PARENTAL DUTY TOWARD CHILDREN.
By Mrs. E. E. Kellogg
ALL parents owe it to the children intrusted to their charge not only to give them proper physical care, but also so to educate them in regard to the body and its requirements that they may be able to render intelligent obedience to nature's laws. Every child should be taught to look upon his body as something lent to him by his Creator for use in His service, and that he has no right in any way to cripple or abbreviate its usefulness through lack of proper care of it. He should understand that a headache is one of nature's reminders of some transgressed laws, and that the discomfort experienced might well arouse within him a sense of shame akin to the consciousness of guilt which ought to follow the transgression of moral laws. He should be taught that his body, so fearfully and wonderfully made, was created in the image of God, and that it is his duty to preserve it as nearly as possible in conformity with the original pattern; that he should in no wise defile or deform it; that by every means within his power he should cultivate it, seeking if possible to improve its faculties and its vigor, that it may become more like the perfect pattern. He should be taught that God made man upright; that for this reason he should try always to stand erect, to look up, to strive for the best things. He should be encouraged to aim to possess a good physique, a good digestion, a countenance aglow with health, strength of sinews, and grace of movement, that he may the better fulfill the purpose of his Maker, and the more fittingly represent Him before the world.