THERE is a poem entitled “Let’s Play,” and I thought as I read it that there will come a time to every one of our children when Satan will say to them, “Let’s play.”
I am reminded of the fable of the cunning old fox who, seeing some ducks swimming on a pond near a bank, rolled down stones into the water, until the ducks had become used to them, and then rolled down himself. So the prince of evil gets in his preliminary work with our children where we are looking for it the very least.
The boy whom he can induce to “play” smoke mullein cigarettes is ready to fall a prey to the first temptation to smoke real ones.
Our boys have been taught not to fight, so he says to them, “Let’s play,” and he teaches them such “innocent” (?) and “harmless” (?) games as marbles, dominoes, checkers, croquet, etc. There, upon a friendly and social basis, by mutual agreement to the rules governing the games, they consent to become, for the time, enemies—“only just in fun.” There he inculcates in their growing minds the rudiments of evil, the very opposite of the principles of the Spirit of Christ,—antagonism, retaliation, usurpation, vengeance, “emulation,” and too often “wrath” and “strife,” cheating and lying. In all games where chance is an element, the germ of gambling lurks.
In marbles the child is taught to say, “I’ll kill you,” and he “knocks out” his opponent, and takes his advantageous position for himself. Is not the spirit of all selfishness and strife the author of such games?
You would be horrified at the thought of your child’s putting out a life to gain some one’s position, money, or wife; but the principle is exactly the same, differing only in magnitude—the result of growth. The daily papers are full of the results of Satan’s plans in the early education of our children.
There may be hindering, healthful influences that will prevent your child from reaching a climax in vice; but if the germs are planted now in its infancy, Satan will attend to their cultivation, if he can keep you “blind” to his intentions.
Parents, teachers, shall we allow him to invade the realm of our children’s play, which should be purest pleasure, and train them in his devilish tactics until he has formed in their plastic minds the image of all evil—unscrupulous, aggressive selfishness—and until he has the “motions of sin” so habituated in our little ones that whenever circumstances are framed for a test on these principles, the “fun” image springs into life, and the child will do what he has “played.”
CALIFORNIA SCENERY, No. 25.—“Spanish Bayonet,” Yucca aloifolia. One of a numerous species of the Yucca plant, growing plentifully in California and southwestern part of North America. Remarkable for their stately appearance and magnificent inflorescence, sometimes attaining a height of 15 to 20 feet. The stem and foliage are woody and fibrous, and are used by Mexicans for a coarse cordage. The roots of some of the species make a fairly good soap. The leaves are generally stiff and sword-shaped, with a sharp point, whence the name. Some of the species bear a fruit resembling small bananas. It is a beautiful, hardy garden plant.
The child who has learned to play marbles or croquet, according to the usages of the popular game, will, in real life, use his friends for ladders to attain any desired end, just as he uses his little playfellows’ disadvantages, or causes those disadvantages, to accomplish his desire to win in the game.
Parents and teachers in Christ, is there not a grave responsibility here? Shall we not redouble our vigilance, unmask the designs of the enemy of purity, and test everything that is offered for our children’s instruction and amusement by the two great principles of righteousness? Matt. 22:37–40.
There are plays (I don’t like the word “game”) in which the Christian graces abound, and where the Golden Rule is not an unknown quantity, by means of which the children may be taught to see that selfishness is the root of all evil, and that it is hateful to God, and that love is the root of all good, and that only by loving-kindness and loving sacrifices, “in honor preferring one another,” we can ever hope to please Him or be accepted in His sight.
Happy is the mother whose little ones are still under her hand, and to whom the thought of her opportunity is a stirring and precious one.
May God give us wisdom and strength and grace sufficient for these things. H. R.
