Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1907-07-18
erence is delightful either in young

1t isn't at all necessary for me to
point to our youth the wrecks upon
the shores Of lite who are mOnu-
ments to dishonorable actions in the
home. The cutters and the jails are
all too full of men and women who
refused to honor, to obey, to respect
or to listen.
On the other hand, the command
ment forces en- ethical duty on the
parent. Many times men become
criminals because of parental mis-
management and lack of wise, sound
and pure leadership in the home.
Honor, be to whom honor is due.
The man or the woman who demands
honor from q child must be honor
able-that is to say, worthy of honor.
Parents must be respectable before
they shall merit or gain their chill
dren's respect.
Obedience Is the due of that man who
doesn't contravene the moral law or
the laws Of common sense-and the
due of him alone. Age deserves def
erence not on the basis of years so
much as on the basis of wisdom.
Parents are many times more re-
children show them than are the
CAA4uA OA IAOA0OAVO0s 1AOAOA al A1dAJ
minds begins and stops with obe-
dience. Many parents seem to think
that the subjection Of the Individual
ity Of a child to their whim and will
is the sum and total of obedience.
Obedience consists in becoming as
much like themselves as possible
some parents seem to think. Chill
dren cannot be held down in that
oo%% ,ef k@ oil
for the exercise of individuality and
personal preference and bent. Obe-
dience must be given aid required
only when a moral principle is at
stake or the best interests of child
make it necessary that parental au-
thority be enforced. But the unrea-
sonable exercise of undue authority
which many people exhibit in their
home life ie pitiful-and the more
20 because the consequences are quite
sure. The whole of honor is not
bound up in obedience. Obedience
should not stifle individuality. Chill
dren have rights to wise leadership
and unceasing parental love. Many
times they receive silly government
and no lOve-and whom shall we
blame for the consequences?
The wise parent will realize that
as we grow older our ideas chan: (
and our perceptive powers strength
en-. Guidance for boy of four will
hardly ever be the sort of advice the
youth OF fourteen will need. You
may be the apotEeosis of wisdom to
your child of five end the finest par
ent ever to child of six without
| the power of analytical comparison
| and keen perception-and most Of
us If we are not too unwise in handl-
| ing our children are-but beware
| when your youth of sixteen has seen
the habits of better and wiser men
than you. Then must you watch
out. For If you do not grow with
and adjust yourself to the changing
point of view and the increased Wis
ion of your child you soon will find
! you ere fast losing his respect. Give
child wise guidance! Study not
how to make him a replica, repro
duction of yourself; but to lead him
| to be distinct personality, possessed
of strong individuality, molding by
! his own actions his being into the
stature of the Son of God!
Some one has said: "Who is to
blame for the pitiahle mite which
children give In resurn for parents
flood of love?" I do not know; but
of this I am sure: if parents would
cease to feel that they own their
children in common with their
horses, their estates and their cat
tie; if they would not, as many do
in varying degrees, treat their chill
dren as their property, the return
Of love would be far more adequate
than it is."
| We know how true that is. And
yet I fear that many of us do not
know how to handle our own chill
dren. A good child asks not for
more pocket money, or newer
clothes, or a more sumptuous sup
ply at the table-but for richer
love- It is useless to try to holo
children with gifts. Children should
be taught to yield honor through
parental love- A man who attempts
to bind his children to him with ma
! terial possessions must surely 1ali'
But the father and the mother-pe
they ever so unlearned and be they
ever so poor-who give their wlsest
experience and richest love to the
cultivation Of the personalities OF
their children will find that a bono
that neither time nor eternity can
sever holds their children to tne11
! sides. And il that won t-noth1ne
| no fNNchStOne