Perth Amboy evening news. [volume] (Perth Amboy, N.J.) 1903-1959, 1913-04-28
HOME RULE Is
SERMON TOPIC
Rev. William H. Bawdsn
Speaks ForcibIy on Subject
in Baptist Church.
TELLS OF FAMILY LIFE
Words Have Direct Bearing
on Effort Being Made for
CurfeW Law Here.

IN s'foGceful sermon on Home
Rule" yesterday morning, Rev.
William H. Bawden, pastor of the
First Baptist church, sounded the
keynote for the petitions that are
now being circulated in this city ask
ing the Board of Aldermen to pass a
curfew law. The sermon dwells on
the conduct of the home and the
bringing up of children. Mr.. Bawden
was at his best in this sermon and
he was highly c,mplimented by
members of his congregation at the
close of the service.
He spoke in part as follows:
1t is not without It's significance
that the morning when / speak to
YOU about Home Rule should be
the time when you are asked to sign
a petition asking for the enactment
OF curfew law in our city, although
1t is quite ?oincidental. OF course,
home RulGt saas nothing to do with
III away ireland, but with Perth Am
boy. Solomon long ago said Train
up a child in the way he should go,
and even when he is old he will not
depart from it, l have heard that
quoted as If it read: "Train up a
child in the way he should go, and
when he Is old away he will go!"
Nevertheless, candor compels me to
observe that such suggestions spring
from those few exceptions that only
tend to prove the rule. 1t is custom
airy for us to think that we have
trained our children Alright, but the
way they afterwards go takes into
account the little subtle things. Of
life, and tells more accurately about
the training they have received than
any words of ours are able to ex-
press.
One OF the grave conditions of
modern life is the breaking down of
the home. This is said not in a
pessimlstic spirit, but in order that
we may face the facts before it is too
late. Parental authority Is not now
generally what it was fifty or hun
dred years ago; lor is home any
thing more than misnomer when
1t simply means the place where we
eat and sleep. This condition is
partly due to modern economic cir
cumstances. In too many instances
not only the father is a wage Garner,
but the mother also is compelled to
help support the family, while the
children themselves are at too early
an age forced to enter upon the same
life Not only is the home maker
thus deprived of her privilege, but
the children themselves are led too
early to assert their independence.
1t is also partly due to modern SOC
ial conditions. There is no country
of modern or past history wherein
divorce is so shamefully present as
here in the United States, to say
nothing Of the other separations In
the family that have not gone SO far.
In addition there are far too many
clubs and other social resorts that
take the father in one direction, the
mother in another, and the children
In third Any home life worth the
while is wholly impossible amid such
conditions. 1t Is also partly due to
the large number of immigrants who
throng our shores. They come with
little or no knowledge of either our
customs or our language. While the
children soon pick up both in our
public schools, the parents are kept
upon the treadmill of earning money,
and have to depend upon their chill
dren for such knowledge. In such
Cll tAC Cnllul cu dI Z QulCh
to take advantage, the parents are
robbed of their privilege of taking
the initiative, and again parental
authority is imperilled and the real
meaning of the home Is likely to be
lost.
But the home is the foundation of
society; in fact, 1t is society in mini
ature. Therein we learn the gentle
art of living together. 1t is hard
enough to get along with one another
at best, and clashes seem to be In
evitable. But in the family, love oils
the places where friction arises, and
the individual slowly learns the art
of adjusting himself to others. The
family, moreover, is a reflection of
the divine economy. Men have
thought of God as an oriental mon
arch, seated upon a throne in majes-
ty and state, to be approached with
Continued or page 4.