The San Francisco call., 1905-08-13
Ole One Black Sheep
i'm a White Flock.

that of endless patience with the one
VINO Is not strong enough to stand alone.
We have this endless patience with the
sick, for those who are laid aside by
bodily disc ase make large demands on
the well, and every one recognizes that
strength must pay debt to weakness.
In very true sense sinfulness of every
kind is spiritual disease, and il can be
cured In it's own realm only by just
such means as are freely used to cure
physical maladies.
Whatever people may think or say, in
the privacy of their homes and behind
closed doors, the family should present
an unbroken front to the world and
should by every means in its power
shield the erring child from public criti-
cism, from the consequences of his acts,
if possible, and should bend all its ener-
gies toward his reformation.
Another consideration is pertinent. Is
it right than an entire family, brothers
and sisters, children not yet grown and
children yet unborn. shall suffer because
of the family effort to defend the one
child who has been false to the family
ideal? This is not an isolated instance
The hand of the black sheep sometimes
casts an indelible stain and shadow on
the rest of the household. SACRIFICES are
made for him which are manifestly un-
1QSt. ANA IdtIeT lldIl lace d passing IS-
proach whole family may be impover-
ished in futile endeavor to protect his
name and make restitution for his dis
honesty.
In common with many other human
problems this one bristleS with Difficult
ty Where is the solution? There can
be none that will adequately fit every
different phase of trouble; there can be
none that will satisfy all minds. In the
of how li1-in trnI
BILE with such courage and resignation as
we can, setting our teeth and facing the
worst yet forever hoping for the best.
Our. greatest danger is that we may
drift into pessimism. No human soul is
wholly reprobate. No one ever drifts
too far away for love to bring him back.
The case is more distressing when the
black sheep is a woman than when 1t is
a man who has gone astray. Society and
the home demand of woman an unques-
toned purity. a stainless honor and an
impecca0le virtue. 1t Is right that this
demand should be made of woman. for
on her rests the fabric of civilization as
Ii can never rest on man. The integrity
of the family is in womans hands. If a
girl wander from the right path. it is
harder to reclaim her. and the conse-
quences are more terribly far-reaching
than in the case of her brother. Yet even
for her there should be pardon and the
blotting out of the past.
In one of Ian MacLaren's exquisite
Scottish tales there is the story of a
daughter who had been driven from her
home by the harsnne SIS and lack of sym
pathy of a stern father. The day comes
when, broken in health with the utmosl
tinidity, the homesick child creeps back
to the door of the old home. Her fathers 5
love goes out to meet her. She is taken
in and cared for and shown what. true
love is, as she had never known it
"There will be fifty words in the Gaelic
for darling she says, land my father
will be railing me by them all.
In the beautiful sparable of the Prodi
gal Son, the father explains to the angry
elder brother: '1t was meet that ws
should make merry and be glad, fol
this, thy brother, was dead, and is alive
again; was lost, and is found.
This is loves eternal attitude toward
the pcnitent black sheep.