Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-06-11
FUTURE MEN AND WOMEN.
They Are the Children of Today. What
Shall They Be.

Miss Grace w. Vandiver, Elementary
Superintendent of the South Carolina
Sunday School association, before the
York County convention.
A child sits in the midst Of our CIV
ilization, give him the proper nurture
and a new hope is born for the world;
neglect him and all society Is in jeop-
ardy. That the children of one decade
are the adults of the next Is but half
of the grave truth--the graver half Is
this: Ones religious ideas, impress
sions and inclinations are all, with
rare exceptions, received before man
hood and womanhood Is reached. The
Catholic church has long ago seized
the truth which we as Protestants,
have been slow to see, that the hope
of any church lies in its children. The
close guarding and training OF the
youth of the church is directly re-
sponsible, not only for the remarka-
BILE increase, but for the faithfulness
with which the Catholic clings to his
church. All brought about by
knowledge of child-life which declares
"Give me the first seven years or
child's life and you may have all the
rest" So this question of the men
and women of tomorrow is not ques-
ton of tomorrow, but rests with US as
teachers of today, and a mighty re-
sponsibility il is. Not only i'm our
hands as workers today rests the fu-
ture membership of the church, but
the future citizen as we'll, in whose
hand lies the ideals Of a nation.
When we realize that the greatest
thing in the world is human life and
the greatest work i'm the world is the
training of the divine element, then,
and not till then, are we ready to say
what the men and women of the fu-
ture shall be. We are what we are
because our past was what 1t was
what we will be in the future de-
pends upon what we are now.
Since this question of the men of
the future deals not with the then
but the now, how shall we deal with
it as church and school?
That church which is to reap a rich
reward in an aggressive church men,
bership of the future is she who Is
willing TO place the primary accent OF
her life and work upon the nurture OF
the young Not reserving her great
est force and strength for those who
are already established in the Chris
tian life, but for those who are yet to
choose for or against our King. Not
satisfied alone with saving the souls or
men and women, but reaching out FOR
those that have not only a soul to
save, but life TO give.
And second, that church that makes
suitable financial provision first of all
for the church's work for the chill
dren: that is willing to put repairs
and gas bills and even pastors salaries
secondary to the needs of the child
mind and heart, providing suitable
rooms and equipment, making 1t posi-
BILE for the teacher to create and sus-
tain that atmosphere of quiet rever-
ence i'm which the real work of the
soul is accomplished.
Third, ii is the church that plans q
continuous and systematic campaign to
bring every child under the influence
of the church: that is willing not only
to stand behind the school, but t.
stand with it in every movement ts
advance the work, helping superin-
tendent and teachers to bear the bur-
den of the responsibility of souls.
From the standpoint Of the school
the question rests almost entirely with
the individual teacher. We don't in.
huence and direct people in the mass
IL is the individual touch. Some one
has said that in the life Of every great
man there was human touch at the
crossroads.
HIS question: lllc li'N oiiS
narrOwS down to the teacher, but Il
narrOwS down to the elementary
teacher. she i'm whose hands the train
ing of the formative period lies-tht
moulding period, when everything
about the child is contributing to his
material for character building. This
is the time and not later that habits
are formed and ideals are made thai
make or mar life. Later character
is weighed i'm the balance but moi
made, the handwriting is done OF
the white soul while body and brair
and tissue are being formed, and woe
unto The man or woman who puts G
wrong ideal into that learning soul
for an ideal put into n life does not
end with single life. but is forever
And he does not get ideals from tex
books. they are got from fathers ant
mothers and teachers. He has nC
other way by which he can fashion
his life than by what he sees i'm thu
lives of those about him. and where
can he go for an example of all tina
is high and holy and altogether
lovely if not to the one that teache:
him of Gods love and tender care
The life of the teacher himself or her
self has much to do with the future