The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1919-02-15
kindergarten
Helps for Parents
Articles Issued by the Department
0ffhe Interior, Bure0u0f Education
and the
National Observation-Disclosures
DAD
BY HENRY TURNER BAILEY.

By HENRY TURNER BAILEY.
Children's children are the crown of old
men; and the glory of children are their
fathers.-Prov. 17:6.
Shake hands, Dad. How many chill
dren call you that? There are five
who have called me Dad or Pa or Pop
by. Excuse me for mentioning it, but
I want you to know that am no mere.
theorist in this matter of being the ia
Their of family.
Now here is some straight stuff: 1t
is fathers duty to give some time ev-
cry week to his boys and girls. The
only time have been able to give to
mine is Sunday. My Sundays have
belonged to the children.
have been to church and Sunday
school with them always, because in
the light of some hundreds of years
Of history, there is nothing that yields
| better returns, in the long run, than
habitual reverence for God. "Only
those who believe in God do good in
private" say the French.
Sunday afternoons we have always
| taken a walk, when the weather per-
mitted, or If too stormy, we have read
| story books together, or have made va
rious kinds Of scrap books.
Much Time to Nature Study.
In our walks we usually had a def
mite objective. We went to see some
body, or to get particular view, or to
visit our favorite trees, or to look for
some one thing in particular. We
counted birds nests one trip; on an
other we searched for cocoons; on q
third, dug into old stumps to see what
we could discover; or looked under
pieces of wood and bark; found the
smallest growing things; collected
leaves or seed packs of as many kinds
as possible; learned the wild flowers
the birds, the butterflies and moths,
made collections of colored things
flowers, leaves, insects, pebbles and
so forth, and arranged them in the
spectrum order; followed a brook ir
summer with Tennyson's Brook as a
guide; followed one in winter witt
I4owelrs Brook Gin the Vision of Sill
Launfal) as a guide In word VIZ
studied Gods great wonderful out
door book in the afternoon, just as dill
gently as we studied the best literature
in the morning.
And what results? Five open-eyed
open-minded, intelligent young mel
and women, devoted to their parents
and grateful for what their heavenl.
father and his children have done 70
them, a mother who is still young ant
happy because she got a little rest OF
Sunday during those strenuous years)
, to say nothing of a father who nov
thanks God for the privilege of still
being a boy though in his fifties.
Family Interested Own Members.
: We shall never forget those long eve
nings in our city home when the girl
came back from seminary and higl
school, and the boys from Harvar
and 'Tech," and we sat around tn
dinner table together, forgetful 0
time. We were all more entertainin
to each other than any show eve
staged, because by this time each 0
the children had discovered his ow
special field Of interest and delved in
to it beyond the limit Of the others i
, the great realms of nature and Liter
: AZURE that we had begun to enjoy tt
gether when they We're little children
Each one could therefore make hi
own particular contribution to the d.
light Of all.
Pool rooms, saloons, clubs, stag pal
ties? When will short-sighted, self-iI
dulgent, arrogant fathers learn that i
their own wives and children are tn
possibilities Of perennial delights an
solid satisfactions compared wit
which other things are dust and ashes