Knowledge of the World.
By Beecher
I do not believe in bringing up the young to know life, as it is said. I should just as soon think of bringing up a child by cutting some of the cords of his body, and lacerating his nerves, and scarring and tattooing him, and making an Indian of him outright, as an element of beauty, as I should think of developing his manhood by bringing him up to see life—to see its abominable lusts; to see its hideous incarnations of wit; to see its infernal wickedness; to see its extravagant and degrading scenes; to see its miserable carnalities; to see its imaginations set on fire of hell; to see all those temptations and delusions which lead to perdition. Nobody gets over the sight of these things. They who see them always carry scars. They are burned. And though they live, they live as men that have been burned. The scar remains. And to let the young go out where the glozing courtesan appears; to let them go where the lustful frequenter of dens of iniquity can come within their reach; to let them go where the young gather to cheer with bad wit; to let them go where they will be exposed to such temptations—why, a parent is insane who will do it. To say, “A child must be hardened; he has got to get tough somehow, and you may as well put him in the vat and let him tan”—is that family education? Is that Christian nurture? Is that bringing a child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?—Beecher.