GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



29 



otherwise mistreated, and teach him that it is 

 the privilege of the strong to protect the weak. 



Sometimes our " don'ts " suggest to the child 

 the very course we wish him to avoid, and 

 which but for us he would never think of. No 

 doubt many a poor fly has lost his legs and 

 wings because some child had been repeatedly 

 told that was a thing he must never do. " The 

 thought is the first step in every act. Every 

 thought has a tendency to repeat itself. Every 

 repetition of the thought strengthens the desire 

 for action. Hence to suggest the thought of a 

 wrong deed is to sow the seed of a wrong 

 action." 



Another danger of "'don'ts" is that they an- 

 tagonize the child, and prepare the way for a 

 spirit of opposition and rebellion. Mrs. Hannah 

 Whitall Smith tells of a little boy who said to 

 his playmate, "Let us cut ourselves with this 

 knife." When asked why he wanted to do that 

 he said, " Because mother told me not to!" 



Judicious praise is a great help in child-train- 

 ing. Commendation of a generous deed will 

 incite to greater generosity than a whole book 

 on the meanness of selfishness. A bad per- 

 son may fill us with disgust, but only a good 

 one can inspire us with noble purposes and 

 high aims. Nothing can save like high ideals. 

 That is what God gave us Christ for. 



Nor must we forget that character is formed 

 by practice. There is positively no other way. 

 Every time we succeed in getting a child to 

 make a right choice, or voluntarily do the right 

 thing, we strengthen the upward tendencies of 

 that life, and make it stronger to resist the next 

 temptation. It is as true in the moral world as 

 in the physical, that exercise strengthens and 

 neglect weakens. It should be our care to 

 strengthen the good by exercise, and weaken 

 the bad by neglect. 



Much valuable time is usually lost before the 

 work of training the child begins, because 

 parents do not realize the strength of habits 

 and the rapidity with which they are formed. 

 I know a child who is being allowed to become 

 confirmed in a disagreeable trait because the 

 mother is hoping the child will grow ashamed 

 of it as she grows older, and correct it herself. 

 She may. but it will be at the cost of much 

 mortification and loss. Too many wait till the 

 fair garden is well covered with weeds, then 

 attempt to pull these up and sow good seed. 

 The results from this course are so meager that 

 such soon grow weary, and then ease their con- 

 science with such old saws as "Theories are all 

 right until you attempt to reduce them to prac- 

 tice;" or. " What is bred in the bone stays long 

 in the flesh;" or. "The child is just like his 

 father's folks; it's no use to try to do any thing 

 with him:" or, " He's no worse than other boys. 

 Boys will be boys;" and then with a pious 

 resignation that the Lord never asks for. th^y 

 pray instead of working, and trust God to do 

 that which he has given them to do. 



Many fail to accomplish all they might in 

 this work for the child because only half be- 

 lieving in the possibilities of child-training. 

 According to your faith and skillful persistence 

 will it be unto you, and your persistence will 

 depend upon the measure of your faith. 



I was trying at one time to teach a left-hand- 

 ed pupil to use the right hand; and as it was 

 an especially difficult case I asked an older 

 brother if he would not help me by taking some 

 pains at home to teach his little sister to use 

 her right hand. He cheerfully consented, but 

 came the next morning to tell me that it was 

 no use to try to do any thing about it, for he 

 tried a whole hour the evening before, and she 

 was just as left-handed as ever. While some, 

 like this boy, lack persistence, others are too 



much inclined to bow to heredity, thinking if 

 a child inherits a bad trait nothing can be done 

 about it. But heredity is not like the laws of 

 the Medes and Persians. It can be changed. 

 Heredity is a powerful factor in any life, and 

 should be considered; but 1 am convinced that 

 environment and training are much stronger 

 forces. We are born with tendencies only, not 

 cast-iron bands or molds. The very ignorance 

 and helplessness of each new life is a pledge of 

 opportunity to advance in spite of all that has 

 gone before. When horses, dogs, and monkeys 

 are being trained, shall we leave the chil ren 

 to simply grow up? Notice the results from 

 physical training— chests are developed, muscles 

 strengthened, stiiTened joints made aupple, and 

 the whole carriage changed from awkwardness 

 to grace and ease by a few minutes' daily prac- 

 tice of correct rules; and one of the delights of 

 the teacher is to see dull eyes brighten with 

 intelligence, stupid faces grow thoughtful, and 

 dull minds quicken by simple adherence to the 

 here-alittle-aud-there a-little method kept up 

 day after day, week in and week out. I know 

 character may be changed by this same method, 

 for T have seen the quarrelsome grow peace- 

 able, the quick-tempered gain self-control, the 

 impatient become patient, the impudent grow 

 respectful, and the careless and inattentive 

 grow studious by persistent, skillful, loving 

 management. O fathers and mothers! how I 

 wish you might all realize what a wonderful 

 opportunity you have when God places a little 

 child in your midst, and says, "Train this child 

 for me"! It might well humiliate you to the 

 dust with a sense of your unworthiness, and 

 raise you to the skies with a sense of the high 

 honor conferred upon you. It should send you 

 to God in prayer, and lead you to scrutinize 

 your life and practices as never before. Not- 

 withstanding, how often this sacred experience 

 is treated as a joke, or a matter of family pride 

 and ambition, and the child regarded more as 

 an object of pleasure to parents and family 

 friends than as a new life to be molded for f ter- 

 nity. The work that might engage the powers 

 of an angel is undertaken unhesitatingly by the 

 thoughtless and ignorant. Herbert, Spencer 

 says, " Is the unfoliling of the human being so 

 simple a process that any one may superintend 

 and regulate it with no preparation whatever? " 



Mrs A. M. Diaz, in "Domestic Problems," 

 supposes a philosopher in disguise on a tour of 

 observation from some distant isle or planet to 

 visit us. Among the objects that attract his 

 attpution are the little children drawn along in 

 their carriages. 



"Are these beautiful creatures of any value?" 

 he asks of a bystander. 



" Certainly ; they are the hope of the country. 

 They will grow up into men and women who 

 will take our places." 



" I suppose there is no danger of their grow- 

 ing up any other than the right kind of men 

 and women, such as your country needs ? " 



"On the contrary, there is every danger. 

 Evil influences surround them from their birth. 

 These beautiful creatures have in them possi- 

 biliiies of becoming mean, base, corrupt, treach- 

 erous, deceitful, cruel, false, revengeful; of be- 

 coming, in fact, unworthy and repulsive in 

 many ways. Why, all our criminals, our drunk- 

 ards, liars, thieves, burglars, murderers, were 

 once innocent little children like these." 



"And whether these will become like those, 

 or not, depends on chance ? " 



"Oh, no! It depends largely on training. 

 Children are like wax to receive impressions, 

 like marble to retain them." 



" But who among you dare make these early 

 impressions which are so enduring?" 



