p. 10 | The Rich Man's Son by W. S. Sadler

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Sep 5, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 36.

The Rich Man's Son

By W. S. Sadler

DEMORALIZATION OF THE YOUNG MAN. No. 9.

The Rich Man's Son.

LET us look for a moment at the son of wealthy parents, surrounded with abundance, refined, cultured, highly educated, reared in luxury. As to his attire, that may be faultless, but let us inquire concerning his character.

What part of his character has been developed and made stronger by his home influence and surroundings? Is the young man of wealth, by his life of ease and freedom from toil, better qualified to meet the stern realities of life in later years? Has the experience of ease and plenty provided the necessary discipline and training so essential to the development of purity of thought, nobility of purpose, and excellency of conduct? Has his moral character been strengthened and made more capable of resisting temptation? Has his spiritual discrimination been made more keen and sharp to detect the cunning plottings of the enemy of his soul? Have his physical tastes and moral appetites been so trained by what he has partaken of at the family board and in the family library as to develop within him that abhorrence of evil that will lead him instinctively to flee from every source of physical and moral pollution? or have these luxuriant surroundings of wealth and culture only tended to weaken his moral resistance, dwarf the development of character, and actually decrease his real worth? It is a well-known fact that but few sons of millionaire parents ever rise to a point of real eminence or practical usefulness in the world.

The Son of the Well-to-do Parent.

The sons of the well-to-do parents, as we often speak of them, may be found applying themselves in a variety of avenues. The young man of this class as a rule has more or less regularity in his daily habits. Quite often he is blessed with having to perform a number of regular daily duties, such as bringing in coal or wood, and caring for the furnace, or building fires. These all help in the formation of those habits of regularity which are such a valuable safeguard against the increepings of vice and intemperance in later years.

The Son of the Laboring Man.

We deplore the fact that the son of the workingman is often deprived of what the world terms higher educational advantages. But has it not been the young men of this class who have risen to the greatest heights of moral usefulness? From the days when it was written of Christ that 'the common people heard Him gladly,' until the present time, the reformers, preachers, and teachers who have stirred the world, have been men of humble birth; men who early learned habits of industry, thrift, and integrity; men who in their youth found it necessary to practise the strictest economy, and whose parents taught them at every step in the development of manhood the lessons of honesty, temperance, trust, and loyalty to truth.

But the conditions and sentiments of modern society have met with sad reverses. To-day, the young man who must labor and toil, either to assist in the support of the family, or to obtain his own education, has come to regard his lot as one of hardship, and with envy he looks upon the son of the wealthy parent, longing to enjoy what to him appears to be the great advantages, social and educational, that accompany the possession of wealth. And yet these sons of the poor are daily learning lessons in a school that teaches the reality of life. Every struggle with poverty and unfavorable circumstances is indelibly impressing this great and essential truth upon their young minds, so that when they shall have reached the years of maturity and find great and oftentimes holy responsibilities resting upon their shoulders, they address themselves with vigor to the task at hand, and a life-work so humbly begun is crowned with true success.

Honest labor, of whatever sort, is truly honorable, and the young man who will, with a spirit of faithfulness and cheerfulness, do whatsoever his hands find to do—with all his might, as unto the Lord—may be assured that each day he is adding to his character the elements of stability, nobility, and reliability. Idleness is the crowning curse of this sinful age.

W. S. SADLER.