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Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students
tion; but how can they be sure of this? It is far easier to yield to evil
influences than to resist them. Ere they are aware of it, their children
may become imbued with the spirit of their associates and may be
degraded or ruined.
Parents, guard the principles and habits of your children as the
apple of the eye. Allow them to associate with no one with whose
character you are not well acquainted. Permit them to form no inti-
macy until you are assured that it will do them no harm. Accustom
your children to trust your judgment and experience. Teach them
that you have clearer perception of character than they in their inex-
perience can have, and that your decisions must not be disregarded.
The Choice of Reading
Parents should endeavor to keep out of the home every influence
that is not productive of good. In this matter some parents have
much to learn. To those who feel free to read story magazines and
novels I would say: You are sowing seed the harvest of which you
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will not care to garner. From such reading there is no spiritual
strength to be gained. Rather it destroys love for the pure truth of the
word. Through the agency of novels and story magazines, Satan is
working to fill with unreal and trivial thoughts, minds that should be
diligently studying the word of God. Thus he is robbing thousands
upon thousands of the time and energy and self-discipline demanded
by the stern problems of life.
The susceptible, expanding mind of the child longs for knowl-
edge. Parents should keep themselves well informed, that they may
give the minds of their children proper food. Like the body, the
mind derives its strength from the food it receives. It is broadened
and elevated by pure, strengthening thoughts; but it is narrowed and
debased by thoughts that are of the earth earthy.
Parents, you are the ones to decide whether the minds of your
children shall be filled with ennobling thoughts or with vicious
sentiments. You cannot keep their active minds unoccupied, neither
can you frown away evil. Only by the inculcation of right principles
can you exclude wrong thoughts. Unless parents plant the seeds of
truth in the hearts of their children, the enemy will sow tares. Good,
sound instruction is the only preventive of the evil communications