Faithful Reproofs Necessary
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and what might have appeared cunning in the baby becomes con-
temptible and wicked in the man or woman. They seek to rule over
their associates, and if any refuse to yield to their wishes they consider
themselves aggrieved and insulted. This is because they have been
indulged to their injury in youth, instead of being taught the self-denial
necessary to bear the hardships and toils of life.
Parents frequently pet and indulge their young children because
it appears easier to manage them in that way. It is smoother work to
let them have their own way than to check the unruly inclinations that
rise so strongly in their breasts. Yet this course is cowardly. It is a
wicked thing thus to shirk responsibility; for the time will come when
these children, whose unchecked inclinations have strengthened into
absolute vices, will bring reproach and disgrace upon themselves and
their families. They go out into busy life unprepared for its temptations,
not strong enough to endure perplexities and troubles; passionate,
overbearing, undisciplined, they seek to bend others to their will, and,
failing in this, consider themselves ill-used by the world and turn
against it.
The lessons of childhood, good or bad, are not learned in vain.
Character is developed in youth for good or evil. At home there may
be praise and false flattery; in the world each stands on his own merits.
The pampered ones, to whom all home authority has yielded, are there
daily subjected to mortification by being obliged to yield to others.
Many are even then taught their true place by these practical lessons of
life. Through rebuffs, disappointments, and plain language from their
superiors they often find their true level and are humbled to understand
and accept their proper place. But this is a severe and unnecessary
ordeal for them to pass through, and could have been prevented by
proper training in their youth.
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The majority of these ill-disciplined ones go through life at cross-
purposes with the world, making a failure where they should have
succeeded. They grow to feel that the world owes them a grudge
because it does not flatter and caress them, and they take revenge by
holding a grudge against the world and bidding it defiance. Circum-
stances sometimes oblige them to affect a humility they do not feel;
but it does not fit them with a natural grace, and their true characters
are sure to be exposed sooner or later.