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AUGUST,' 1015
The Commoner
Father and Son
A lot of father-talk about mother
influence over hoys is lazy, shirking,
sneaking guff.
It sounds harsh to speak so, for, of
course, tho real truth about. a moth
er's influence over her eon is some
thing that deserves to be told in the
most enthusiastic language that any
body can command.
But enthusiastic language about
the marvelous things that a mother
can do with a boy is mere buncombe
when, used by some shifty father for
a blind behind which he dodges re
sponsibility. Adam shoving oft blame on Eve cut
no meaner figure than the modern
father who pretends to believe lhat
ho ought to leave his bo.y wholly to
his wife's training, because "women
have an instinct . for that kind of
thing." .
It is, in fact, a hypocritically polite
form of wife-desertion, and if human
Jaw can't punish it for that, God's
law can and will.
The truth is that, however much a
good mother is able to do for a son,
there are some vital things owing to
a young fellow in preparation for
manhood which only his father can
furnish, and any father is an inex
cusable traitor who woTi't, give him-
10
honorable line of livelihood. A father
wno nas smirched his record in cor
rupt politics counts on his son grow
ing up to bo an honest and honored
citizen. Tho drinking father is
anxious that his son shall be
sober. And strangest of all, the
father who has spurned religion all
his life would like to see his son join
church.
And they are all relying on the
mothers to keep their own sons from'
imitating them.
All that can bo said about it is that
if such a father has a son to be proud
of, it is because the Lord's mercy is
a million times better to him than he
deserves.
The. only fathers who have a just
right to expect sons who will wear
their names with credit in the coming
generation are fathers who in their
own generation keep their names
from stain.
A boy who can't look to his father
with safe pride for an index to tho
kind of character worth while in the
world ha3 been cheated of a. better
heritage than the world's most fab
ulous fortune.
The shyster who commits the
fraud is the father himself.
A father owes his son a really sym
pathetic helpfulness".
Among conscientious fathers who
actually desir'o to raise their boys
right, it is a thousand pities how of-
Make Housecleaning
Last the Whole
Year Round
My, but you're Rlnfl houscclorinlnt? Is over, aren't
you? "Wouldn't it be n lino thing- if you coubl keep
the houHc Just na clean n It In now all year long. You
can do Jut this very thine with
Ipfe&
THE
rf Ifl
H00vt,t
self directly and personally to meetHn the effort goes wrong
4r ntishVi nanlei ! liio TArtir'o Hlr.3 I - ... -
ing such needs in his boy's life.
What are some of the debts a fa
ther owes his son which the best
mother on earth can't pay? ,
Primarily a father owes his son an
example of the kind of life that the
son ought to aspire to.
It is a never ending astonishment
to see how complacently a multitude
of fathers assume that their pons
will, of course, be something differ
ent in, morals and, behavior front what
they ithemseljves are.-
A father in mean and tricky trade
exnerts to see his son choose some
NO IDEA
What Caused the Trouble
"I always drank coffee with the
rest of tho family, for it seemed as if
there was nothing for breakfast' if
we did not have it on the table
"I had been troubled for some
time with my heart, which did not
feel right." This trouble grew worse
steadily.
"Sometimes it would beat fast, and
at ether times very, slowly, so that I
would hardly be able to do work for
an hour or two aft : breakfast, and if
I walked up a hill, it gave me a se
vere pain. -
"I had no idea' of .what the trouble
was until a friend suggested that per
haps it might be coffee drinking. - I
tried leaving off the coffee and began
drinking Postum. The change came
quickly. I am glad to say that I am
now entirely free from heart trouble
and attribute the relief to leaving off
coffee and the use of Postum.
"A number of my .friends nave
o abandoned coffee and have taken up
Postum, which they are using stead
ily. There are some people that make
Postum very weak and tasteless, but
if made according to directions, it is
a very delicious beverage." Name
given by Postum Co., Battle Creek,
Mich.
Postum comes in two forms:
Postum Cereal rThe original form
must be well boiled. 15c and 25c
packages.
Instant Postum a soluble powder
dissolves quickly in a cup of hoi
water, and, with cream and sugar,
makes 'a -delicious beverage instantly.
30cand- 50c tins. "
Both kinds are equally delicious
avnd cost about the.same per cup. .
- "There's a Reason" for Postum.
sold by Grocers.
When baby lies in mother's arms,
tho father's fears say to him,
"Wouldn't it bo awful to have that
boy grow up mean, and wicked! It
would kill me to have that kind -of a
disgrace in the family." So he
buckles down not to get the 4son a
splendid life but to save himself from
sorrow and shame.
Just as a selfish thought is always
bound to do, that selfish thought puts
everything awry. " The first thing the
boy is made to understand is that he
is going to be compelled to do right
because his parents can't put up with
having a naughty, troublesome
youngster around the house.
