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habits in youth is of the utmost importance. If instead of being trained
to obedience to rules and regulations, and to habits of punctuality,
thoroughness, neatness, order, and economy, they are allowed to form
loose, lax habits, they will be liable to retain these bad habits all though
life. They may have talent to make a success in their business, and
they should be taught the importance of making a right use of their
powers. They should also be taught to be economical, to gather up the
fragments that nothing be lost.
Men in responsible positions should undertake no more than they
can do thoroughly, promptly, and well; for if they would have those
under their care form right habits they must set a right example. A great
responsibility rests upon these leading men as to the mold of character
that by their principles and their manner of working they are giving to
the youth. They should consider that, by the instruction they are giving,
both in regard to their work and in the way of religious education, they
are helping these youth to form character. Progress is the watchword.
The youth should be taught to aim at perfection in whatever branch
of labor they undertake. If there are persons at the head of any of the
rooms who are not thorough, who are not economists, who are not
diligent in the use of their time and careful of their influence, they mold
others in the same way. If these do not change after being admonished,
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they should be removed and more competent persons secured, even
if it is necessary to try again and again. The workers ought to be far
more efficient and faithful than they are at the present time.
The first impressions, the first discipline, of these youthful workers
should be of the very highest order, for their characters are being
molded for time and for eternity. Let those who have charge of them
remember that they have a great and solemn responsibility. Let them
mold the plastic clay before it becomes hardened and insensible to
impressions; let them train the sapling ere it becomes a gnarled and
tangled oak; let them direct the course of the rivulet ere it becomes
a swollen river. If they are left to choose their own boardinghouse
and their own companions, some will choose those that are good, and
others will choose improper associations. If the religious element is
not mingled with their education, they will become easy subjects of
temptation, and their characters will be liable to become warped and
one-sided. The youth who show respect for sacred and holy things
learn these lessons under the home roof, before the world has placed