Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-21
YOUTH HUNGERS
FOR CONFIDENCE
MRS. M. S. LAM0REAUX Lee
TURES ON "CHILDH00D"
INTERESTING ADDRESSES CLOSE
SUNDAY SCHOOL CONVENTION
Special Sermons Preached by Method
ist Pastors and Closing Ses-
sion Is Held at First
Church


the auspices of the board of Sunday
schools of the Methodist Episcopal
church closed at the First Methodist
church last night after a successful
session lasting four days. Yesterday
morning the Methodist pastors of the
city preached special sermons to the
| Sunday schools and in the afternoon
a mass meeting was held at the First
Methodist church, which was attended
| by a congregation that filed the church
auditorium and Sunday school rooms.
DR.. F. M Larkin, the district super
| iutendent, presided at the meeting, the
addresses of the afternoon being made
| by Mrs. M. S. LamoreauX and DR.. Ed
gar Blake, both of Chicago. Vocal
solos were given by Miss Mabel Clark
and Mrs. Ethel Booth.
| Mrs. Lamoreaux, who has been de-
| liVering a series of lectures at the con-
vention on childhood" was the first
speaker yesterday afternoon. She is
an eloquent speaker and held her au-
| dience interested during her entire lee
| ture She spoke on the subject,
| young Manhood and Womanhood,"
| She said in part:
| Have you ever seen Niagara falls
when the water goes along placidly
and then suddenly comes to the rough
| part? That is the way with the life
of our youth. They go along placidly
and all at once they see the great sea
of life, but before they reach that sea
there is the turmoil. These, more than
any other years, are marked with the
| wreckage of life. In the lives OF our
young men from 16 to is and our girls
| from IS to II are the most potential
years of life.
Life Is in Turmoil
There is not so much new that
wakens, but because it comes so quick
| ly the whole life is in a turmoil. AT
| that time our young people begin to
| shut themselves up--the don't under
stand themselves. They are a contrast
| to the frank openness of the early
years. Life shuts up then and happy
| the father and mother who have kept
the open sesame and can come into
the closed heart of their child. The
only way to be shut on the inside when
the world is shut out is to pay the price
of going step by step with your child
| in close sympathy as the life goes on
| but that is not an easy thing to do.
This whole period might be char
acterized in the word 'hunger'-hun.
ger to be understood. What did Goo
| give girls mothers for and what die
|
they could see what has been giveI
them in the hearts of their children.
"Our young people hunger for con
| fldence-to be trusted. And there |!
no period in life when confidence /!
more withheld than during these years
'"This is the period when the dark
ness comes-that life has fallen below
the ideal. The boys and girls have al
ideal for life that is higher than you
ideal for them. They are discouraged
and what they neel, instead of cen
sure, is the L know that you will dt
it yet
"The keynote in this period is thu
word of confidence. The Master said
you will remember, that if your neigh
Dor sins. forgive for seventy times
| seven. How many times do the sons
| and daughters take the misstep before
we say, That is just what / expected,
| and let go.
Another, marked characteristic is
| the critical spirit They come to us
| with a new measuring rod-the most
exacting in the world. In this period
there is never the word charity Either
| the life measures or it does not meas
| ure-it is either right or wrong. Don't
you wish they could keep that through
| the world? God gives it in this period
and if thing is right it is absolutely
right, and if it Is wrong, it is abso-
lutely wrong.
Great Question Period
''I beg you to remember that it is
| not primarily a question of what you
| and [ as Christians dare to do with
| out hurting our own souls, but it is g
| question of what the boy and gir
! who are measuring us will think.
"rhen there comes the great ques-
ton period when the young people ash
| Z I'm
Gods word and that Jesus Christ Is
| divine-what proof have you" One
| reason for this is that the measuring
| rod that has been taking the measure
] of so many Christians has come doWr
| in it's measure instead of going up
But the life will be far stronger fol
| having questions if you can only hell
it through. But it is a short distance
from saying, L can't believe what
don't understand to I won't believe
what I can't understand
"You remember Thomas when he
doubted. l can find nowhere in the
Bible where the Master said: Thomas
am disappointed in you, I thought
that after all these years you would
believe me- but instead he told him
to place his fingers in the prints OF
the nails and his hand in the wound
! that he might know, and in that cry
of Thomas My Lord and my God,
there was no possibility of future
| doubt"
DR.. Blake followed Mrs. Lamoreau2
in telling of the work of the Sunday
school board which was organized al
the last general conference of the
| Methodist church in order to further
the work of the Sunday schools prin-
cipally in securing and caring for sun
day school missionaries to reach tho
thousands of people throughout the
country who have no Sunday schoo
facilities. DR.. Blake gave interesting
| statistics showing the lack of Sunday
schools and churches in thousands OF
small towns, and yesterday afternoon
raised over $500 toward securing sun
| day school missionary for California.
At the mass meeting last evening
DR.. C. e. Locke led in the devotions
| The addresses were made by Dr
Downey of Chicago and Bishop Hughes
of California
HIS HONOR
|