Thus at the very outset the boy
gets the idea that being good is some
thing forced on him for the pleasure
of the grown-ups.
And most assuredly he takes care
not to bo good- a whit longer or a
whiti oftener than -ho has to be.
Character can't be approached by
that road.
What- a wise father will make a
boy understand instead is that the
good behavior required of him and all
the good principles taught -him are
for the sake of furnishing him with
a manhood that will stand tho test
when he has to play his own part in
tho world.
Even when exacting the most rigid 1
obedience, the father is never a mas
ter set above the boy to. bend him to
his pleasure, but always the compan
ion who has been over the road be
fore, who therefore on this new trip
is in honor bound not to let his
younger comrade step into any of the
pitfalls he saw in the earlier journey.
"A younger comrade" that's the
core of the right relation. The thirty
or forty years between the father and
son don't make them different orders
of beings.
The only difference is that the fa
ther knows the road better and so is
appointed to guide. "
And the God who appointed him is
going to hold him to harsh account
if he doesn't get the son through
safe.
A boy who senses the simple fact
that his father is answerable to their
rommon Father for bringing him
through to manhood without a wreck,
won't spoil his -father's record with
God by disobeying.
A father owes his son the bequest
of his own unrealized ideals.
This is not contradicting what has
just been said about the shame of a
CHI
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father's expecting a son to be a good
man while he himself continues to en
joy the profit or the pleasure of be
ing wicked.
But honest men trying to their ut
most to set before their sons an up
right Christian example, are yet con
scious that it is- not in them to be .ill
they would like to be.
There are the strengths of man
hood, efficiencies of zeal, capacities of
kindness, realities of fraternity, hero
isms of service, perfections of conse
cration and passions of devotion to
which the father has all his life been
reaching forward, and tbey are still
beyond him.
His time is shortened. It .begins
to be doubtful whether he is going to
be able to attain the measure of the
stature he dreamed of and, prayed,
for. Has he, then, dreamed and pray
ed in vain?
No, a son is born. The long youth
of a new generation is pledged to his
aspirations. His disappointed hopes
revive in a new and younger self who
may be all that he has not been all
that now in hie own person he has
too scant time to be.
More sacred than rights of inher
itance in any earthly property is a
son's right to be started in the world
with the inspiration of knowing what
good things in the world his father
strove for, and the kindling hope of
accomplishing for those ends more
than the father was able.
Don't fail to share with your boy
your best ideals. The Continent.
RUSSIA'S VODKA BILL PUT IN
SAVINGS BANKS
International News Service, dated
Petrograd July 27:
Finance Minister Bark has ia
fo.med the finance commission of Ih.j
Duma that ho has state securltis
amounting to vG0u 000,000 beyo"3
thf sum at present allowable.
He declares the returns of the
savings brinks up to July 1, 1915,
shows deposits of $900,000,000 above
last year, which is almost the exalt
amount (he t.easury lost owing to
the prohibition of vodka.
LONDON MORNING POST AJJ-
DllKhftKhj AN Ari'KAJj TO
GLNKROCS AMK1UCA
7n an articlo addressed to Ameriji,
the London Morning Post ot AUgu5
4 sayf:
"Wo hvo leen compelled as jn
incident of wi in that struggle f.r
I national existence which we now are
waging, to Jnteifero with tho com
1 raerco in America, in common with
;that of all neu.ials, so as to peve iz
(our enem ' from obtaining from nju
ttnls tho.n vi titles necessary to Kim
prosecution of tho war.
'This d'jty -as been peculiarly ni
posed on England becauso of nor
naval strength. We should be guilry
of treachery to them had we not m-
erled our full jiower against Oftf
'many. Li pc iorming our duty vj
1 brought iortaj.1 financial losses ro
America that tiic-y at times' even qu?o
tinned the Justice of our actions.
".Yet w mit ask them not to lo .:
at the maJter entirely through the r
own eyes, oven from the standpq nt
of their ovn ijaterial interests,' gen
erously, justly to understand our po
sition." Tho Po.t refers to the blockalft
against th south during tho Annr-
ilcan civil wai, which brought uvi-
jtreso to tho Fngllsh cotton industry
and tho failure of England to declare
'cotton contraband in tho pros it
war whic!i he writer terms a m s
taLcn kindness out of consideration
to the United states and its people.
"Surely the L'nited States will not
add to our burdens," continues tl'i
article, "or weigh humanity against
money, nor hav we that fear. Amer
icans have given too many proofs f
their idealisms and havo so repea;
edly mad? sacj'iices to sustain thel:
principles that they will not, wo ae
sure, in this i,eat crisis allow n.a
terial considerations of passing m,;
ni udc to individuals, but no moro
than a gra.in o sand in the progrjw
of civilization, lo imperii the world's
future."
Pay as you go and the Toad will
be smoother when you come back,
Toledo Blade.
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