LACK OF DISCIPLINE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 11, 14 January 1926, Page 4

LACK OF DISCIPLINE

Canon James's sermon on parental responsibility preached in St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin, had the distinction of reference to it at unusual length in the daily papers. The explanation for this was the importance of the subject, for many hold that all ia not well with our young people—the adolescents of to-day, who are the men and women of to-morrow. Only a few days ago an inquest waß held in Wellington upon a girl who Committed suicide. The evidence of motive was meagre, and none whatever in her case of lack of parental care. But was ever a more pathetic testament indited than the words Bhe wrote, "I am tired of life." Surely the fact that a girl of 20, little more than a child, acknowledged defeat, disillusionment, and failure, to find nought but gall and wormwood in the cup of life, contains a stern lesson for all having the least concern with the welfare of the young. President Coolidge, with characteristic bluntness, recently expressed his view that religion was the only hope for any enlightened civilisation to endure, concluding:

There is no form of education which will not. fail, there is no form of government which will not fail, there' is no form of reward which will not fail. Redemption must come through sacrifice, and sacrifice is the essence of religion. It will be of untold benefit if there is a broader comprehension of this principle by the public and a continued preaching of this crusnde by the clergy.

Canon James turned from the pulpit to point to the home. ' But there .ire to-day immense difuculI.'ph nssociateil with eiKcie.nl home ,tWFWfc, &WgXe|..&i«ultica. iim,

ever in obtaining a habitation at all. The children must, and do, suffer from these untoward conditions. At the same time, no clergyman, schoolmaster, director, or matron can fill the place or discharge the responsibilities of the parent to children not their own. New Zealand is spending over £3,----000,000 per annum on education; but education cannot do all that is required. It is the parent's duty to co-operate with the teacher in the spiritual as well as secular education of his child, not to leave it all to someone else. Example must go with precept in every case.