Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1899 — THE FAMILY LIFE. [ARTICLE]

THE FAMILY LIFE.

Ways la Which Its Influence Mold the Character of the Young. The Indian boys and girls who are being educated in the school at Carlisle, Pa., spend the summer vacation on the neighboring farms, earning money by work in the field and house. On their return, in September, the smaller boys very naturally discussed their experiences. Many of them had been in the houses of Quakers, and began to joke good-humoredly at the “plain” , dress and language, when a little Navajo gave a shout, and rushing up to them, exclaimed: “Don’t thee dare to say anything against the Quakers! They are my friends! I’m a Quaker!” and he planted both his fists in the face of the last speaker. The same young convert to the faith of the Friends anxiously inquired on Sunday for the Quaker church, and finding that there was none, took bis stool into the yard and sat down on it for quiet meditation. The teachers of the Indian children say that this residence as Individuals in different families for part of the year is an unmistakable help to their civilization. They are brought under direct home influence, and even if the home be not a very good one, they learn the rodtine of domestic life, and the happiness which lies in affection, self-control and trifling, everyday acts of unselfishness. In a recent report of the managers of several orphan and foundling asylums in England, the fact was urged as of special significance that while the girls trained in these institutions made excellent housemaids or laundresses, they could not be trusted as nurses of children. The training in a large body could give them orderly habits, but left dormant their affections and their womanly, motherly instincts. So many girls are now pushing out of their homes to find a life in public that these facts have a significance that should not be overlooked. Among God’s purposes in placing men and women in families are the opportunities to be chlvalric and tender and strong that wait at the humble home hearth, which are found nowhere else in the world.