“There’s a Something that maketh a palace
Out of four little walls and a prayer;
A Something that seeth a garden
In one little flower that is fair;
That tuneth two hearts to one purpose
And maketh one heart out of two;
That smiles when the sky is a grey one
And smiles when the sky is blue.
“Without it no garden hath fragrance,
Tho’ it holdeth the wide world’s blooms;
Without it a palace a prison
With cells for banqueting rooms;
This Something that halloweth sorrow
And stealeth the sting from care;
This Something that maketh a palace
Out of four little walls and a prayer.”
There is always peril in change. The more suddenly the change comes, and the greater it is, the more is the danger that hurt will result. There is danger in the ordinary changes of life, from infancy to childhood, from childhood to youth, from youth to manhood and womanhood. Many do not make the transition safely. There always are certain things that must be left behind as each period is abandoned for the one that succeeds it. The mother does not like to see her boy lose his curls and his boyish looks and ways. She wishes she could keep her baby always. But it would be a sad thing if he kept his childish manners, his immature development, his baby face and looks. This would be abnormal, an arrested growth, becoming a lasting grief. The transition must be made, and there is not meant to be any loss in it, but rather a gain. As the blossom fades and falls off, but leaves its secret of life behind for the beginning of the fruit, so the change from boyhood is not intended to be the losing of anything, but an unfolding, a development. The true avail of childish sweetness and beauty stay in the heart and life of youth, and become its strength. The change is safely passed when the new emerges from the old in healthful grace and vigour.
But there is always danger in the transition, and not always is it safely passed. There is need of great wisdom in those who care for the child, for its education, for its health, for the directing of the influences which affect its growth. Many careers are wrecked in the early formative periods. It is the mission of the ideal home to be in every way a wholesome place for children to grow up in, a place of love, of joy, and of cheer, not of over kindness or over indulgence, not of forcing processes or excessive stimulation, not of dullness, dreariness, or lack of vitalizing and energizing influences. The true education in this education period is that which insures wholesome outcome, developing into richer, stronger, more beautiful life.
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