The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-11-25

But" 1 ask, did you not spend any
| night at home last week. Did you not
give your wife and children at least one
evening" Yes" you answer; II was
| home last Monday evening. l came home
| sick. l had caught a bad cold at the
store. came home feeling wretehed. |
| intended to go out that night, but fear
| full rainstorm came up, and my wife en-
phatically put her foot down and forbade
my going. But did not see the children
| much that night. I was too sick and felt
too miserable. Immediately after supper
my wife put me to bed and gave me
lot of hot drinks. and I got up good
sweat, and so 1 was able to be back at
the store next morning" What, out of
all last week have you only spent one
night at home, and that was because you
were too sick to go out? You ought 70
be ashamed of yourself. With SUCH
wife and such children, can it be that
you never reserve any evenings which
you can spend in their company?
Tell Them to Come Home.
Your children when they grow up should
be able to look upon you as something
different from mere boarder. When
Maj. d. w. Whipple, the evangelist some
years ago was suddenly called upon to
preach to a great audience which had
assembled in Pittsburg, he turned to his
wife just before he left the hotel and
| said: MY dear. what shall I preach
upon?" Major Whipples little daughter
spoke up and said, Papa, tell them to
come home" BY that she meant, Tell
| them to come to a heavenly Father, who
| has never ceased to love his children,
who will never leave them unprovided for
and who will never let them wander be-
yond his care" That was what the one
sentence symbolized Tonight in the eyes
of your children stand the representa-
3, tive of a loving heavenly Father. Have
= nv actions Taught chill
dren to feel that there is no place in
I all the wide world where you would
sooner be than by their side? Have you
taught them that they can come to you
| in every trouble and that you will be
! to them loving, tender, protecting, gen.
tie forgiving friend? AS a father and
; as a breadwinner you must work from
early morning until the sunset hour. But
what have you been doing with your eve
nings? Have you given them to the club,
and to the lodge, and to business, and
to outside pleasures and not devoted any
of them to holy associations with your
family?
The evenings also should be held sacred
| for mental improvement. They should be
the time when we should lay out a sys-
| tematic course of reading and study.
| They should be the time when we find out
what is happening in the great wide world
and what progress the world has been
making in the last fifty or hundred years.
! 1t is just as easy to discuss the char
acters of great men and learn about the
policies of governments as 1t is to gossip
about your neighbors' affairs. 1t is far
! more beneficial to the mind and restful
to the tagged out mental and physical
energies to try to study the origin OF
China's superstitions than it is to enter
into the quarres of some husband and
wife who are living on the opposite cor
ner to your own home. BY personal OBJ
Starvation I know that when a
a woman do not rigidly keep their even
ings employed for their own mental and
spiritual development they are apt to get
into mischief.
There never was a truer proverb writ
ten than that which says, 1.-THE devil has
| to seek the busy man. but the indolent
man hunts the devil" Martin Luther
we'll illustrated this fact when he said:
when am assailed with heavy tribula-
tions I rush out among my pigs rather
than remain alone by myself. The human
| heart is like a milestone in a miIl-when
| you put wheat under It, It turns and
bruises the wheat to -four. II you put no
| wheat In It, 1t still grinds on, but when
| 1t is itself it grinds and wears away"
| Luther was right. You must set yourself
some allotted task during the winter even
| ings, else you will get into mischief. You
will be like the millstones grinding them
| selves away. You must have your even
ings occupied with useful duties, else you
will drift into sinful pleasures. There is
ne exception to the rule.
Too Tired to Read.
| But" you say, what is the good of
your talking to me about giving my
evenings up to work? When l come
home from the store I am dead tired
! / can hardly move. What my brain
needs is not an intellectual uplift but
| just complete rest. If L can only go to
some vaudeville performance and have a
good laugh. and go and have a good
dance all is well. / do not want work.
but rest-complete rest Oh, no. my
friend. you are wrong. The mind and
body are never properly rested and recre-
ated by doing something foolish and
mentally enervatlng. You are depicting
your mind and consolidating it. as some
people spoil their children. The little
boy comes to his mother and says,
! Mamma. I am hungry. Can L have a
cake?" NO. Charlie" says his mother,
but if you wish you can have glass
of milk and some bread" Charlie lies
down on the ground and begins to
scream. Then the mother says, "All
right. Charlie; go and get the cake; only
stop that kicking and crying" \ couple
of hours later, at dinner. Charlie abso-
lutely refuses to eat anything but some
| pie. He says, II am not hungry; l do
not wish to eat anything About two
hours later Charlie comes to his mother
! anu says Mamma, L am hungry. (du
I have some candy?" She says. mo,
Charlie" With that Charles face be-
| gins to twist and his mouth TO open.
Then, in order to stop his crying, the
mother says: Yes, Charlie, here is the
| candy. Take it and don't cry" What
| is the result? Instead of giving that
boy healthy food which VIII develop bone
and muscle and sinew. she develops for
| him pernicious appetite The boy gets
| into condition where he absolutely re-
fuses to eat food which is healthy for
| him.
| ms some of us treat our minds like
spoiled children. We say: IT arm resting
my mind. l will go to a cheap theatre
| or to a dance hall" No, you are not
resting it. You are feeding it with cakes
! and candy. Rest Of mind simply comes
from change of work. What you need
| to do is to give your winter evenings to
good reading, to good thoughts and to
| high ideals. This means work but it
| will mean work that will recreate and
strengthen your energies. depleted by
the struggles of the day. Are we willing
to pay the price by which our evenings
| can provide with a true. beneficial
mental development?
True Development.
But l take a step farther and declare
| that n large per cent. of your evenings
should be consecrated to direct service
| to Jesus Christ. These should be the
sacred hours when you say. Lord. what