Home the Place for Study
We know of no more appropriate place for the practical beginning of this most important duty than in the home. The influence of the parents’ character upon the children cannot be estimated. Everything that we come in contact with has a certain influence upon us. A man took a political paper only to laugh at it, but he read the same theories over and over until at length they became truths to him. As the constant dropping of water will wear away the stone, so will constant association have an everlasting influence upon the character. It may be changed—either elevated or degraded—but it never can be destroyed.
Every child is born with a natural temperament or disposition, which is the product of two elementary factors. (1) Inheritance—those qualities which are transmitted by nature from one’s ancestors and (2) maternal impression—the impression made upon the plastic brain of the foetus. The first comes from generations of ancestry, whereas the last is entirely dependent upon the mother; the influence of what she sees, what she hears and what she thinks. These qualities combine for good or for bad, to influence the life of the child.
Fortunate indeed is the child who is well born, but doubly fortunate is he who may also be well trained.