Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-11-04

to be a poet or a musician. He is go
ing to be a plain, practical business
man or q lawyer or n doctor or min
lister. He must have a good, sound,
common sense name that will not
make him Il laughingstock among his
associates and one that can easily be
remembered. Call him Joseph or
James or William or Edward or john"
The planning Of the parents for the
child starts at the christening.
Then comes the question Of school.
Perhaps the father has amassed some
wealth. The money question is not
pressing one in the home. Where shall
the boy get his education? The mother
may desire to have her son go to one
of the aristocratic private schools Of
the city, where he will have for COM
panions the sons Of wealthy families.
Again the hard headed common sense
Of the father comes to the rescue.
"No," he says. mo private school for
my boy. My father sent me to prl-
yate school. There | dabbled little
In a dozen different studies and did
not master any one Of them. My boy
shall 90 to a common public school,
where the foundations and the rudi-
ments Of an education are pounded
into him. l want him to master the
three Rs'-reading, writing and arith-
metic. 1 want him at fifteen years OF
age to know how to write a letter
That is what thousands Of college bred
men do not know. / want him to learn
to spell and punctuate correctly. After
the rudlments of an education have
been soaked into him, then we can talk
about private schools or university
course"
Learning Self Reliance.
After the school days are over what
happens? The common sense father
makes the boy start out for himself.
IL the lad enters business, he makes
him work In another store where the
father is not. If possible, he sends the
son away for a little while, to work in
another city among strangers, so that
the boy learns to think for himself and
stand upon his own feet. The wise
father does all this not because he is
hard hearted; not because he wants to
get rid of the boy. He puts the burden
Of life upon the boy because he Is Il
true friend to the child, planning his
best development. He wants to make
the most out Of his son and bring him
to the highest physical, mental, moral
and spiritual development God Is do
ing for us in a wide sense what the
earthly parent is doing for his child in
limited sense. He is placing his bur-
dens upon us to develop us. He Is not
making us struggle for the mere pleas
ure of seeing us suffer. He Is COM
pelling us to be caretakers that we
may grow In strength and climb the
higher mountain peaks Of inspiration
and power which he has lifted for our
thrones, and yet today there are but
very few who have grace enough to
thank God for the divine hand which
has smitten them as well as for the
divine lip which is ready to speak the
words of comfort and good cheer.
Spiritual Growth.
Spiritual growth is not developed SO
easily near the perfume OF a flower
garden as among the thorns and the
lacerations, the agonies and the suffer
lngs Of a ravine of thickets. The stron-
gest wing, the keenest eye, the swift
est foot and the sharpest intelligence
are not found in the meadow lands, but
In the deserts. There the lizards must
run like the lightning or the strong
beaked road runner" will snap them
in twain. There the buzzard, with his
great wings spread abroad as the sails
of ship, must be able to course on
hour after hour in search Of food and
with almost omnisclent eye watch the
tacklng wings of other buzzards miles
away to see whether they have found
any meat or else that buzzard must
soon starve and die. There the coyote
must have the wisdom of the serpent,
all the stealthiness Of the fox, all the
speed OF the deer, the olfactory sensl-
tiveness Of the hound, or else the rab-
bit and the ground squirrel can never
be his. To live in the desert the spring
must be as swift as the panther's; the
endurance must be so great that wa
ters a hundred miles away are not out
Of reach to quench the parching thirst
Every ear must hear the slightest whis-
per; every intelligence must be the
most far reaching, or else the beast, the
bird or the serpent will die. In the
deserts Of life God best develops US,
not in the meadow lands. Not in the
easy places do we become the strong
true, pure, good and noble men he in
tended US to be. In the desert places
we find the highest development or
moral and spiritual life. The strongest
flowers grow not as hothOuse plants,
but like the trailing arbutus and the
crocus, scenting the hillsides near tim
Der lines, whose lullaby Is the whis-
Ting wind of the early spring and
whose soft couch Is not the green grass,
but a white quilt Of drifting snow.
Canst thou not realize that the harder
the wind blows the more easy Is 1t for
the sea captain to trim his sails and
the swifter the ships speed toward the
desired harbor?
Benehcent Troubles.
Troubles are benefcent when packed
upon a mans back in certain quanti-
ties. They may and do develop the
physical and mental and spiritual man.
But though the soldier goes forth with
a brave heart to fight the battles Of his
country, with a haversack upon his
shoulder, he could not fight, 10 matter
how brave the heart, II he had a con-
vict's chain riveted to his ankle and a
mountain Of oppression tumbled over
upon his breast Thus, while it is the
duty of a true parent to put certain
burdens and cares upon his child to de-
voIon him n "a also the fathers duty