Evening journal., 1912-02-17
BOdgiRg the DiSaGreeabIs
BY The REV. R. L. JACKSON

A friend of mine, residing in a
distant city, is married to a woman
who dislikes domestic drudgery TO
escape as much Of it as she can, she
and her husband and their several
small children go out for their meals.
The man is well able to have his own
table under his own roof and would
much prefer it, but his wife has is
sued an ultimatum which has blasted
all his desires and expectations She
is a strong, able-bodied woman whom
a little hard housework would not
hurt in the least, but because of her
antipathy to it, she elects for herself
and family the publicities of board
ing house Happily. she is greatly in
the minority, but her case is signi-
ficent as illustrating an attitude all
too common at the present time.
When certain people make up their
minds that they do not like a particu-
lar task or duty, that settles it-they
deem themselves under no obligations
TO do IT, In other words, they make
inclination the sole and final arbiter
ir the matter. Here is a mother under
moral obligations TO secure for her
children the very best conditions pos
sible for their growth and training,
and abundantly able to realize them,
yet what does she do? She consults
her own personal inclinations and lets
it go at that. What If every mother
did as she doesi What if her husband
consulted only his personal inclina-
tionsl ! do not believe it is always
agreeable for him to go down every
day to his store and fight for living
for himself and family.
This is an attitude which is being
taken today by men and women in re-
/ gard to hundreds of situations. If they
do not like to do a certain thing, that
is all there is to il; they are under
no obligations TO do it. And this is
the way many parents are bringing up
their children
A thing may be right--in fact, il
Is right-but the boy or girl must not
be made 10 do it if they do not want
to; under no circumstances must the,
be forced TO do Il. This is the moderr
way of bringing up children. l don
know who first started it, or how i
has come TO have such a widespread
vogue. but | do know that it is givinl
MS a most molluscous, invertebrat'
type of humanity~-a type. that is con
Lsciously or unconsciously leavenini
modern society with a moral anarch
ism as insidious as it is deadly.
The word is suffering for a genera
ton of old-fashioned fathers an'
mothers, men and women with tn
backbone TO give their offspring tn
training that will make them stronl
and self-reliant. I hear parents ol
every hand say that the children mus
not be forced Why not2 DO boys an
girls in their teens know what is bes
and have they the power TO do whel
they know Il? Not if my eyes serv
me honestly; not If my own expert
ence is any safe criterion. I thanl
God for father and mother who ha
enough moral stamina to force me
They compelled me to remain a
school, they compelled me to 60 &
church and Sunday school; they com
PEELED me to do certain tasks abou
the house. What man will say | an
not all the better for such oompul
sions?
The world is full Of disagreeabl
things 10 be done, and men and wome
are all the stronger and nobler 70
doing them. Life is one long moral el
fort AS such, II is a school for th
finest discipline in conduct and char
acter. We are not put here to haV
a good time; we are here to develo
a noble, Independent self-hood. To 6
through life lodging the disagreeabl
is to miss the discipline which make
such development possible.