For I would not have them enter
  Through those portals bright and fair
Bearing not a single token
  For my Master waiting there.

Golden moments, as you carry
  Trophies on your upward flight,
Take my character to Jesus;
  For I’ve kept it clean and white._

CHAPTER X.

PARENTAL CONTROL.

Mrs. Worthington was not only a prayerful mother, but a mother wise in home government.  Her wisdom, however, came from God.  Many a time she felt incapable of giving the advice her young daughter needed; but she always remembered the scripture which reads, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given.”  After she had spent a season in prayerful meditation, God would supply the words and understanding.  Thus she could say with the apostle Paul, that her strength was made perfect in weakness, because her dependence was in Christ.

O mothers, let us learn that God, the Author of home and families, is always interested in the quality and the training of the children.  He does not create to cast aside.  Neither does anything come by chance.  He wills that each tender human plant be nourished and cherished until well fitted to fill its place and calling in life.  In childhood’s dependent days, the parents should be all to the children that they can not be to themselves.  It is not enough that your child be well fed and clothed; its young mind must be guided into proper channels.  What work is more noble, more elevating than the teaching of the undeveloped mind?  Let not the duties of life nor the claims of society so press upon you as to cause you to neglect your child’s character or its education in either temporal or spiritual matters.

As Solomon says, “Take away the little foxes that destroy the vines.”  It is the little things passed carelessly by that grow larger and larger, and stronger and stronger, within the young heart until at last the unsuspecting parents awake in alarm to behold their child in dreadful bondage.  Beware!  Guard your child every moment it is under your care.  You can not go as companion to your child upon the street or to school, but your influence may attend his every path through life.  Do not be discouraged should you hear him use a slang word, but take him at once and tenderly tell him what slang phrases will lead to.  Do not speak harshly, but explain in the most loving manner possible.  In this way you will cultivate in him a distaste for impure language.  A pure, refined nature will be the result.  Moreover, as that child realizes through your faithful instruction, the true meaning of sin, he will make you his confidant and will come to you rather than seek the counsel of younger companions.  Thus you will be able to control his mind and to instil within his mind pure and upright desires.