Year: 1879

StFuctlOn TOT tuc lllaHb CistSS.

 1 Through the courtesy of the Pres. ident of this Association, I have been assigned the duty of opening the discussion on the above subject

 It is a wide and fertile field allotted to me. One of the most important questions with which the Christian philanthropist has been engaged in last quarter of a century is the short, but earnest query, What shall we do with the children? And after long and deliberate consideration and i'm portunate prayer to God for guid

 ance and wisdom in this all-impor- tant scheme, the Christian workers in the United States have organized q National Sunday School ConYen- tion, from which have sprung State Conventions in the different States, and from the State Conventions have sprung County Conventions: all of which have gone forth on ther Heav- en appointed mission, and with the banner of our risen Lord unfurled {; with the Cross of Life for their sup port, and the Grown of Life for their reward; they echo the words, The Children all for Christ, and we would take up the words and on the winds that play from the snow capped mounts of the Pacifc's breast, to the shores of the storm tossed Atlantic; from the frozen north to the burning south, we would with prolonged re- frain shout, TIE CHILDREN ALL FOR CHRIST. Let this then be the motto, and this the object of our united effort. I for one go to the task with delight, for there is no cause dearer to my heart than the happiness of the little children. I love the child heart, with it's sweet susceptibility, and the child mind, with its wonder ing eyes and guileless thought. l love to lead it's feeble mental steps up the heights and through the mar row by.ways to learning's fount. l am ever pleased to watch the mental powers expanding and thought dc

 Yeloping, to sec the glistenihg eye and eager look as some new truth is impressed upon their spot.ess mlnds. have the tenderest sympathy for the little ones who throng my path and besiege my heart for all it's treas hres of affection. l have learned by long experience and observation as a teacher that the child nature is q mysterious one. It is boundless in imagination, yet destitute of reason !; it is tull of vivacity, yet sensitive to insult or indifference; it has most retentive memory, yet devoid of con- sideration; it's curiosity Is unceasing, yet its foresight is meager. It's trust is implicit, yet when deceived it is filled with instinctlve dread, and ever doubts the one who has deceived it. It abounds in feeling yet is destitute of artfulness, so much so that the age of accounta- bility can be easily determined by first efforts to dissemble. The natu- ral unsophisticated child speaks freely what it thinks and is far better judge of human nature than grown up people. The law of attrac- and repulslon, of elective affinity and mutual agreement, are much better understood by the youth than by the chemist or philosopher, because the one is instinctiye and the other ac- quired. What 2 wonderful piece of mechanism is this little creature, whose slight form could be crushed with one's hand. What centre of forces lie undeyeloped and untried within the mind of the child, to be controlled, directed and developed, to be used for veal or woe. What must we do with these little ones whose ringing laugh and light foot steps greet us ever on the rough highway of life? We know from the teachings of divine inspiration that these powers are immortal and must live forever. We know that if they arc properly trained and educated

 they shall shine as the stars forever; and alasl we also know that if un- taught and neglected, allowed to grow up in ignorance and superstition

 they shall be lost in the blackness of darkness. We know that the sparks of divinity have kindled their souls with immortal fires which can

 never be quenehed and which beams forth in scintillations of light and