The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-05-15

that it may be well with thee, and thou
mayest live long on earth. Ephesians VI
2 and 3.
This admonition of Paul, the apostle,
in his letter to the Ephesians is but
a paraphrase of the fifth of the great
commandments which were delivered
to the people of Egypt by Moses as
coming to him from the Lord. The ten
commandments as laid down by Moses
have ever been recognized as the code
of moral laws by all civilized people,
and around them as a basis have been
built many of the laws of many lands
for the promotion of true justice
among their inhabitants None of
them are of more Importance to the
development of a happy state of ex-
istence than the fifth to which Paul
specifically recalls the attention of the
Ephesians in the words of the text. If
any persons on this earth are worthy
of honor of obedience and of reverence
they are parents and it should come
to them in the first instance from their
children. The responsibility that faith
ers and mothers take in bringing chill
dren into the world is a great one. In
the aggregate it Is really few parents
who prove false to their trusts. And
about the only compensation that is
possible to them for their efforts and
labors for. their sacrifices which are
many in the raising of their children,
with the exception of the knowledge
that they are fulfilling their destiny
and doing their duty to posterity, is
the love, the honor and the respect
that their children pay them.
And it would appear to the casual
observer in this day of grace.
or lack of it, that good many
children or falling far short of
their duties in these regards. The
spirit of independence that Is per-
vading all men and women in these
times in their living and thinking
seems to have wormed its way into the
minds of the young with the result
that a large and steadily increasing
number of them seem to be anything
but heedfu1 of parental authority and
desires. The children proceed to go it
alone, as it were, almost as soon as
they get out of their swaddling clothes.
And as they advance with years they
do not appear to treat their parents
with even as much consideration as
they do their friends and &C
And while parents may
be-to blame in many instances for such
conditions which may prevail among
their children, the whole fault in more
instances is not theirs 1t is rather in
the spirit of the times. The grand
mothers and the grandfathers of to-
day will tell you that things were not
always like this, and discerning per-
sons will insist that they should not so
continue. Just as sure as children grow
up without proper esteem for their par
ents, just so certain will they develop
a disregard for the conventions of So
ciety. Parental authority is the first
thing of the kind that is forced on the
attention of a child. If he is permitted
to grow up in disobedience to it and if
he sights it after he has grown up, |
he will act in exactly the same way |
toward all authority by whomsoever 1t |
may be welded, whether it be by |
teachers, by employers or the very
laws that are made for the preser- |
vation of peace and right living. This |
honoring and respecting of parents is |
also a thing which should not end |
when children reach the estate of men |
and women. They should continue to |
hold in honor and respect the ones |
who have shaved for them, who have |
denied themselves untold things to |
make their offspring what they are,
until the last call comes and the old |
folks pass on to their great reward.