Milford chronicle., 1906-05-04

say, "WhO mas been talking to You, my
son% He answers simply. mo one,
mother; no one" All, yes. some one
has been talking to him. Like Christ,
the boy in the temple. he hears a
strange voice. He sees strange visions.
These visions are not of earth, but Of
heaven. He cannot see those visions
full orbed; but. like Christ the boy he
can see them in their dim outlines. He
hears the divine voice, and in his faint
way he is saying, Il must be about my
Fathers business"
beginning to Climb.
Has your boy never astonished you
by his strange questions and answers,
as Christ astonished the lawyers and
doctors in the temple when but twelve
years of age? Some time ago an anx-
ious mother said: when my children
were very young they We're mine. l
eould say to them, Children, sit DOWN.
and they would sit down. l could read
to them a book and explain to them the
pictures, and they would accept my
statements as true, because mother
said it. But there comes time when
feel my boys hand loosening its
grasp upon my hand. Then l see him
move away and leave my side and be-
gin to walk alone and to think for him
self. Then | cannot say, Child, do
this and he will do it simply because |
his mother tells him to do it, l cannot /
say. Child, believe this merely be- |
cause l believe it. But must give him |
an intelligent reason why he should do
so and why he should believe" Then as /
the child moves away from his moth
er's side the mother must sit still and
pray to God that he will help guide her
boy. Yes, as parents we have all gone
through this experience. For years and
years our children have followed us,
as bleating lambs follow the mother
sheep. But some day we turn our eyes
to see where tire children are. Then,
much to our surprise, they are not by
our side. Then we look up the noun
tain heights. There we see our boys
and girls beginning to climb Along
the dizzy precipices they 60 Over the
dangerous rocks, higher and higher
like Alpine hunters, they mount or bal
lnce. They are climbing up the noun
tains of original research. They are
up the mountains of thought.
They are starting out for the noun
-ains of fame. Then all that the par !
ents can do is to sit in the valleys and
see their boys and girls disappear
lmong the cloudlands as they pray: !
% God, guide my children o God, :
each out thy strong arm and bridge /,
hat dangerous crevasseW This time :
# starting for the cloudlands, for pio- !.
eering among unseen worlds, general
= comes to the boys and the girls
Vhen they are about to pass the
welfth gdiden milestone. Looking into '
he past, we know this was our own y
ersOnal experience. Thus Is it with \
be first coming of Gods visions to our =
hildren.
Boys Who Heard the Call. :,
Not only do these visions come to the G
hid of twelve, but they come in a 8,
itiOnal way. When God gives to the II
Oung boy a vision he is not pictur- n
lg for him a future life which is i'm II
Ossible. to be realized. God is giving g
, him the same kind of vision that CT
? gave to the boy Jacob, and to the gi
" Joseph, and to the boy Samuel. and st
the boy David, and to the boy Christ r,
hese ancient boys as well as the
Odern boys of twelve may not fully III
alize what their futures are to be, IN
1t something within them says, 20 Al
lid, thou art to be this or that or the m
her thing on account of thy mental n,
Id physical and spiritual powers" fr
lese boy children of twelve feel the ad
ward as well as the outward callings NJ,
the future, as the great painter Ben ro
min West when little child used to On
IKE paint brushes from the hairs of MI
) cats tail, and as the boy Demos wv
enes felt the slumbering fires of elO-
ence burning within him when he no
Uttered so badly that in order to ar bo.
ulate at all distinctly he used to put 10.
bibles in his mouth, and as David MI
ainerd heard the divine call to give Nh
life to foreign missions long be- ri
e he was out of the short trousers no,
the schoolroom. eIr
'ot only do these youths and maid su1
; feel the rational call of their fu- wil
e life work but the parents and the via
lrdians and the teachers may see ton
trend of their minds and hearts If tor
y only watch the actions of these lar
ldren closely and intelligently. The
er day l was very much interested
reading a letter which John Adams,
young sehoolteacher of Worcester, b
S., wrote of his old college friends. aro
: second president of the United wal
tes was then a young pedagogue. thol
S is the letter: 81 sometimes consld- theI
myself in my great chair at school of
iome dictator over a commonwealth, to
this little state l can discover all line
at geniuses and all of the surprising drift
Ons and revolutions of the great lear
Id in miniature. have several re- and
med generals, only three feet high, that
several politicians in petticoats. l Jew
e others who are catching and dis his
ing flies with as ardent curiosity was