The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-14

DrOduClOfhS. fdSnl0ndble mllllneTE ana
dress suits hide many souls without any
spiritual furniture. and whose hearthstOnes
are covered with only the cold gray ashes
OF former fires. Is il not true that some
OF our apparently more favored people
as meanly furnished within as Is the hOvel
OF the pauper? 1t follows that from these
homes emanates no religious instruction,
OF, If any at all. il Is necessarily of such
a perfunCtory character that II becomes
as sounding brass
There are yet other homes which are
as God would have them. Where He sits
at the table. has place at the fireside and
fills the entire home from parlOr 10 kitch-
en- with the sunshine OF His presence. In
this home the strong heart Of the father
IS filled with lOngings for the supreme
good of his children. and he blesses the day
when they first woke up in the cradle and
crOwed. His days are begun with them
around him in devotion, and his last act al
night is 10 commit them TO the care of
the Divine Watcher. whose eyelids never
grow heavy with sleep. In this home the
cheerful wife and mother sings she per-
forms the drudgery or the day. Her voice
is not harsh, but is low and pleasant, and
carries in il a hint OF the laughter of con-
tentment ready at any moment to break
out in ripples OF JOY, a voice so sweet and
like angels music. that years after her
lips have turned TO dust II echoes in mem
orys hall and challenges the manhood in
the nature of her children. Under such
sweet and refining Influences the children
develop. Religion throws her restraining
power around them, and from this power
they can never wholly break away.
How many sad instances are we cOntin-
ually finding in our courts where children
have gone astray. and back Of a majority
of the cases stands a home without
ligion. In some instances domestic infe-
Lefty and divorce play a part. Marriage
is a serious business. The law looks upon
il as a civil contract vet there Is a divine
side TO II. God instituted it In the time of
mans innOcency, and surrounded it with
a sacred network of divine laws, all Of
which are supposed TO spring from pure
affection. and weave themselves around the
heart. A marriage for any other reason
than pure love-no matter whether the mo-
tive pc political or based upon expediency-
is a shock to Gods plan, and consequently
is likely 10 prove a failure in the develop
ment of happiness and the establishment
of true home. When once the relation
ship is assumed, a divorce should not be
granted except for scriptural reasons. The
churches have pronounced In incisive words
upon this subject. The comedy blending
with the serious side of married life is the
ease with which divorces are obtained.
If the law is to blame then its radical de-
fects should be remedied. for upon this is
sue hangs the veal or woe of many inno-
cent lives. Many sad testimony is heard
in court from childish lips, to the effect
that father and mother had separated and
with only one to make the living. no time
was left for childish endearments or low
ing attention.
REVELATIONS OF COURTS.
Few are aware of the revelations of our
courts. In one year there were 100 ar
rests of Juvenile offenders. The appear
ance OF the major portion of these was suf-
fcient evidence of parental neglect. with
out additional testimony. In Judge Alvorfs
court during the year there have been ar
raigned 200 incorrigible children. accom-
panied with the humiliating confession that
they had got beyond parental control;
$50 or these were sentenced to the Reform
School. and fifty were either discharged
with reprimand or released upon suspended
sentence. Across his docket he could have
truthfully written, with few exceptions,
THE result of neglect" Is il any Won
der that reformers are puzzling their brains
In effort to discover some process by
which neglected children may, by becom-
ing the wards of the State, receive an edu-
cation along practical lines. which, coupled
with training in good citizenship and disci-
pine in morals, shall abort the evil ten
denotes already enkindled and eventually
lead them to spheres of usefulness, man
hood and happiness?
THAT the home may strengthen its. links
of influence, to it should be brought every
possible enjoyment. Art and music should
have their sway within the financial ca
pacfty of the house. The home may not
contain much of value, but what il has
can be choice. The library may bear upon
its shelves the choicest literature. from
which the young mind may gain inspira-
ton. Innocent games have their place
there. No room is too good for the chill
dren. 1T is to be their home, a place of
wonderful resources, a realm of content
mosphere and example should be whole
some, care being taken not 10 give a surfeit
of moral homilies, but wisdom is TO be eX-
erciSed in the administration of advice and
admonitiOn Happy that home to which our
thoughts instinctively turn as birds to
cleft in the rock when storms appear;
where the smiling face of child is pressed
against the window pane on the lookout
for fathers homecoming. Above all, where
the Word of God is the light of the home
life and where daily prayers stain the walls
with the radiance Of the summer land
From such home children go out with
regret, and carry out in life the sublime les
sons learned at mothers knee; and to such
a home memory turns the old mans at
tention when, with tear-dimmed eyes, he
views the long ago, and hears again the
shouts of childhood. and feels the velvet
touch of a hand whose thrill can never
leave him. From such a home comes good
ness and virtue and while upon its holy
affairs the fires of religion never burn dim
from it's chambers the heavenly Guest never
takes his departure.