IX

NURTURE AND CULTURE

In the ascent of the soul two forces are ever at work:  one is internal and the other external.  The internal is that which promotes growth; it is resident within the soul, and, while it may be modified by conditions, it is in no sense dependent on them.  But environment is a potent factor in all progress.  Life necessitates growth, but environment determines the end toward which it will move.  Environment in large part is composed of the circumstances into which we are born, of the spiritual companionship from which none can escape, and of the training which is provided by parents and friends.  So much of the environment as is furnished by others we will call nurture, and those influences and instruments of advancement which the soul chooses for itself we will call culture.  This discrimination is not entirely accurate, but it is sufficiently so for our present purpose.  It at least indicates the lines along which our thought will move.  According to this definition nurture has to do with that period of our existence when we are not able wisely to make choices for ourselves.  It is for those persons who are in infancy and early youth, and also for those whose normal development has been thwarted or hindered.  The influences of the home, and of the church so far as they are related to its younger members, are in the line of nurture rather than of culture.

Culture, on the other hand, is something which a responsible being seeks for himself, to the end that his power may be increased and his faculties have harmonious development.

The soul grows according to its innate tendencies; it is also subject to attractions from without.  All souls are bound together; and all, whether they wish or not, vitally and permanently affect those by whom they are surrounded.  Hence nurture and culture alike are both conscious and unconscious.

The growth of the soul is largely affected by the nurture which it receives.  This is usually provided for it by parents, or by those who take the places of the parents; and, where possible, their unwearying efforts should be to remove all obstacles from the pathway of their children, to surround them with a pure and helpful environment, and to provide them with such training as will make their progress inevitable and easy.  The importance of wholesome domestic influences cannot be exaggerated.  Their part in the formation of character is greater than that of all others, because they touch the powers and faculties of the child during those years in which it is most plastic.  Neither the school nor the university can ever entirely counteract the effect of the home.  The whole period of childhood is one in which the soul is under tutelage, and in which more is done for it by others than by itself.  It can no more select its own environment than it could have chosen its parents, or the time and place of its birth.  For a few years it is utterly dependent.  The question as to how its growth may most wisely be promoted is, therefore, one of surpassing importance.