New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1923-07-09
Four Children in EueryAmerican
Family Is minister's Standard
First Duty Is Marriage,
Then to Help Raise Flu
ture Generation, Rev.
Harry |. Bodley Declares.

+ Taking for his text the 18th vers'
from the goth chapter of Exodus
Honor thy father and thy mother
that thy days may be long upon thu
land which the Lord thy God have
giveth thee" Rev. Harry I, Bodley
rector emeritus Of st. Marks Episco
pal church, told the members of hi!
congregation at the II o'clock service
yesterday morning that there will soor
be no fathers and mothers In the up.
per and middle classes of people In the
United States.
The rector carefully recalled figures
in the last census of the United States
which showed that there were one
million more unmarried women than
at the previous taking of the census
Our first duty to the past generation
and to the future generation is Ia
marry" he said.
Continuing his sermon Rev. Mr.
Bodley asserted that there must be
or mother for until that time there
is only man and wife. After mar
riage the question of how many chill
dren shall be born then arises, the
rector said.
Should Be -Four Children
Most of us know that many of the
foreign population have nine. ten and
| even eleven children in a single fam
lily and we read from history that the
early Pilgrim settlers had large fam-
! lies of ten or more. There is even the
story of the old Portuguese woman
who was asked by a stranger How
many children have your and was
glad to answer I have nineteen IT
seems to me that there should be at
| least four children in every American
| family OF this number two may die
or remain unmarried and 1t leaves
only two to carry on the family name
and traditions"
AS for the children, the rector said,
they should be taught reverence, re-
spect and poiteness.
How often do we go along the
street and hear someone say hello
or yep or hear children greet their
parents as Dad Ma Pa Mama
or Papa That may sound all right
but it Is not. Perhaps the introduce
ton of the telephone is largely re-
sponsible for the use of the word
hello but the children should be
taught to greet one another and es-
pecially their elders in a proper man
ner.
Teaching Children Respect for Elders
You mothers and fathers here
present should carry on the work of
teaching politeness and respect The
children should be. taught to say Yes,
SIR or 'Yes, Madam, or maam.' They
should call their father father and
their mother, mother
Children should be taught to sneak
the truth and not let their child like
imagination run away with them.
Many times you hear youngster say
III betcha a million dollars or a
term similar to that when they prob
ably never saw a five dollar bill. This
imagination and exaggerating of ideas
will continue through life If it is not
stopped in childhood and children will
grow up to speak the untruth,
Lastly they should be taught help
fulness and be willing at all times to
aid their father and their mother. II
is wrong to allow child, after he has
been called by his mother, to answer
What do you want, ma? I'll be in in
about five minutes That is not re-
spect. The children should do all
that they can within their power for
mother and father"