p. 10 | HOME INFLUENCE by Charles Howard Welch

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 20, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 47.

HOME INFLUENCE.

By Charles Howard Welch

IN the great kaleidoscope of worldly activities, there is nothing more essential to the right development and edification of men than the influence which they receive from their first abode in life—home. There is nothing, perhaps, in the journey from the cradle to the grave, that does more to mold a man's character than the inspiration received at his mother's knee. Nothing in a man's earthly career can be more profoundly and indelibly

impressed upon his mind than the doctrines gained by the side of the “old arm chair.” Home is the first school. Home influences fit and mold the child for the activities of life, its cares, its duties, and its sorrows. What we are taught in childhood, we shall remember through life. Everything else may be obliterated from memory, but the instructions of a good home will never pass into oblivion. What we learn during childhood, while our brains are plastic, will to a great extent be retained; and if molded rightly and ineffaceably impressed, will carry us beyond the eccentricities of the average being into the realms of greatest success.

Home! What is it? To some it is love and exhilaration, to others absolute damnation. What will be the influence upon a child bred in a home of wickedness and evil? He is an imitator, and will illustrate the conditions of his heinous environment; you can detect upon his countenance and movements in life the character of his home training. Reputation is only the shadow of character; hence a man's character can never be improved by his reputation. Some men display affability and courtesy in public life, reserving impetuosity and petulance for the domestic circle. Such men are cowards and smooth deceivers. A home influence of this kind can never be forgotten by a child who is bred in its atmosphere; and it will probably prepare him for the gallows, or still worse—his eternal doom.

Home, not the street, is evidently the place to train the child. Home is the place to prepare a child for his future, and to adapt him to meet the requirements of life. Its training and influence either inspire him with such an intrepidity and zeal as will carry him far beyond earthly rewards, or it may mean his future annihilation.

Fathers, mothers, beware of the influences that surround your children. Train them to confront the obligations of this era. Bring them up in the proper way; make obvious to their minds the right and virtuous methods of living. Let not the influence of a good and moral home be abated, but let its goodness, its sublime precautions, and its magnificent ways of life be kept before the young, and impressed upon their minds; and instead of an earthly and eternal doom, they will be heirs to everlasting glory. CHARLES HOWARD WELCH.

Mount Union, Penn.