K IN G 'S BUS INESS CHRISTIAN HOM E FEATURE
LIFE’S GREATEST LESSON/ h Gordon Chilvers R e c e n t l y t h e r e w a s a front-page article in a news paper under this headline: “ Boy Lives After 275- Foot Drop in Well; Minds Daddy” . The day was almost gone. Danny pleaded: “Can’t I go out now, Mom?” Mother relented. She’ bundled him up warmly. As Danny dashed toward the door, she warned: “ Remember what I told you about going into the street. Obey me and stay in the yard!”
The accident happened in Phoenix, Arizona. The first paragraph read: “Henry Stage, 7, who plunged 275 feet down a narrow pipe into a deep well, is alive today be cause he knows how to mind his dad.” In his play the boy jumped on to a piece of plywood which concealed the pipe to an underground irrigation well. He broke through the wood and went down the 16-inch pipe to the water, 275 feet below. His father shouted to him to push himself against the sides of the pipe so he would not sink. The boy had to do this for some time, because it took so long for his father to get enough lariats from the neighbors, and fasten them together so that the rope could reach down to him. The boy obeyed the direction to put the loop under both his arms and was slowly drawn up to safety. As the newspaper stressed it, Henry Stage’s life was saved because he was accustomed to obeying. A watchful, dutiful mother looked out of the window on the snow-covered driveway. She saw her seven-year old son, Danny, using his sled in the street! She called him into the house, reprimanding him, saying: “ Fve told you never to use your sled in the street! You will have to stay in the house the rest of the day!” Throughout the day, Danny heard the laughter of happy neighborhood children as they played with their sleds in the snow.
These were the last words Danny ever heard his moth er speak. Five minutes later Danny was dead, crushed by a car as his sled slid into the street. Obedience could have saved Danny’s life. All depended on obedience. Obedience depends on discipline. Discipline depends on us parents. Discipline of a child is training to help him to go in the right direction. When we speak of discipline, some minds usually fly to a strap and the tears that follow its use. But it need not be so. Gentler methods usually pre vail. There are to be encouragements as well as prohibi tions. Sometimes a word of praise will insure good con duct. One suggested that it was her father’s smile which was the ruling factor in her life. One day she should have been punished for the wrong she had done, but her father refused to punish her and smiled at her instead. She tells us that this smile made her want to be good. At other times a word of caution is all that is needed. It is indeed excellent when that is the only method that needs to be used. But when it fails to be effective, what are we to do then? Are we to allow our children to break down the fences without restraint?
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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