Testimonies for the Church Vol 1 - Lansing SDA Church

Dangers of the Young 371no exercise of the mind or muscles, and then excuse their indolentdaughters because they are weakly. What has made them weakly?In many cases it has been the wrong course of the parents. A proper [394]amount of exercise about the house would improve both mind andbody. But children are deprived of this through false ideas, until theyare averse to work. It is disagreeable and does not accord with theirideas of gentility. It is thought to be unladylike and even coarse towash dishes, iron, or stand over the washtub. This is the fashionableinstruction which is given children in this unfortunate age.God’s people should be governed by higher principles thanworldlings, who seek to gauge all their course of action accordingto fashion. God-fearing parents should train their children for a lifeof usefulness. They should not permit their principles of governmentto be tainted with the extravagant notions prevailing in this age, thatthey must conform to the fashions and be governed by the opinionsof worldlings. They should not permit their children to choose theirown associates. Teach them that it is your duty to choose for them.Prepare them to bear burdens while young. If your children have beenunaccustomed to labor, they will soon become weary. They will complainof side ache, pain in the shoulders, and tired limbs; and you willbe in danger, through sympathy, of doing the work yourselves, ratherthan have them suffer a little. Let the burden upon the children be verylight at first, and then increase it a little every day, until they can do aproper amount of labor without becoming so weary. Inactivity is thegreatest cause of side ache and shoulder ache among children.There is a class of young ladies in this age who are merely uselesscreatures, only good to breathe, eat, wear, chat, and talk nonsense,while they hold in their fingers a bit of embroidery or crochet. But fewof the youth show real sound judgment and good common sense. Theylead a butterfly life with no special object in view. When this class ofworldly associates get together, about all you can hear is a few silly [395]remarks about dress, or some frivolous matter, and then they laugh attheir own remarks which they consider very bright. This is frequentlydone in the presence of older persons, who can but feel saddened atsuch lack of reverence for their years. These youth seem to have lostall sense of modesty and good manners. Yet the manner in which theyhave been instructed leads them to think it the height of gentility.