Part 2 (1/2)
NO TWO NAMES OF MEN MORE KNOWN
or more generally celebrated. If we engage into a large acquaintance and various familiarities, we set open our gates to the invaders of most of our time; we expose our life to an ague of frigid impertinences which would make a wise man tremble to think of.”
What makes the remembrance of the old Home so happy? Was it not because there the storms of life were turned away from us by those who bore the blasts to keep us in our innocence? And now that future which then was on our horizon has neared us and is our zenith, the centre of our heavens. About us are
PRATTLING LITTLE ONES
who in the far-off years will clothe this house about with that holy mantle which will give it the right to that same grand t.i.tle, Home. Can we not, in thinking of the good old Home, stand a little nearer to the blast and warm some tiny heart a little more? Does the merry laugh sing out as it did in our own youth? Then this is indeed a Home, growing each day more sacred in the mind of those fledglings who will so soon fly from the nest to beat a fluttering and a weary way through the tempests that will encompa.s.s them. A Christmas-tree, a picnic, a May-day festival, make trouble for limbs already weary with labor, but
IT IS THE WEARINESS AND THE SELF-SACRIFICE
as well as the mirth and the innocence which have girt this great word round about with its bright girdle of true glory. ”Suffer little children to come unto me,” says the Lord Jesus, ”and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” We may say likewise, following the beauteous expression of our Savior, ”Suffer little children to come into our homes, and forbid them not their mirth and their joy, for their contentment is now the one lesson that will take deep hold on their lives, and their souls will grow rapidly in such surroundings.”
Says the poet Southey: ”A house is never perfectly furnished for enjoyment unless there is a child in it rising three years old, and a kitten rising six weeks.”
”He is the happiest,” says Goethe, ”be he King or peasant, who finds peace in his Home.” Especially should
THE YOUNG MAN
be taught the value of a Home. If his advisers lay before him the lesson of life in all its aspects, he will indeed be a prodigal if he have not a Home of his own almost immediately upon leaving the fatherly roof.
There are no reasons, no exceptions, which relieve the healthy, able-bodied young man from an early advance on the enemies who threaten the welfare of the citizen. The strongest fortification which the human heart can throw up against temptation is the Home. Certain men are almost invincible against the onslaughts of the many base allurements which wreak such misery on all sides of us. Why are they so firm? It is because a glorious example has stood before their minds, a liberal and older knowledge of the world has aided their early endeavors, and a plentiful advice has fastened in their understandings the wisdom of virtue and industry. If your sons have Homes of their own, you can leave them, as a great General leaves his lieutenants to occupy a country, here a fortress held in safety, there a cantonment with natural defenses, and there a ”city on a hill,” while you advance into those other regions which are written on the map of your destiny, ”sustained by the unfaltering trust” that you have kept the great obligation imposed on you, and handled your forces for the best advantage of the cause you served.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
DUTIES OF PARENTS.
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot.--Thomson.
By the general voice of mankind, children are held to be a blessing to the good. Where the bonds of love do not tighten as the children grow, it is like those cases where the chords and muscles do not fasten together after a hurt--there has been malpractice. Let us not live like quacks. There are some general rules in life which will lead us toward a greater enjoyment of our children's lives. Through them and their issue we become immortal on this earth. Death cannot sweep us down entirely. We leave our lives set in a younger cast of flesh, to hold the fight against the enemy. While they thus serve us, to guard us from extinction, we also stand as their amba.s.sadors in heaven, presently to go on our mission,--first to finish our own preparations, and then to begin those of our offspring, who will follow in our footsteps. Says Shakspeare: ”The voice of parents is the voice of G.o.ds, for to their children they are heaven's lieutenants.” Our experience teaches us that virtue and honesty are in themselves great rewards. Whether we be virtuous and honest matters little in our estimation of the value of those qualities. The thief, quaking before the Judge, cannot but compare his own lot with that of the good man who sits above him. The one has followed every bent of his inclination, which gradually became more and more capricious, more difficult to satisfy. The other put on a steadying curb in early life, denied himself nine times where he humored himself once, and
FINALLY HAD A CHARACTER
which made few demands upon him, and whose demands were decent and in order. Thus ”some as corrupt in their morals as vice could make them, have yet been solicitous to have their children soberly, virtuously, and piously brought up.” We therefore, on every ground, must teach our children religion, dignity, and probity. ”Parents,” says Jeremy Taylor, ”must give good example and reverent deportment in the presence of their children. And all those instances of charity which usually endear each other--sweetness of conversation, affability, frequent admonition--all significations of love and tenderness, care and watchfulness, must be expressed toward children; that they may look upon their parents as their friends and patrons, their defence and sanctuary, their treasure and their guide.”
FATHER AND SON.
Says Sir R. Steele: ”It is the most beautiful object the eyes of man can behold to see a man of worth and his son live in an entire, unreserved correspondence. The mutual kindness and affection between them give an inexpressible satisfaction to all who know them. It is a sublime pleasure which increases by the partic.i.p.ation. It is as sacred as friends.h.i.+p, as pleasurable as love, and as joyful as religion. This state of mind does not only dissipate sorrow which would be extreme without it, but enlarges pleasures which would otherwise be contemptible. The most indifferent thing has its force and beauty when it is spoken by a kind father, and an insignificant trifle has its weight when offered by a dutiful child. I know not how to express it, but I think I may call it a transplanted self-love.”
THE OCCUPATION.
”The time will be coming--is come, perhaps--when your young people must decide on the course and main occupation of their future lives. You will expect to have a voice in the matter. Quite right, if a voice of counsel, of remonstrance, of suggestion, of pointing out unsuspected difficulties, of encouragement by developing the means of success. Such a voice as that from an elder will always be listened to. But perhaps your have already settled in your own mind the calling to be followed, and you mean simply to call on the youngster to accept and register your decree on the opening pages of his autobiography. This is, indeed a questionable proceeding, unless you are perfectly a.s.sured of what the young man's unbiased choice will be.”