to those who are in their en-
ploy. They chemically and systematic
ally growl and find fault with every
body and everything. Their doctrine is
phat whel an employee is afraid of los
ing his position he will work harder
and more faithfully than if the head
of the firm commended him for every
thing he did well.
Now, such a course as that is not
hnnnat nr inst Thn RlIlln listinctlN