xiv FOEEWOED 



and independence, and is suspicious of all at- 

 tempts to control him by others. He is influenced 

 by the "gang" more easily and naturally than 

 by those who are in places of authority. Unless 

 he has already had safe principles instilled into 

 him, by which he may safely direct his own 

 course, the battle is probably already lost. The 

 insuperable difficulty is not so much with the boy 

 for there is a pretty sure law of his character- 

 formation but with the parent who will not 

 awaken to the problem until it is no longer sol- 

 uble. The saddest hour that ever comes to a par- 

 ent is that hour when he must reap the fruit of 

 the neglect of the training of his child. It is far 

 darker than the hour when the body of a loved 

 child is consigned to the grave. 



"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is 

 to have a thankless child!" A father said to 

 me not long ago: "I do not know what to do 

 with my boy. He left home this morning after 

 breakfast and probably will not be home before 

 midnight. I do not know where he is, or what 

 he is doing. He has no respect for me." He 

 seriously discussed turning him over to the State 

 to be controlled in one of its institutions. Par- 

 ents quite usually listen in incredulity when a 

 pastor points out to them in advance that such 

 an hour is coming. Afterwards, when it has 

 come, they make frantic appeals for aid; but it 

 is usually too late. God's laws of child-training 

 can not be violated or neglected by Christian peo- 



