p. 18 | A Mother's Training

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 4, 1915

A Mother's Training

THERE were six children in the family — three sons and three daughters. The mother was a cheery, quiet, religious woman, thoroughly bound up in her household. The husband was a resolute, defiant, outspoken unbeliever. He was a journalist, and lost no opportunity to have his fling at Christianity. Unbelievers, bitter as himself, were frequent guests at his table, and made themselves merry with the Bible and religious faith before the children. The mother seldom bore any part in the conversation. Not one of the children entertained the opinions of the father. As they grew up, one after another came into the church. The sons, especially, were noted for their intelligent piety.

I felt a great curiosity to know how Mrs. Long had accomplished her difficult task,— by what means she had neutralized the influence of her husband, and how she had led her entire flock into the fold of the Redeemer. I asked her to give me some clue to her method. “Well,” she said, “it is a very simple matter. I never opposed my husband, never argued with him nor disputed on the subject of religion. I never belittled him in the eyes of the children. But I never allowed them to go to bed without reading a few short verses of something the Saviour had said. I put his words over against the words of men. If the devil cast in the tares and went his way, might not the truth be as potent? And that’s the whole of it.”— Selected.