Fathers! Plead as you will, that you are full of care and labor to
support your families. Say it over and over, till you really believe it
yourself, if you please, that when you come home tired at night, you
cannot be crazed with the clatter of children's tongues. You want to
rest and be quiet. So you do, and so you should--but have you any right
to be so perfectly worn out with business, that the voice of your own
child is irksome to you? Try, for once, a little pleasant, quiet,
instructive chat with him. Enter for a few moments into his feelings,
and pursuits and thoughts--for that child _has_ feelings, that need
cherishing tenderly, for your own future comfort. He _has_ pursuits, and
you are the one to talk with him about them, and kindly tell him which
are right and useful, and which he would do better to let alone. He
_has_ thoughts, and who shall direct that mind aright which must think
forever, if not the author of his being? Ask of his school, and his
playmates, and see if your own spirit is not rested and refreshed, and
your heart warmed by this little effort to win the love and confidence,
and delight the heart of this young immortal, who owes his entrance into
this weary world to you, and whom you are under the most solemn
obligations, to strive to prepare to act well his part in it. Do not say
this is his mother's business. Has the Bible laid any command upon
mothers? Would it not seem that He who formed her heart, knew that she
needed not to be told to labor, in season and out of season, for her
beloved offspring? But to _you_ is the strong command, "_Fathers_,
provoke not your children to wrath, but _bring them up_ in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord.
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