The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1909-11-12
THE DEFEUrIvE HOME AND JU.
VENILE DELINQUENCY
Paper By Mrs. HUMPHREYS Read al
the Idaho Falls Meet.

Inc AOanO FalIS Meet. .s2r Fl
The home, the school, the vocation,
the state and the church are the 1--WE
great institutions that educate and
shape the deatinies Of the members OF
our race. And what are the require
ments for entrance upon the work OF
each? The school teacher must pro-
duce q certificate indicating rela-
lively high degree or proficiency. The
vocation tends to draw It's lines tight
In every case and to require special
preparation on the part OF those who
would enter 1t. Il The unfit can not
hope to succeed therein. The state
likewise holds out its Offices only to
those who are comparatively we'll 1T
ted by nature and experience to oc-
cupy such positions. The minister
II the church must pass through a
long period Of study and probation
before the day Of his ordination. But
what of home builders? There Is no
required preparation Of any conse-
quence whatever. The halt, the dis
eased, the Ignorant and the criminal
are permitted to share the sacred Of
fee Of child rearing, equally along
with the physically strong, the learn
ed and the pure In spirit. We have
special college courses In poultry
raising, pig raising and horse breed
Ing, while parents 60 on in the old
way rearing children by guess, here
say and superstition, AS conse-
luence the first children in MANY
families are used for experimental
purposes and though they may be
well born their prospects for use
full career are often blighted forever
The time wild come, 1t must come,
when the state will require all pros
pective home builders before enter
Ing the marriage relation to take a
thorough course In human animal
breeding and child rearing. Until
such thing can be brought about
we must 60 on laundering fearfully
~ respect to these matters. Parents
all about us are failing sadly in their
efforts to train their children in the
home, not SO much because Of indif-
ference as because OF ignorance.
Many people think they do their
whole duty IL they clothe and feed
their children and send them to
church on Sunday and to school on
week days. It never dawns on them
that they have any responsibilities
for shaping the child's proclivities.
They commit again and again the
serious fault Of assuming that 1t Is
time enough to teach the child to
work when he has become old enough
TO take part In productive labor. But
nothing could be farther from the
truth, Much effort and patience mn
be expended in training the, rhaG--- st
the fundamental princiRy lid in
..A4.. $50 Il - u - saa5les of work
long before he Is Of sufficient age and
strength to earn even a reasonable
rate of interest on what 1t costs to
teach him.
1t Is much to be regretted that we
do not give the just measure of honor
and praise to the every day life and
work in the home. There is certain
ly need Of great poet or painter or
artist or all Of these, who will by
means of his high art divert the at
tention of the young from the airy
phantoms which they are now chasing
and help them to fix their affections
upon the things that make for more
substantial character IL our novel
writer's and magazine artists would
cease painting SO many pictures of
precocious, love-sick debutantes and
pampered. sentimental summer girls
and would give more illustrations of
such types as the sturdy, simply clad
young home maker and the rosy
checked unpretentious country maid
of the better sort. they would thus
contribute not little to the moral
and spiritual uplift of the race. Ii
braries are full of histories of war,
commerce, literature and finance, but
thus far no author has risen to show
how the Preside and the rich affec-
tions Of the heart have colored man s
industry, his art and education, his
morals and religion. 1t is the home
that underlies morals, and is the
spring of light and beauty for the
soul; IL there is not truth In the home
there will not be sincerity in society,
If not honesty In the home. not hon
or in business; If not devotion in the
home. not the spirit of devotion in
the church. For homes are the
springs that feed the nation, and IL
they run dry, there will be drought In
the nation. 1t cannot be otherwise
Trees are judged by their fruit, and
American civilization must be judged,
not by its institutions norB by its
methods OF social organizations. but
by the men and women who grow out
of it's soil and under Its conditions.
There are fifteen million homes in
the United States. There ought not
to be one unhappy one. Every one of
these homes can be made happy and
kept happy by right living. But we
know some homes are stupid, some
homes are dreary and some are in
siderable Whose fault is 1t that
they are so? 1t Is every body's fault
that the average home is place from
which fathers fly to clubs. boys and
girls to the street and dance hall.
A good child is the natural pro-
duct of a home, and all efforts of
philanthropy to make children better
are consciously imperfect substitutes
for the natural influences of healthy
minded home. The great over-shad-
owing peril Of a childs life is not as
many suppose his bad companions or
his bad books or his bad habits; 1t Is
the peril of homelessness; ! do not
mean houselessness-having no bed