Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1900. "HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXI, Issue 5058, 8 March 1900, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1900. "HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER."

The poor old woman who appeared (with manifest reluctance) in the role of complainant the other day, at the Ohristchurch Magistrate's Oourt, before Mr Beetham, told a tale of aegleot and indifference on the part of her own flesh and blood that moved Bar, Bench, and reporters alike, and led to a public subscription being raised on the spot for the benefit of the old mother, whose four able-bodied sons had left her penniless, destitute, and in debt. The kindly-hearted magistrate delivered a lecture to the precious quartette before bim, which would doubtless have brought the blush of shame to their cheeks if they hadn'fc been blushproof. " You are .worse than the Boers," declared Mr Beetham—and immediately apologised, to the Boers for the insult he had oflered them. His Worship was right. The Boer has proved himself to be a treacherous, unscrupulous, and unprincipled rascal. But if he has a redeeming point, it is his reverence for his parents, his filial devotion. Too many—far too many—of our young colonials are utterly lacking in these qualities. The bump of reverence is represented on their craniums by a hollow. They honour neither father nor mother. Disobedient and impatient of restraint as children, they become callous, contemp'uous and neglectful as men and women, regardiig their parents as encumbrances, and rejoicing when the necessity for helping them or contributing anything towards their support is removed. Such unnatural children are to be found everywhere, but the proportion in far too large in these colonies. In England children are much more commonly taught to respect their parents than they are out here. And we see the result. As the twig is bent the tree inclines. Are colonial parents fully alive to the duty they owe, not only to themselves, but to their children in this regard ? We do not think they are. ' Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it," How many colonial parents have bitter cause to lament their neglect of that injunction »fter their children hive grown-up, and with <what poignant sorrow they realise then " how sharper than a serpent'^ tooth it is to have a thankless child."