El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-11-14
PATRIOTISM IN
SCHOOLS NEEDED
Family Altar Should Be in
Every Home; Bible in
Every School.
Continued From Page y. This sectiOn.)

mortality-and the childs only hope is
mother, since you called the little ones
How long has it been, father or
about the hearth-stone and read to
them the blessed word of God?
Patriotism Needed.
I believe the stars and stripes should
float over every schoolhouse in our land
and that a copy of the Bible should be
upon every teachers desk and that each
new day the school should be obened
with prayer to the eternal father of our
spirits. And this would be done were it
not for lack of American manhood and
womanhood 1t matters not how
famous, how capable or how wise YOU
NAV become, you cannot outgrOw the
old book. When you think that you can
get along without drinking at its foUn-
tains and everlasting 81 rings, it simIIy
means that you are miserable, poor and
blind and that the fountains of your
higher and better self have ceased to
flow and your life has become as a
parched desert.
A turning away from the instructions
of the Bible and from God to ration
alism and materialism has plunged all
Europe into a cOnflagration of blood
and carnage the like of which the world
has never seen since the deluge in the
days of Noah.
What about that family altar in your
home? 1t may be that up to this good
hour you have never erected one in
that home into which God has permitted
precious children to come. If this be
true, / would not let another day Cass
by without erecting that altar bv the
home fireside. Wherever Abraham
went, whether in the plains or uron
the mountain side, there he erected the
family altar and God blessed him there
and made Abraham a blessing to all
subsequent generations. Oh, now many
family affairs in this busy, materialistic,
atheistic age, have been permitted to
crumble into dust. There Is no insti-
tuition in the home that so impI esses
a child for good and that has such a
pulling and holding effect in after
years, upon the man or woman as the
recollection of the family altar Mem
Ory's nicture of the father, the patriarch
of the home, reading a chapter from the
blessed old book and then kneeling in
prayer-or calling to mind the little
prayer learned at mothers knee before
becoming soiled by the dust and sin of
this world. has caused many a man to
come to himself. The hour of public
worship, when we meet at the house of
God for prayer and praise, cannot take
the place of the family altar. for il
stands alone in its far-reaching in
fiuence upon the young life and in its
power to do good long after father and
mother have gone home to be with God.
Scriptures Neglected.
In most Christian homes today, the
sad fact remains that the scriptures are
seldom opened IN the presence OF the
family and the children rarely, if ever,
hear the voice of their parents in
prayer. Ny heart is filled with fear and
sadness when I realize that the good
old religious custom has almost passed
away and that children are coming into
manhood and womanhOod in homes
where the Bible. for the most part, is a
sealed book, and prayer unknown. It
would take a prophet sent from God
to fOrtell the effect this will have,
when under such circumstances this
generation rises to take une place Of
those living today. The promise for the
future is not bright There is nothing