Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

on the one hand to speak of the power of religion over the life and character as all-sufficient; and yet on the other to speak of right moral training as being worthy of the highest efforts which benevolence can put forth. Yet such I believe it to be, because it seems to me to be not only preparatory but essential to the introduction of those loftier hopes, those purer aspirations, and those nobler efforts which have eternity for their aim, the glory of God for their reward, and the welfare of the whole human family for their encouragement.

As already said in relation to a different branch of the subject, why, then, not have both the religious and the moral element brought into operation together? Why not have all the advantages which might reasonably be expected from a combination of moral training religiously conducted? Why not direct our most zealous and determined efforts to the training up of the class of children here described, in the way they should go, and with strict preparation for those duties which we require at their hands, with the fear of God before them, and with the Bible for their guide; that so, while learning to walk circumspectly through the dubious and tangled ways of life, they may not forget that their earthly course is but the beginning of one which shall never end?

With these high objects in view, I believe there is no sphere in which Christian benevolence and enlightened philanthropy could more beneficially pursue their generous and noble purposes, than in taking up the case of the daughters of poor men just at that critical season of life when their characters are receiving the most important bias either for good or evil, and placing them under some system of practical usefulness which would

be likely to fit them, without danger to their morals, for the duties of after life.

There are perhaps no persons so reckless of consequences with regard to expense as those who have never had money to call their own; and it is remarkable that our female servants, who of all other individuals would seem most to need that they should husband their means of providing for old age, of providing even for honourable marriage, are perhaps the most inconsiderate in spending their own as well as other people's money. And thus the sure ground-work of a wretched home is often laid in early life: for the very plenty which the servant enjoys beneath her master's roof only increases her craving for means more extended than her husband is likely to command; while in the same proportion it adds to the disappointment and vexation, the mutual bickering and discontent, which are the certain consequences of want of right principle in matters of this kind.

In none of the different cases which we have considered is mere school learning of so little service as it is here, without an equal balance on the moral side.

It is seldom indeed that the cottage housewife finds time or inclination for intellectual pursuits, unless she creates time for herself out of the good order of her household, and cultivates inclination for the sake of enjoying the companionship of an intelligent husband, and of benefiting the young minds committed to her careunless, in short, she has the moral feeling without which all learning must to a certain extent be useless and without aim. The consequence generally is, that under the pressure of hard work, and scanty fare, with no moral purpose to sustain her, a sinking and deteriorating pro

cess commences soon after marriage; and thus the poor man's wife becomes a spectacle to excite our pity, but too seldom our admiration and esteem.

And such are the mothers of that class of beings from which to the greatest extent our gaols are filled. And seeing that this is so, we construct more prisons, and devise more plans for the reformation of juvenile offenders after they have fallen; until the great science of life would seem to be, how to get rid of the consequences of crime.

When we reflect upon these things, upon the vast array of means employed for this purpose, including always the detection of the offenders and the retributive punishment of the offence, when we consider the widely extended and powerful agency kept always on the alert, with these objects in view,—when we take into account all which pervades the lengthened trial and the awful judgment, and when we add to these the various penalties enforced for minor transgressions,-the numbers of human beings incarcerated, exiled, or kept under some kind of bodily restraint,—when we consider also those who watch, as well as those who suffer, it is impossible to restrain the secret but earnest desire, that some of this effort, this time, and this vast outlay of means, could be expended upon the right training of the mothers in their early career; so that in some cases at least the children of such mothers should be taught to walk in the ways of order, decency, and comfort, that thus they might be less likely to become the victims of crime.

266

CHAP. XVIII.

HIGH AND LOW.

THOSE who undertake the moral training of youth will find their endeavours greatly facilitated by keeping always in view such qualities as are distinguished by the designation of high and low in human character, in addition to those which we recognise as good and evil. Indeed, no one can have seen much of society without being aware that the secret reference which we are continually making in our own minds to whatever notions we entertain of high and low, are in reality more influential and more generally prevailing over our thoughts and actions than the references which we habitually make to right and wrong. In other words, no one can have looked much into the human heart without seeing that what we admiringly incline to on the one hand, and what on the other excites our contempt and disgust, has much more to do with our manners, customs, and general course of conduct, than those more important considerations upon which it is the office of conscience to decide. How important does it then become, when looking at the subject in this point of view, that youth should be early trained to admire most that which is intrinsically best, and to regard that

as the highest form of character which is moulded according to the pure and righteous law of God.

In this tendency to be influenced by what we admire, or look up to as high, we recognise a power of vast influence which society holds almost entirely in its own hands, and which the trainer can do little to control unless society should throw in the weight of its sanction on the right side. This, in fact, will ever be found to constitute the greatest difficulty in the way of rightly training the youth of the higher classes; because wherever fashion, popular feeling, or any other manifestation of public opinion, tends to set up one thing as high, and to put down another as low, it is almost hopeless for any single individual to attempt to oppose the prevailing tendency. The education of character must necessarily have much to contend with in the way; but, on the other hand, it has much to hope, and especially where amongst numbers of the young there is a cordial union, with an earnest hearty desire to assist and strengthen each other in upholding, as most to be honoured and admired, that which is truly good and great.

In order to arrive at this happy union, and to ensure on the right side this cordial sympathy and willing help, it is of the utmost importance that the young should early learn to form a just estimate of the relative value of all which belongs to human conduct in a moral point of view, so as ever to esteem that as highest which is really best, and so on through all the various gradations of duty, giving the first place to that which is most important; and when time permits but a few duties to be accomplished, knowing exactly and definitively which to leave undone as less important than others.

In particular and isolated cases the effects produced

« ZurückWeiter »