Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-02-17
Il57IfIzf( 4 POPULAR
k4 81 .[PJUTL[Pl17


| TO him all that he for many years
knew of life. of humanity. of the
world.
The child! How like a new star just
born from the conflict of natures ele-
ments and bursting as a new light
through the black curtain of the night
upon world it had never known. The
child! How like flower, kissed by
tae light and dew of heaven, it opens
it, eyes in wonder at the strange beau
ty of its home!
What may this home not be? A fro
zen snowhouse in the Klondike or an
orange grove in the tropics, a tent upon
the arid desert lodge in some forest,
hut on the mountain top. mansion
| by the sea, or a dingy room in a con-
| gested tenement 1t may be habita-
| ton among simple, honest peasant
folk; among rough, sturdy mountain
| GERS, among the pioneers of the West
or the blase denizens of a metropolis.
among the ignorant or the WISE sin
ners or saints. Whatever home may
| be and wherever situated, there is al
ways the same sweet. pure bundle of
| human Inconsistencies that would be-
| come prince in royal house, pau
per among mendicants, or a criminal
amcuG outcasts. The child resembles
| oft the seed which the wind now casts
| upon the barren rocks where it de-
Gays and dies; now upon fertile soil,
where it takes root and flowers into
| beauty. Let us bow in reverence be-
| fore the child, the embodiment of all
possibilities
/ The child and the home are the two
most important figures of the world
/ the corner stones of humanity. The
child-the picture of sweet helplessness
and wonderful potentiality. The home
its creator. its protector, its provi-
dence, its all but God These two, the
child and the home, are the makers of
posterity, and win condition the veal
or woe of unborn generations.
Why, then. are we so busy with
crops and stocks, with commerce and
industry, politics, armies and nayies,
effete monarchies, and new republics.
while millions of babes are being mis-
shapen, myriads Of children are grow
! ing into bad ways, because thousands
| of homes are schools of ignorance and
nurseries of weakness and wickedness?
! Let us withdraw for while from the
maze of political scramble. business
struggles. and social strife, and look
into our homes and attune them to the
sweet harmonies of heavenly virtues.
The home is the preliminary battle
ground where evil is to be fought in
it's incipiency and conquered. There
Satan must first be met and overcome
and the young soul taught how to re-
tain its native innocence. From the
sacred precincts of the domestic hearth
every impurity or tairt must be expell-
ed. Let no word be breathed there
save that which the angels may I'M
| blushinSly hear. Truth, simplicity.
love and modesty are the weapons of
the fireside with which to fight the
demons of unrighteousness. THE home
in whic. the young are taug t gam
bling by precept or by example is not
true home, but an agency of the
gamblers den, preparing the recruits
who shall later become it's patrons.
The real home is an exemplar Of sim
pie and holy living 1t must become
also an intellectual center, where
thought quickens thought, makes life
real. and happiness secure.
To create such a home of love, holl-
ness and intellectual life. to make of
it battery where our children can be
charged with that spiritual force that
can fortify them against all the temp
tations and allurements of the world.
something more is needed than is found
in the average home Wealth, culture.
music. literature. education are not
enough. Except the Lord build the
house. in vain do its builders toll there
on" In too many instances has that
spiritual life that made our ancestors
proof against the encroachments. of
worldliness been lost The old fahnil-
lar device. tod bless our home" is
disappearing from its wonted place.
! That is ths secret of unhappy and in
efficient homes.
May God come to his own again!
Parenthood is but feeble substitute
to the child for Deity. The heavenly
Father and Mother must stand by the
earthly parents TO aid in the sacred
work of preparing the child for true
manhood or womanhood and develop
ing it for life and eternity