Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-06-24
SHINING AGAINST CHILDREN,


SHINING AGAINST CHILDREN,
BY Rev. Theodore L. CuyIer. %. d.
One of the most needed and one of
the most useful of modern benevolent
organizations is the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelsy to Children, Its
object is to protect the victims of par
entail brutalities or of cruel neglect.
Its sphere of action IL chiefly among
the degraded classes. But there Is
many a well-fed child in a well-fur-
nished home that is suffering badly
from bad management or parental ig-
norance or false views of parental
duty. An immense number of fathers
and mothers need to have the solemn
caution which Reuben gave to his
churlish brothers: DO not sin against
the child" There is no trust in this
world more tremendous than the trust
of parentage, and none which many
persons seem to treat more lightly.
Food, clothing, shelter and schooling
they provide, but they utterly ignore
the fact that the Creator has intrusted
to them the most susceptible and re-
ceptive creature on earth when ne COM
mits to their charge a young lmmor-
tai A parent stamps character, and
shapes destiny for this world-often
for the next. In geological museums
you may see some slabs which show
the prints of birds feet or of leaves
which were made in the stone when 1t
was once only liquid pumice. In
like manner we can detect the finger
marks and footprints of parental in
fluence upon the character of children
when grown to manhood and woman
hood And they are not very orna-
mental, either.
Children are initiative creatures, and
we all know how tendencies to good
or evil character spring from parental
influence. and the chief element in
modern heredity is the force of exam
pie. There is monotonous uniform
ity in the history of certain Jewish
kings. Each one of them walked in
the ways of his father who caused
Israel to sin" That word ways" Is
very significant. The father made the
path and the son walked in it. Just
as true is this now as in those olden
times. The most difficult cases to re-
form in inebriate asylums are the VIC
Tins of hereditary drunkenness. Often
when l see young man bringing dis
grace on himself l think that youth
was as much sinned against as sin
ming" He is walking in the path in
which his parents placed him. Thorn
bushes never yield grapes, and figs do
not grow from thistles. The word
''iniquity" signifies something twisted,
and the ugly twist is too often given
by n fathers or mothers hand. Tue
wrong which the child does is the nat
ural sequence of the wrong done to
him by her, by an evil example BY
and by comes the ratribution when the
child once sinned against wrings the
parental heart with agony. When you
N against your child you may be pref
ty sure that your sin will find you
OUT
What piece of open soil to SOW
teachings in is young mind! Words
-
against the Bible spoken at the table
or by the Preside lodges in a boys
memory and helps TO make him scep-
tic. A great deal of the foolish and
cavilling criticism of sermons, in which
parents willfully or careIessIy l. dulge
when they come home from CT urch,
kills the influence of Gods n essage.
This may amount to sin against the
Holy Spirit, who inspired the message.
and who may be silently working on
the mind of some child in that family.
The question of how much actual good
the best sermon may do is commonly
settled on the day of its delivery. Par
ents often help to settle it. In most
cases religious errors are hereditary.
Dishonest practices also descend from
father to son. Bad books in a parents
hands are very apt TO be read by the
younger members of the family. And
when a father takes his son and daugh-
ter to the average theater. the lad Is in
danger of having passion infamed by
the indecencies of the stage, and the
daughters purity is soiled by the lewd
display or the immoral innuendoes. 1t
l., had enough to smutch your own
soul. entreat you, don't sin against
your child,
Many a father studies his account
books and many 4 mother studies her
magazines or receipt books or her Wis
Jing lists more than either study the
peculiarities of her own children That
boy is scolded into sullenness; that
other one is ridiculed until he gets des-
perate; harsh treatment often hardens
the heart, and then Pharisaism prays
that God will soften it, There is a
steady decline in the percentage of CON
versions reported in the ann al Stats
tics of several denominations How
much of this Is to be attributed TO
decline in home religion God only
knoweth. The family underlies both
commonwealth and church All the
preaching power of the pulpit will
avail but little as long as parents are
sinnI ig against their own children.
Russia.-Our government must pro-
test. in the name of humanity against