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culcate true principles of chastity and virtue, both in her sons and her daugh ters. Short of that, there is no per manent hope for the future. The Father in the Home of the Future And, with the same frankness, let us ask what type of fatherhood does the rising generation need to insure Its pur ity and growth into righteousness? Surely not the type of father who puts money and business success above every other earthly consideration, even to the neglect of his children. While I was living in the State of Texas, there occurred a tragedy that shocked the State. A young man of nineteen belonging to -one of the finest families of Dallas was shot down dur ing a drunken debauch in a house of ill- repute. His father was one of the best known men of the city and had amassed a large fortune. He stood in the dark ened parlor where the body of his boy lay in a coffin. Only his pastor was there with him, as with broken-hearted agony, he stretched up his hands to heaven, and cried, “O God, if you will only give me back my boy, I will give up all the dirty dollars that I have piled up while I have been neglecting his young life!” Equal with the responsibility of the mothers, is the responsibility of Chris tian fatherhood in trying to right the wrong conditions of today, to rear a God-fearing generation, and to heal the moral sore of our modern society. The flippant father, the slick, selfish, over fed, luxury-loving, church-neglecting, ease-seeking biped of today, the man who indulges in impure stories, who is inclined to smile at sanctity and»wink at evil, and who accepts immorality as a matter of course with a shrug of the shoulders, is no truly Christian father and he cannot raise a son or a daughter who will truly respect him or who will help make this world what it ought to be.. Some time ago as I walked toward the church for the night service, in another
city, I saw a crowd of young boys gath ered under the street light at the cor ner. Somewhat startled by the profan ity and lewdness of their conversation, I stopped in the shadows just outside the circle of light and quietly listened. The conversation of those boys and young men was positively nauseating, with its profanity and its immoral filth. And as I listened and watched I saw the, older boys take up a collection and send one of the younger boys into the drug store across thle way to buy cigarettes for the crowd. This was upon Sunday night, and the buying and the selling of cigarettes to a minor and on Sunday night was contrary to the law. But I saw that little lad in knee breeches make the purchase and then come out and light his cigarette with the other boys, as they continued their degrad ing talk. I passed on down the street, heavy at heart, and on my way, in going by the home of the boy who had purchased the cigarettes, I saw the father of the lad in the front room with his feet on a chair and a big cigar in his mouth, as he read the sporting pages of a Sunday newspaper! His lit tle boy was going to hell in the streets of the city, without any proper restraint or direction, and he, .the father, though the church bells were ringing, was sog- ging in laziness and self-indulgence, and almost imbecile ignorance of the harm that was being done his offspring! We cannot raise a pure race, nor can we create a -righteous society with such fathers as that! Our Country’s Strength The time has passed for mincing words about these matters, and in the face of the terrible conditions in the world, we need to face the facts and humbly before God strive for a better ideal of life and for truer and nobler Christian living. The home-life of the people is the last hope of the Republic. If ithat fails, all has failed. Many are deploring today the decay of the church and the growth of a wrong spirit of bit-
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