The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1905-07-13

per as we try to educate them. We
could hardly light on q wiser or better
woman than Mrs. Barbauld; but she
was so eager to make very remarka-
BILE man out of her little nephew,
Cnarles Aiken, that she educated him
out or his mind into idiocy. So good
parents, who would shrink from laying
heavy burden on their children's backs
do not hesitate to .ay burdens on the
nerve and brain. They urge them on
at their books, or permit the teachers
to do this, until the poor young things
lose more in wealth Of life and life's
worth than their education will ever
pay for. Lead on softly i'm these
paths OF education. If your children
want to rush ahead at a pace which
will leave them learned but inyalids.
hold them back; true education il
not a long fever. Here and there a
child may need to be urged on a little.
but I frankly confess that under the
high pressure of our public schools 7
would take the childrens side i'm their
little plots to stay away a day from
school when they have been hard AZ
work for many days. I like to plot
with them; their success pleases me
| more than their failure.
In the culture of the heart also wa
must lead on softly. 1 can no more he
lieve that hard and cruel thoughts of
God will be good for my children than
| can believe in hard and crnel wordo
and blows, and l have no doubt tbera
are more so-called infidels made and
| confirmed to that end, by fathers who
thought they were doing Gods service
than there are of any other tyne. Sucb
thoughts may be but theology to tho
father, but they are very often grim
hard, real biting torment to the tender
child. 1t shuts out Heaven and onens
hell to him: it is cruel as the hfssino.
ana Dltlng OF serpentS to some delicate
small souls. l suffered more agony ar
one time in my childhood when re-
vlvallst got hold of me and made me
0eleve L might wake up in hell when
laid my poor little head on the pillow
imam from any other thing that ever
struck me. There lies the way to do q
Iatal mischief, the wayithe seeds of in
Hdellty are soWn in many a noble ma
ture. 1t is simply the revolt at. the re-
slstance to, and the rejection of. q God
their nature is too large and sweet and
tender to tolerate. If u these early
days there is no day stan of loveIiar
light, no dawning for thesmalI. bright
soul OF better day, then here NAV he
no chance for that soul to )ass into the
kingdom until it has passed out of the
world.
When we quote the Scripture: "Train
up child in the way he should 60" we
must still take heed to our ways lest
we think more of the Scripture than
we think of the child-fix our mind and
purpose on the other rather than the
hither end of the way and train him
for what he should be at forty rather
than what he must be in childhood and.
youth. We must answer for what is
written in the book of the life of our
children. l must lay the patriarch's
gentle purpose to my heart: "The
children are tender, will lead on
SOFTLY" for these in my care, who
also have the long hard journey before
them.
If this is true of the shadow. how
true it must be of the light. If ours
is hard and poor lot, no man or
woman, father or mother, need ever
fear the children will fail to look back
ward to the early years with a tender
love, if by all the means in our power
we make good for them the patriarch,s
purpose. / think, indeed, our love for
the old home is very often deepest and
purest in those who have had to face
the hardest times if we have fought
through them in this bright, good way,
and led the children on softly. There
were homes in this country fifty, sixty,
seventy years ago bare of all things
save this one secret-they are the dear
est places on the earth to-day in men,
DRY Of men and women who have every
thing now the heart can desire. And
when we have done this, what better
can we do than put the whole wealth
OF our endeavor in trust into the hands
of God.