The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-11-20

feed upon these AFFAIRS. IL Is Hdius
yes, we'll nigh impossible, to trans
mute commercial ideals, dollars and
cents into more abundant life.
Our course of study may well need
revision, may require radical change
in content. But our greatest need is
larger and truer ideals established
firmly in the hearts and minds OF our
boys and girls. A greater emphasis
must be placed upon moral and idea!
than upon material and commercial
values. The voice In defense OF the
child's inalienable rights, his heritage
Of moral and religious ideals, should
ring deep into the hearts OF parents
Parents need to learn that the dol!ar
Is not the goal of life, that the child
is more than the victim OF parents
base ideals; that he is more than a
money-making machine. They need
to learn that the child has self-hood
to be developed, a soul to be cultured,
and a destiny to be achieved. TO
take a child out of school and compel
him to earn money is to deny him his
rights, is to degrade him. For
parents to do so is selfish, brutal, I'M
moral. | repeat that one of the great
est evils that threaten our nation is
our too complete allegiance to COM
mercial ideals. Our mad rush for
gold makes us a nation of individuals
rather than democracy. Christ
SAYS, "No man liveth unto himself.
In New York it sometimes seems as
though every man reversed that prln-
ciple. Individualism Is menace to
the life of the republic. There IS, as
never before, a crying need for
parents and teachers to exalt moral
and spiritual values; a need to de-
throne the god of gold and to re-
enthrone the God of old; need to
engrave upon the very physical and
spiritual fiber of the child's nature
the exceeding, the Incompatible
worth of moral character. Parents
themselves need to possess and prop
erIy estimate these ideals and then to
instill them and give them first place
in the hearts of their children. Such
ideals of truth and righteousness, i'm
plying as they do profounder sense
of social obligation, will contribute in
the highest degree to the enrichment
OF human life, to a more abundant
life.
Mighty possibilities are resident in
the teachers vocation because of the
material with which he works. Eter-
nal consequences follow therefrom.
The true teacher spends little time
waiting for pay day to come. His is
a worthier work than that of a mere
wage Garner. He is maker for
social betterment, not mere hire
ling. AS with the preacher, right
eousness is his concern; with God he
is co-worker. That our teachers
might feel that they are called Of God
and are doing Gods work, there was
a Man sent from God who was named
Teacher. He Himself says His mis-
sion was to give more abundant
life. That was His mission, that was
His religion, that was His life. The
religious aspect Of the teachers work.
the religion of education, If you will,
Is a subject worthy of more thought
than it has received.
While there is an imperative neeG
for teachers with ideals, we must not
forget that the ideals must be of pos
sible attainment. We need, then,
sane teachers, teachers balanced by
perspective. False ideals, ideals be-
yond the realm Of the possible, held
up before the young, defeat the
teachers purpose. Hold up before
boy an impossible ideal, making him
struggle toward it's realization until
one day its utter absurdity daWns
upon him, and with what result? His
cherished idol falls and with it there
come tumbling down all his ideal con-
structs. In this day when our college
presidents are little more than money
gatherers, when our school principals
are little more than clerical workers,
there is a positive need for teachers
with lofty ideals, but ideals within
the realm of possible achievement.
Impossible ideals made for lawless-
ness rather than for Righteousness
and the betterment Of life.
We need, finally, to rediscover the
meaning of life, to learn that mans
life consistent not in the abundance
of the things that he possesses. We
need to rediscover the fact of God,
and that in Him we live and move
and have our being. He is the source
of our life and to find Him is to find
fuller life. There is need to re-em-
phasize the fact Of Christ as the Re-
vealer of the true life which is the
life of service. The life of the world
has received a new impulse in Him.
His faith and practice were that the
only way to find life is to give life.
Christ gave His life in deeds of loving
service even unto death that the life
heritage of humanity might be en-
riched. He thus emphasized in teach
ing and in life social obligation. For
Him every enriched life was an in
creased social asset. From Him we
learn that the inheritance of life into
which we have come must be shared
with our fellows and passed on to
others enhanced in value by reason
of our participation. To give life is
to make life more abundant.