| Home Making |
Chapter 5 |
Page 9 |
It is told of General Havelock that one day, when a boy, his father, having some business to do, left him on London Bridge and bade him wait there till he came back. The father was detained and forgot his son, not returning to the bridge all the day. In the evening he reached home, and after he had rested a little while his wife inquired: “Where’s Harry?” The father thought a moment. “Dear me!” said he, “I quite forgot Harry. He is on London Bridge, and has been there for eight hours waiting for me.” He hastened away to relieve the boy, and found him just where he had left him in the morning, pacing to and fro like a sentinel on his beat. That father knew just where to find his son because he knew that he always obeyed his commands. It is such obedience that pleases god, while it ensures harmony and peace in the home. The parents are the divinely constituted head of the family, and it is the children’s part to obey.
This requirement implies also honor and respect. “Honor thy father and thy mother,” says the command. Honor is a larger word than obey. We may obey a person whom we do not respect. We are to honor our parents – that is, reverence them – as well as obey them.
There is no need for any argument to prove that every child should honor his parents. Yet it is idle to deny that there is on every hand a lack of filial respect. There are many children who show by their words or acts that their parents are not sacredly enshrined in their hearts.
I heard a bright young girl, well dressed, with good manner and good face, say that her mother looked so old fashioned that she was ashamed to have her in the parlor or to walk with her on the street. I chanced to know a little about that mother and daughter. I knew that one reason why the mother looked so old fashioned, and probably lacked something of refinement of manner, was because of her devotion to the interest of her daughter; she had made a sacrifice of herself for her daughter’s sake; she had denied herself in dress and ornament that her daughter might appear well and be admired.
Page 9
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