"
Parents cannot, therefore, neglect the education of their children without
incurring disgrace and guilt before God and man. They will meet a merited
retribution both here and hereafter. The justice of this is forcibly
illustrated in a law of the Icelanders, which makes the court inquire, when
a child is accursed, whether the parents have given the offender a good
education? And if not, the court inflicts the punishment on the parents.
This but expresses the higher law of God which holds parents responsible
for the training of their children. Listen to the threatening voice of God
in history. Crates, an ancient philosopher, used to say that if he could
reach the highest eminence in the city, he would make this proclamation:
"What mean ye, fellow-citizens, to be so anxious after wealth, but so
indifferent to your children's education? It is like being solicitous about
the shoe, but neglecting entirely the foot that is to wear it!"
We would reiterate that proclamation in this age of superior intelligence.
To the pious parent there is a pleasure in training the young and tender
heart for God. What a beautiful tribute did Thompson yield to this pleasure
in the following lines:
"Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot,
To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind,
To breathe enlivening spirit, and to fix
The generous purpose in the glowing breast!"
But home-education, at the present day, is as much abused as it is
neglected.
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