HOME TRAINING.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 357, 20 February 1880, Page 9

HOME TRAINING.

(From the Prochience Visitor.) EiFEEKIKG to the importance of home training for Catholic youth, Ucv. Dr. Mahar says in the Cleveland Universe, it is incumbect upon parent?, and very important to themselves as well ns to thcirchiklror, to inculcate and perpetuate the lessons of the school. And (his is a duly m many ways neglected. Some not only neglect it. but ]at her do tLc vtiy contrary of their duly. How often are paicnts lieaid cubing m the presence of their children, in fact, cursing them. LiUEc the youth of your child and he will curse your old ngc. Fathers and mothers tbould remember this. Then (here arc many o(hcr ways in which paients sin in the presence of their children— by uncharitable talk, other discouiscs that arc not for children's cars, and many other familiar instances of bad example. "But he' that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me, it were belter for him that a mill-stone should be barged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depths of the sea." If our Saviour could utter such words concerning all pei sons that give scandal, what must be said of parents who arc guilty in that respect? Now turn to a more agreeable part of the subject, we may consider what are the means by which the Catholic life of the child is nourished. Of course we are not to speak of the sacraments, but of what means are afforded in life at home to remind us of the truths of our holy religion. In these days of "universal education" it is natural that books and other reading matter should first claim our attention. We have a perfect deluge of books, magazines and papers m this country, and the useful aic a small propoition of the whole. In nearly every house, Catholic and non-Catholic, you find some volumes and papcis of one kind or another. Generally they are of the lighter kind. With regard to these it is certain that very few of the non-Catholic story-books or story papers can be placed without some danger in the hands of the Catholic youth. They represent non-Catholic life, in which there is neither the same creed nor the same moral code that Catholics hold. Book agents have been very numerous, very pressing, and very deceptive, and many persons have bought from them simply to get lid of them. And this has no doubt served to diffuse to a very great extent bad books rather than good ones, for the bad are always more easily sold. English Catholic literature is now sufficiently varied. There are several Catholic authors who have written very pleasing works of fiction, and there are Catholic magazines and papers that in this feature ar« excellent. Outside of fiction there arc many other Catholic books of a light nature and interesting, and easily attainable. Ihere is a repugnance to the " religious " novel. But to the Catholic it is not necessary that a novel be intended to convey through the mouth of one of the characters an occasional homily. There are in Catholic life heroism and happiness as interesting as any of the feverish adventures of a libertine or robber, and certainly far more instructive, while not seeming to convey instruction. The lesson is in the life, the actions of the parlies, rather than in their words. Next to the books come the pictures. In nearly every house you find engravings or paintings or some other similar article. Everybody knows the purposes they serve. Unfortunately it frequently happens that they are of the nature of what you see in the saloon or a barber-shop. There certainly can be no objection to pictures, statuary and the like representing famous persons or events, or merely pleasing sights, but there is undoubtedly in very many artists, as in novelists, a tendency to represent what is more seductive than useful. Besides, there ought to be in every Catholic house some religious representation— a picture of the Blessed Virgin, an image of

ISl ° r / On !f °? er a l m l° l of Catholic faith, and such symbols will alway be foimd where Catholic faith has taken deep rootf or has not n£L Pa f y Bmotl^ d - Ifc is no * be forgotten that the masterof StholS f- P amtin S and sculpture, have come from the hands tLS *• i S> a^ d have sub 3«cts eminently religious. The Kanwf "f m ' ft c C ° mmunion of St. Jerome, the Madonnas of ?fti, o£ ,, M ™" 0 ' etc -> the statuary of Michael Angelo, are at the LXJII* llkn °™ art. Many non-Catholics ha°ve in their art «£ ««f •T^ ° P £ S £ f fh u se famous Productions, and yet some Catholics are satisfied with Bacchus and the nymphs ! ™™J: iS nofc al o n( i in t^e mtereste of the children, but of grown Kf l?*X ell £ at F^ 10 " 8 should reach their eyes. Some Shi i^ fought will be suggested, some prayer will be uttered, and Ivotinn t^r^^ 7 *? a , saiat ' t0 *** useof some salutary 3! oa ' lfc Wlll n o fc be required to make an effort ; devotion will be familiar, easy, and not constrained, cold, as it must necessarily be pS^h f d ° nly a V° ng int u ervals in churcl1 ' and * word, never as effectual, as complete, as the visible suggestive ima^e.