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Temperance
and must practice temperance and self-denial, if she would seek the
welfare of her child.
And fathers as well as mothers are included in this responsibility.
Both parents transmit their own characteristics, mental and physical,
their dispositions and appetites, to their children. As the result of
parental intemperance, the children often lack physical strength and
mental and moral power. Liquor drinkers and tobacco lovers hand
down their own insatiable craving, their inflamed blood and irritated
nerves, as a legacy to their offspring. And as the children have less
power to resist temptation than had the parents, each generation falls
lower than the preceding.
The inquiry of every father and mother should be, “What shall
we do unto the child that shall be born unto us?” Many are inclined
to treat this subject lightly; but the fact that an angel of heaven was
sent to those Hebrew parents, with instruction twice given in the
most explicit and solemn manner, shows that God regards it as one
of great importance.
When the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias, foretelling the
birth of John the Baptist, this was the message which he brought:
“He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither
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wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.”
God had an important work for the promised child of Zacharias to
do; a work that required active thought and vigorous action. He must
have a sound physical constitution, and mental and moral strength;
and it was to secure for him these necessary qualifications that his
habits were to be carefully regulated, even from infancy. The first
steps in intemperance are often taken in childhood and early youth;
therefore most earnest efforts should be directed toward enlightening
parents as to their responsibility. Those who place wine and beer
upon their tables are cultivating in their children an appetite for
strong drink. We urge that the principles of temperance be carried
into all the details of home life; that the example of parents be a
lesson of temperance; that self-denial and self-control be taught to
the children and enforced upon them, so far as possible, even from
babyhood.
The Youth an Index to Future Society
—The future of society
is indexed by the youth of today. In them we see the future teachers
and lawmakers and judges, the leaders and the people, that determine