^ Perhaps there is no criterion by which to estimate a Christian's life and influence so just, so simple, so ungainsayable, as that of the fruits of his faith and of his works in his own family. It is a quality of virtue, as truly as it is of sin, to repro- duce itself ! And there is no soil so favourable for the mani- festation of a man's graces as that of his home. He is master of the situation. His sway is almost unlimited. He can plant what he will, and very largely destroy what displeases him. To leave the best soil to itself is sufficient to ensure an abundant crop of weeds. But of what use is the gardener unless he uproots and replaces them with flowers ? This is his business. That he can, with care, succeed, is aptly illustrated in the family history of Mrs. Booth. She commanded her children, and insisted on their obeying God, till obedience to His will developed into a blessed habit. It became early easier to be holy than to be sinful, to do good than to do evil, to sacrifice than to enjoy. The children could not fail to imbibe the lessons learnt from the lips and lives of their parents. There was an atmosphere of holy chivalry, which spurred them on to generous and noble deeds.^
XL
The Child.
That childhood is the proper period for education is one of the most obvious of all general truths. It is crystallized in the well- known Scottish proverb —
Learn young, learn fair; Learn auld, learn sair.
One might almost say that everything is settled by the time a boy or girl reaches fifteen or sixteen. Most of the trials and
> F. I'.ooth-Tucker, The Life of Catherine Booth, ii. 104.
PROVERBS XXII. 6 315
temptations, and most of the opportunities for development, still lie ahead, but the way in which the boy or girl will meet those temptations, and rise or fail to rise to those opportunities, is to a large extent decided.
1. The child ought to be trained for its own sake. And there are four things which have to be considered in this connexion.
(1) The child has a hody. It will depend much upon our knowledge of its physical nature, and our action in regard to it, whether the child will have a healthy life or an unhealthy one. The foundation of many weaknesses and diseases, which the storm and stress of after life bring out, may be laid in childhood.
^ The body should be trained for its own sake, and for its influence higher up. It should be properly fed and cared for, and taught to obey the laws of the body, that so health may come and stay. It should be developed symmetrically, and trained to hard work. A healthful, supple body is the foundation of strong character and of skill. That is where life starts. This is begin- ning lowest, but not beginning low. At the lowest it is high. The body has immense influence upon mind and character, occupation and career.^
(2) The child has a heart. We appeal to the affections. For the training of these the early years of the life are important. What the child will be in its affectional relations depends largely upon these first years. The child's first school-room is its mother's heart, and the child whose mother has a shrivelled and lifeless affectional nature is well-nigh sure to be spoiled.
^ Passion and emotion were regarded by James MiU as forms of madness, and the " intense " was a by-word of scorn. He advocated the restriction of the private affections and the ex- pansion of altruistic zeal to the utmost. He accepted the dicta of his Utilitarian cult, that men are born alike, and that every child's mind is a tabula rasa on which experience registers its impressions. In harmony with Ibis conception, education was, of course, the formative factor in determining life and shaping character. It should begin with the dawn of consciousness and be prosecuted without stint. How absolutely James Mill endorsed these views is evident from the methods he adopted in training his eldest son. There have been few more pathetic juvenile histories than that of John Stuart Mill. The story is a strange
* S. D. Gordon, Q%iet Talks on Home Ideals, 237.
3i6 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN
one ; and were it not so well substantiated, doubts as to its accuracy would be legitimate. It has been received with feelings of amazement, mingled with those of sympathy and indignation. Despite the fact that his temperament was highly emotional and even religiously inclined, he was early compelled to face life from the purely intellectual standpoint. Before he was sufficiently mature to register a protest, his father forced him outside the pale of all sentiment, and charged him with the insolence of a philosophical system which had no limitations. Such hard and metallic treatment robbed the son of any opportunity to develop and understand the romantic side of his nature. Many of the sorrows that beset his career can be traced to this well-nigh unpardonable error.^
(3) The child has a mind. Observation, perception, the first glimmerings of reason, imagination — the lack of training in regard to any one of these things will make a gap in the life, and it may have serious results. We must train the whole mind, not the intellect only.