FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 571 



A SONS DUTY TO HIS FATHER. 



H. J. Van (le Waa. before the Sioux County Farmers' Institute. 



Upon first thought we would be apt to say that the first duty of a 

 son to his father is obedience. The only one of the Commnadments to 

 which a promise is joined is the one which says: "Honor thy father 

 and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the 

 Lord thy God giveth thee." 



But of course obedience in what is just must naturally be the re- 

 sult of honoring a father. 



The subject naturally divides itself into three heads: First, to honor; 

 second, to obey; and third, to serve. In all three respects sons of the 

 present time seem to be greatly lacking, and still it is hard to say that 

 the present time is worse than any former age has been. Certain it is 

 that when the good old doctrine of '"spare the rod and spoil the child" 

 was more in force, the son found that he feared his father more than 

 our present son does. This fear gave obedience, but this smacked more 

 of the obedience of the lion trainer over his wild animals. It is hard 

 for me to conceive how a son can honor a father who enforces obedience 

 through brute force. One can fear a tyrant, but not honor him. And 

 yet. believing that the Biblical command is binding, we believe that a 

 father should so act towards his son that the son can honor his father. 



We are sorry that so many sons show that they have very little 

 honor for their fathers. The very term father is not often used. The 

 endearing name of father, and "pa," are forgotten, and the son, among 

 his companions, takes pride in speaking about his "dad," the "old man," 

 or "the governor." "The child is father of the man." and such a son 

 certainly shows by such expressions that he will not make much of a 

 man. Also that he does not strive very hard to keep that Biblical 

 command. 



Based upon the very highest authority. — being in fact the basis of aU 

 existing law, — the law of God is certainly worthy of being heeded, and 

 for this reason every son is in duty bound to honor his father. This 

 honor must not. of course, go to the extreme of being ancestry worship, 

 as it is among the Chinese, but one would sometimes think this prefer- 

 able to the actions of many of our young men. 



Now, how can a son best honor his father? How, indeed, better 

 than by stich actions as the very best people in the community will 

 approve. To honor his father a son must be manly, upright, just, truth- 

 ful and a lover of his fellow men. These traits we admire in a man, 

 and in a boy as well. You need not be a "milksop," nor a "goody goody" 

 boy; in fact, such efleminateness no one admires. You must not be 

 brutal, sneakish. dishonest, nor one whose mouth is defiled by low. loud 

 language, obscene utterances and billingsgate. 



When you meet an honest manly boy you at once think that boy 

 has good home training. By his very acts he is honoring his father. 

 Actions go much farther than words. A boy may not be naturally 



