Duty embraces our whole existence. It begins in the home where there is
duty which children owe to their parents on the one hand, and duty which
parents owe to their children on the other. There are in like manner,
the respective duties of husband and wife, of employer and employee;
while outside the home there are the duties which men and women owe to
each other as friends and neighbors.
May it be borne in mind that the first seven years of training, in a
child’s life, is of such importance as to leave its impress on the
character throughout all the coming years. Lyman Abbott says: “Training
is the production of habit. Actions oft repeated become a habit; habit
long continued becomes a second nature.”
If gentleness and kindliness born of love is given to the child, at the
same time forgetting not that kind firmness which guides the child’s
life aright; demanding and exacting an immediate and implicit obedience
to your instructions and directions, using whatever patience and
firmness may be necessary to compel such obedience—then has the parent,
and only then, accomplished that beginning and foundation of character
building which will send their children forth to bless the world, and
crown you with glory.