The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-01-23
Kindergarten
Helps for Parents
ASsscSss Lssn,s6 - ~ Depormseaf
Of NJ LaAnrfnr. Bereo0 Of Edascasioa
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DAD
By HENRY TURNER BAILEY.

by heNHY TURNER BAILEY.
Children's children are the crown of old
men,, and the glory of children are their
fathers.--Prov. 17;S. =f
Shake hands, Dad. How many chill
dren call you that? There nre five
who have called me Dad or Pa or Pop
py. Excuse me for mentioning it. but
l want you to know that am no mere
theOrist In this matter of being the IA
ther of n family.
Now here Is some straight stuff: 1t
is fathers duty to give some time ev-
only time I 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 walk. when the weather per
mitted, or IL 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 n def
mite objective. We went to see some
body, or to get n particular view. or to
visit our favOrite trees, or to look for
some one thing In particular. We
counted birds nests one trip; on m.
other we searched for cocOons; on u
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
the ferns. the trees. the mushrooms
made collections Of cOlOred things
flowers. leaves. Insects. pebbles nnt
SO forth. and arranged them In the
spectrum order: followed brook ir
summer with Tennyson's Brook as a
guide: followed one In winter with
I.owell's Brook Tin the Vision OF 81,
LaunfaD as guide. In word We
studied Gods great wonderful out
door book in the afternoon. just MS dili
gently as we studied the best literatur,
In the morning.
And what results? Five open-eyetl
open-minded. intelligent young mel
and women. devoted to their parents
and grateful for what their henvenl.
father and his children have done TO
them. n mother who Is still young ant
happy (becnuse she got little rest OF
Sunday during those strenuous years)
to say nothing Of Z 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 Harvard
and Tech" and we sat around tn,
dinner table together. fOrgetful o
time. We were all more entertainin,
TO each other than any show evel
stnged. because by this time each o
the children had discovered his owr
special field OF interest and delved in
to 1t beyond the limit of the others II
the great realms Of nature and liter
ature that We had begun to enjoy to
gether when they were little children
Each one could therefore make his
own particular contribution to the de
light of all.
Pool rooms. saloons. clubs. stag par
ties! When will short-sighted. self-in
dulgent. arrogant fathers learn that In
their own wives and children nre the
possibilities Of perennial delights and
solid satisfactiOns compared with
which other things are dust and ashes