The future of the child is the future of the race. What the future of
the child shall be depends altogether upon the men and women of the
present. What thus becomes our vast responsibility is plain to see. It
rests, not upon parents alone, but upon the whole community.
There is no greater problem before thinking and aspiring humanity and,
certainly, no finer one than that of making the growing generation what
it should be and there is, as assuredly, none which appeals to us with
such overwhelming force, both with regard to our own welfare and the
welfare of those who fill our hearts and in whom our hopes are centered.
It is one involved alike in the parental instinct and that of
patriotism. Our children must be so reared as to develop into good sons
and daughters and good citizens as well. The keynote of all progress and
advancement in the good of the world is centered here. Each generation
should excel the one preceding it, and can be made to do so if the
parents of today and the communities of today are not neglectful. Always
today must be determined the nature of tomorrow. Parents and governments
have a glorious responsibility bestowed upon them. They determine what
all coming history shall be, what shall be the future of any nation and
the degree of the world’s happiness.