SOCIETY OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 285 



ness and rowdyism, liad he l)een l)lest in youth \\ irli a home of re- 

 finement, with the associations and snrroundin<ifs so needfiilto ren- 

 der it attractive, and to hold him in his leisure moments within its 

 precincts, would most certainly have learned the lesson of self-respect, 

 instead of learning to first abhor, then pity, then embrace the 

 affiliations of the street, the saloon, and the <^aiul)lin^ den. If the 

 father talks money, money at home, he generally rears his family in 

 worship of the almighty dollar. If he talks mainly horses, games 

 and races, he breeds a batch of sportsmen. If fashion is the family 

 altar, then the children are offered up as sacrifice upon the altar. If 

 a man makes his own fireside attractive, he may reasonably hope to 

 anchor his own children around it. 



My neighbor B makes himself the constant evening companion 

 of the boys. The result is, that his boys are never found in bad 

 places. But if the father hears the clock strike twelve in the gani- 

 ing room, or the drinking saloon, — if he puts the bottle on his own 

 table, he need not w^onder if a drunken son staggers in by and by at 

 his door. When, the best friend that childhood and youth ought to 

 have becomes their foe, the homes become the "starting posts" for 

 moral ruin. Place a young girl under the care of a kind-hearted, grace- 

 ful woman, and she, unconsciously to herself, grows into a graceful 

 lady. On the other hand, let a girl live with a woman who has un- 

 tidy habits, is shiftless, and not remarkable for choice language, that 

 girl will drift into the same channel. Children are susceptible crea- 

 tures, and circumstances, scenes and actions, always influence them. 

 Teach your children, then, to love the beautiful. If you are able, 

 give them a corner in the garden for flowers; 



■'Oil! the flowers look upward in every place, 

 Through this beautiful world of ours. 

 And dear as a smile on an old friend's face. 

 Is the smile of the bright, bright llowersi " 



allow them to have their favorite trees, or a hen and chickens, a pig 

 or calf, — and if the latter, do not let it be, Jacks or Susie's hen, pig 

 or calf, and pajja's money, but let them have the benefit — teaching 

 them in what way to invest their little hoard, so in time it will ac- 

 cumulate, and they will think with ])ride, I made this money by so 

 and so. 



Teach them to wander in the prettiest woodlets; show them 

 where they can best view the sunset; arouse them in the morning, 

 not with the stern command — come, l)oysI time to work! but with 

 the cheering — up boys, see the sunrise! Buy them i)retty pictures, 

 and encourage them to decorate their rooms, in his or her childish 

 way; give them an inch, they will take an ell: allow them the 

 privilege, they will make your home pleasant and attractive. 



Mr. Glum's children might as well have been brought uj) in a 

 barn for any good a home has been to them. It was a shelter, to be 



