The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-02-16
, Good MANS BAD SONS.
International Sunday School
in ~. for February II is 1.-The
, Nah of Eli and His Sons."-
sam. 4:t-1S.
~ William II. Ellis).

p.ronthood, priesthood, piety and
a1ers are the fourrold themes OF the
p,,trr nictures from the old BOOK
mnnirh Is this weeks Sunday School
Tessor. one does not have TO search
- - % md here a rational program
of nroCress and reform 1or our OWN
land and time. .D
Tho cynical proverb about Preach
49,, CONS and deacons' daughters is
not true. as repeated statistical snow
;nrs have demonstrated. Children Of
ne uanse do not ordinarily go wrong;
Ito the contrary. Sufficient eXcep-
ions remain, however, to give point
70 the saving. The preachers son
who strays is sure to be noted pc
cause he is o preachers son.
Some ministers are so engrossed
a. the larger concerns of spiritual
truth and moral progress, that they
imn~erceptibly drift into the state OF
mind of that statesman who said that
no had no time for Individuals
Home TO every minister and teach
or and Christian worker comes
inrmation that no mouI.t or publc
service can atone for failure to be
tue TO ones responsibilities in ones
own home.
The american Fathers Failure.
Eli the priest of Israel at Shiloh,
was a GOOD man and efficient priest.
lie was devoted to the altar and to
the glory of God. He was a kindly,
considerable character. as his deal
ings with Hannah and Samuel show
cd. but his love was lax in his w
household, where u firm hand was
needed.
Old Eli was a prototype Of the
American father, engrossed in large
concerns, who lets his sons have
their own way. A prominent buSl-
ness man in New York said to me
one day, Il really do not know my
son. You see, he has been away "a
school and college, and On summel
vacations most of his life, and wheI
he is home for a short time, he ha:
evening engagements and friends a
the house, That man was begin
ming 70 realize that perhaps, in spit'
of the success that had made him
marked personality in the. grea
metropolis, he had not done a man
fl duty by his time.
\ moral menace today is this lax
iy on the part of the American par
ents. We are building u home
without woodsheds, and without tina
discipline for which the woodshe'
proverbialy stands. The idea of la,
and discipline is lacking from myri
ads of American boys, whose parent
send them off to private schools l
the hope hat hired teachers Wi
make up for parental neglect. 1t
not uncommon for wealthy father
10 give their boys huge automobile
as toys with which to break spec
hlnlts and brighten pedestrians. The
they wonder why the new generatio
IS growing needless of the rights
man and of the laws of the land. w
are sowing the Wind of self-indu
t'hce and we must expect to cap TT
WhlrlWind of moral anarchy. O
rl returns from the distant past
challenge every parent to his primal
V'2 as a man ---~ a father.
Glass Houses.
lt Is easier tot find fault with i
man 70 train our own sons. He d
,aIl IN the rearing Of Holhni al
fhlneas, his sons. They abused the
position and their opportunity, al
D'tause &c was so very lenient wi
mem, Cod sent him a warning
nc llps Of the child Samuel. Ev'
men Eli was not equal to the dra
~ measures required, and the &C
APT priests continued in their po'
IONS Of influence. Eli bent benea
re sorrow of his life in pathe
o,s"1N, perhaps exercising the gra
:" ~r"Signation when he should ha
'fhployed the virtue Of swift, stro
action.
When we are thinking about t
'"'IAfe of Eli with his sons, we III,
uol forget that he also had much
~ WIN the rearing of Samuel,
.a"lS greatest prophet. 1t is III
,nal Hannah helped more than a
~ but it was under the influeI
El mat Samuel became Il stat
nan of God. Lest we be moved
1"hdemn the old priest too much,
'Ie reminded that Samuel's own 81
poVed unworthy.
"ihce We live in glass houses,
~ pe easy on Eli the aged. He
~ nobility Of character. The bl
az, KILLED him was not a perso
Pavement. but the news that
: 81 the covenant had suffered
~"!"E. As we look about us, we C
~. escape the fact that godiy y
"lS may have wastrel sons. r
pest of fathers and mothers c
AAIA -