New Britain herald., 1915-10-18
HOME DISCIPLINE
 SHOULD COME FIRST
Rev. Harry 1. Bodley Urges Need
 Of Parental Training


 forenoon, Rev. Harry I. Bodley de- livered a sermon on Christian Educa- tion, which touched upon many points of present day fallacies in relation to the work of the school and the home. That the school is blamed for much that is the fault of parents was the rector's contention and he elucidated this point clearly to his many listen CTS. Children, he maintained, should Lc taught obedience at home and should be so thoroughly disciplined that when they enter school the work Of the teacher, which now is expected to be both discipline and instruction, would be frightened and the school would be in better position to fulfill it's real mission in the world.
 The failure of the schools to teach Christianity, MT. Bodley placed on the shoulders of Christianity and not on the schools. It is the fault of Christians, he said, for with so many creeds and beliefs being taught in the cnurches 1t IS impossible to give dos trinal instruction in the schools.
 MT. Bodley spoke in substance as fellows:
 Christian Education
 And ye fathers provoke not vour children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the. Lord. ."-Ephesians VI: f.
 Or as the revised version trsnslates the second clause "But nurture thorn in the chastening and admonition of the Lord.' This second clause is my real text. For we. of the clergy are asked to preach today all over the United States on Christian education.
 ID, aI1 let me fix your attention on two words which are familiar and which con- vey two sides of the same process.
 Instruction and education. This is a fit time to use these words. The world is at war and we are discussing National defense" somewhat fever ishly. Instruction and education are both military terms. We use them as interchangeable or combine them so that education stands for both Here is exactly our beginning of er- TOTS.
 nstruction-Involves a most essen tial part of our child-training. It involves first putting into the mind and character of the child material of the best and most proper kind. Secondly it includes the teaching of
 
 material through proper habits of thought In all student life now we have facts enough. Life is crowded with facts beyond our power to ar range them. The developing senses are fairly crowded and are in dan ger of being wearied by the new things they see and hear. Our fever ish haste brings us rapidly into con- tact with vast procession of natur- al phenomena which challenge at tention by their novelty.
 The range of studies has been greatly expanded also and all sorts of scientific wonders are displayed to the young mind. There is one depart ment only where this is not true. The chiefest facts about it's own soul are relegated to back place or kept con- cealed in a closet. Religious fore cepts are not taugh in their proper proportion.
 This of itself would account largely for the second defects of our instruc- tion: Discipline. I reminded you a moment ago of the military character of this word. There could be no ar my and there can be no organized so- cial order without discipline. The American child is not reverent or re- spectful or modest in the presence of parents or elders or dignitaries. Sometimes the clergymen on his round of visits meets this in the disorderly uncomfortable character of his visit to a family in his parish. The chil- dren take possession of the scene and possibly one sings out Mama! Mama! I know that man; I have seen him on Main street." Twenty stu dents at Annapolis have just been disciplined by the president and sec retary of the navy for maltreating fellow students. All the roughness of college and High school horseplay are rart and parcel of the same thing. have frequently ridden in public con- veyances at the out coming of schools and scholars old enough to know bet ter have been a riotious nuisance to other passengers. In Sunday school we meet the same unruly spirit that has evidently not been taught self control at home. We can readily judge what different homes are in this respect by the children out of those homes severally.
 And mental discipline, like a sol dier's drill, is hardly achieved by the smatterirg of many kinds of knowl- edge that we cram into the youthful brain. Drill, drill, drill over few movements is the military method. Little by little the soldier masters the necessary movements. First he is ''set up," limbered, made supple by simple gymnastic exercises. He is taught how to walk and carry himself so as to breathe freely, and how to handle his gun. Then he is made to do all these things with many other men simultaneously. He also learns how to take care of his health in order to be always ready to use body and mind at their full efficiency.