The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-26

 ing their pleaures and their sports and being one with them in their various undertakings. Probably the President is the busiest man in the land. What he does other fathers in some measure may do.
 In deciding what books boy or girl may read, the question arises whether so much care may not be taken that they will read nothing at all. Instead of resolving that the children shall read no books which have not been previ- ously read by their ptrents.~why not make selections on broader lines? Pro- vide libera1ly that which Is good Set aside a certain sum, even If it cost you seIf-denial, for subscriptions to inter- esting papers and magazines. Keep sensational stuff and gross fiction out of the house. It is chaff and life is too short to be choked with chaff. Your growing child, intellectually and spiritually. should be fed on wheat. There are weekly papers and monthly magazines for the young, which have sustained the highest reputation and maintained the highest standards for thirty years or more. You read them yourselves in childhood and they are not less fascinating to the children of Il weekly paper, coming to him through the mail, the girl her own magazine with her name on its cover. If there is no good free library near you, pay for ticket in your boys name in the nearest town library, and feel certain that the usual good censorship is keep ing out the chaff.
 Encourage talk about what is read in the family and at the table.
 If you value the highest development possible for your son and daughter, see that they devote some time to the daily reading of our English Bible. The Bible is too much overlooked in this day. It Is fountain of beautiful Eng fish, a guide to pure ethics. and the one Book which no one can afford to neglect.
 The question is somewhat more com plicated when 1t presents itself as hav- ing to do with associations. Naturally we all wish to keep on good terms with our neighbors. Few things are more embarrassing than to show a neighbor that you do not care to have your boy friendly with his. Whatever fault we may find with our children, we are ex- tremely quick to resent criticisms of them by other people.
 The obvious remedy for an associa- tion which may be disadvantageous Is
 
 home life and light. Let the home be free to the boy and his friends Let him feel that he may invite the latter to meals and to spend an evening. and let father and mother Ae present and take part in whatever Is going on. To live with our children and with their friends is to safeguard them against evil companions. Nor need we be phar- isaical. for
 There Is so much good in the worst That tr little behooves any of us To talk about the rest of us."
 Young people demand entertainment You cannot put old heads on young shoulders. nor should you desire to do so. What you and need to do is to keep an even balance, to adjust work and play, to remember that recreation is as rightful thing as labor, but that excessive devotion to amusement leads to wasteful dissipation. boy who can never spend a quiet evening at home. girl who craves continual ex- citement, is in peril of losing the best that can be given him or her and of making shipwreck, notwithstanding the fairest opportunities.
 People are always asking about amusements. Is 1t wrong to do this? IS IL rlBnt 10 do Inatf Is It sinful to go here, or go there? And there Is an inherited tendency in most of us to put premium upon asceticism per SC, Somehow or other we fancy that there IS great virtue in wearing a haircloth shirt and keeping frequent fast days and denying ourselves innocent pleas ure- But no pleasure that is innocent deprives anyone and ban need not be laid upon any form of amusement sim ply because of tradition. Those amuse- ments in which there Is an element of brutality. of cruelty to animals, or Of rlotous- luxury are wrong. Those which may be carried on in the presence and with the sanction of good women and good men, which involve no harm to anyone and which young people, and older ones. too, may enjoy, are all right. We would not send our young people unchaperoned to a public ball Far be it from any parent who values the welfare of his child in this world and the next, to let him enter the pre- cincts of gambling room. There are amusements on which the devil has set his ineradicable stamp, but why ob- Ject, as some conscientious people do to home dance or school dance. or any pleasant party where innocent amusement rules the hour? There is nothing objectionable in fun, good hu- nor and happy time.