The Newtown bee., 1903-06-12
CIRCULATION:
LOCAL AFFAIRS. SOCIAL TOPICS, NO. Y. SOCIAL TRAINING.-BY REV o. 0.
 WRIGHT.

WRIGHT.
 A very important part of ones ed ucation and endowment for the duties and privileges of life will always be found in the social training he has in childhood and youth. To be born and bred in good society is blessing of inestimable value. Good blood always tells, good teaching will do much to shape ones character, but good breed ing which includes the force of good example in continued, every day inter- course is, perhaps, most potent of all in building up real manhood and womanhood. We can all learn good manners if we have fair chance at it, but to be brought up in gentle ways, familiar with good habits, accustomed to high standards of conduct and char acter, at home with the best customs and usages, '"To the manner bOrn," or "TO the manor born," as the case may be, is to have good start in the world.
 The first essential of good society is the purity and permanency of the fam fly. The fountain must be clean or the streams of social life cannot be sweet. And in order to keep the fam lily pure and respectable the social in- tercourse of the home must be wisely and consistently restricted, regulated and controlled by parents, guardians, or somebody of experience and respon- sibility, for the sake of the protection and social training of the young men and young women who are the chlefest objects of interest, and the most costly and precious treasures of each genera tion. Everything centers in our cSil- dren. For them and in them mainly we live. We cannot do too much for them except we do unwisely. And in this matter of social training l fear we greatly neglect them.
 There can be no good society in the true sense except as it excludes the fellowship of persons who are bad or doubtful as to their moral character and reputation. Promiscuous associa- tions of good, bad and indifferent de- feat the beginning and the end of good society. "Evil company doth corrupt good manners," and there is no way to get round it in this world. "Birds of fea ather flock together," and "A man is known by the company he keeps," and the person, society, or community that tries to ignore this eternal law of the social life must take the conse- quences sooner or later. We do not ''gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles," and our common instincts ought to teach us better than to pre- sume that one is just as good as an- other, or that we can mix things which in the nature of the case do not belong together. The social law is rooted and grounded in the eternal fitness of nature which separates between light and darkness and makes any real fel- lowship of good with evil simply inn possible.
 Good society is the rational, social intercourse of respectable people on common grounds of character, equality and fitness, for the sake of their own mutual welfare and happiness. There must be certain social and moral dis functions which exclude the fellowship of the immoral and unfit, with the doubtful, or there can be no suitable platform on which to associate for mutual benefit and satisfaction. Soci- ety in this sense has it's center of at traction and influence in the family and in the home. People are scarcely in society together except as they mingle in each others homes.
 What our young people need most of all is good society in their homes. Not such society as they are pleased to make for themselves, but such as their parents and grown up friends should make for them. It is the duty and privilege of parents and guardians to know that their children have proper associates, and that their associations are good for them. To this end they should have the oversight and control of all social parties for the young, and send out the invitations in their own names, taking the responsibility which
 belongs to them.