They are thus willing to prostitute the domestic peace and happiness of
their offspring to the gratification of their own sordid and inordinate
lust for gain and empty distinction.
Who does not perceive and acknowledge the evil of such a course? It
involves unfeeling despotism on the one hand, and a servile obedience on
the other. The affections are abused; the idea and sacredness of marriage
are left out of view; the conditions of domestic felicity are not met. All
is supremely selfish; the power exercised is arbitrary; the submission is
slavish and demoralizing; the obedience involuntary and degrading; and the
result of it all is, an outrage against nature, against marriage, and
against God.
On the other hand, the interference of the parent should be persuasive, and
the obedience of the child, voluntary. The parent should reason with and
counsel the child; and seek by mild and affectionate means to secure
obedience to his advice. And if the child then persist in his own course,
the parent, we think, has discharged his duty, and the responsibility will
rest upon the child. He should not expel and disinherit him, and thus add
the hard-heartedness of the parent to the folly and perversity of the
child. He should love him still, and seek by parental tenderness to
alleviate the sad fruits of filial recklessness. Parents should so train
their children in the nursery and parlor, by instilling in them correct
principles of judgment in the choice of a companion, as to secure them ever
after from an imprudent choice.
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