The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-14
~A' 81 @''~ 90
INFLUENCE OF THE HOME
1T Is Considered AS A FACTOR IN
VICE AND VIRTUE.
Another Lesson Drawn from the PO-
lice Court by the Rev. Virgil
w. Tevis.

The Rev. V. w. Tevis. of Fletcher-place
Church, last night preached his sixth SER
mon Of the series on Moral Lessons from
the Police Court" His subject was: "The
Home as a Factor in Vice and Virtue" He
said
THE immortal lines of John Howard
Payne, Be il ever so humble, there's no
place like home, are true from any view
point. \ true home is like an Eden with
out serpent: like a harbor in which the
snip rides without trace OF the storms
which shake the outer sea; like a heaven,
in which the lovely wife and mother sheds
the luster OF her presence, and where little
children warm the heart into flame with
some Of the summer they brought with
them from the land Of innocence and love.
More than this, the home is a seminary of
vast Importance. and fraught with far
reaching interests. From her fireside have
graduated some of the nObest and ablest
men into whose hands God has ever placed
the reins of government. Independent of
educational advantages, back of major
1ty OF successful lives stand outlined sue
cessfUl and happy homes; while back of
the majority of the lives crushed by sin,
stand homes OF carelessness, lack of af-
lection. or criminally deficient in moral
influence and religious instruction. Show
me the mothers Of "A nation, and | will
snow you her men. IhuS IL mas always
been. Sparta gave to the world unequaled
examples of fOrtitude and stOicism in her
warriors, but each warrior had a Spartan
nodded his life You could not expect
much else than a hymn writer and a
preacher from the mother of the Wesleys.
il has been said that one good mother is
worth "A hundred school teachers. Her
words Of cheer and hope, her tender tones
of admonitiOn and council her smile of
encouragement, all are powerful factors
in shaping destiny. Benjamin West. the
great artist. used 10 say. with swimming
eyes. that his mothers kiss made him a
painter. John Randolph the statesman.
al bnx at bei 81
but for one recOllectiOn-the memory of
the time when my mother used to take
ms little hand in hers. and teach me to
say. Our Father. which art in heaven"
True there are sad exceptions. Now and
then from some home where the atmOs-
phere Is wholesome and the influences
pure, VIII spring a prOfiigate. as If he con-
centrated all the meanness of his ances-
tors in his poor life. but this is the excep-
ton not the rule.
INFLUENCE OF HOME
THE influence of the home is more pro-
noUnccd than any other, because it is the
atmosphere OF childhood. when every fresh
power OF life eagerly unfolds. The desire
TO know is the supreme desire of child
hood. This accounts for the innumerable
questions which spring to his lips. Coupled
with this IS the instinct of patterning after
Others which IS seen in all his acts. Child
HOOD clothes the parents with infallibility.
What they say is 10 him proper and what
they 90 Is right. no matter what it is.
Their influence is therefore practically I'M
bounded. After all there is magic in the
very word home God made it and clothed
X with more than ordinary power and
beauty, and swung each individual member
into its orbit with it as the center. as
lie hung worlds; and as a world cannot
break away from its orbit, so neither can
any man break altogether away from the
Influences OF his home.
''COnceding its influence, especially upon
the youthful mind, how many homes are
not conducive, TO say the least, to his
higher and nobler development? In some
families the children are apparently I'm
the way. They were unweIcome visitors
when they came. and have been tolerated
only as necessity. 1t does not take child
long, with his sensitive nature to realize
this. The consequence is twO-fold The
children do not get the devoted attention
they deserve and desire and are conse-
Quently left TO their own devices which in
the majority of cases is ruinOus lit is the
exception and not the rule for a child TO
grow TO a rounded manhood without train
ing, and this training these children do
not get. Were IL not for the discipline they
gain In our public schools they would have
none at all Besides. words OF admonition
which are frosted by the lips Of petulanct.
as all words eminating from such parents
what Is far more precious, our sons for
the sake OF an oppressed people? With this
memory so fresh how can our Statesmen
violate that sense OF justice toward another
nation which. by conditions unavoidable.
are weaker than ourselves and are at our
Justice-loving people will never permit n
without such a vigorous protest as will re-
call the Nations record for honor and
right
"But there are two forces at work in
the interests Of China which will ultimately
be felt. The first is commerce China i
too valuable TO be ignored or TO be lost I
cannot understand why. at just this critical
time. when the world is seeking markets
I'm China. our blind statesmen are so reck-
less. Will China turn her trade to us
when We are unjust 10 herr We cannot
are, have lost all the beauty and charm
and influence which only love and apprecia-
tion can give them
I'm other cases life is a continual grind
The poetry Of existence has forgotten tC
blossom. The father il hard at work away
from home from early morning till late
81 night. The mother is resting her weary
heart on the highlands Of heaven. and the
mana cement OF the household rests upon a
little miss not yet out OF her teens In the
nature OF things there cannot be that GOV
eminent there necessary TO the full de-
velopment or the better nature and higher
powers OF the children. And yet the loving
Father sometimes brings out OF such ar
afflicted home a young who. like Saul
OF old stands head and shoulders above
his fellows In all the graces OF manhood
and thus demonstrates 10 the world that a
mothers prayers are not forgotten, even
when she sleeps.
WITHOUT KINGS FURNISHINGS.
In other homes. adorned with all that
money and good taste can procure. are yet
without the Kings furnishings. Silks and