It almost seems superfluous to say that in order to train children one must love them. To succeed in any business, science or art, you must love it. If painting, music, literature, the sciences of astronomy, botany, and medicine demand time, trouble and self-denial, how much more does the science of training children!

It cannot be done from a mere sense of duty. And further, to possess this supreme gift does not necessarily mean that one must be married or have children of one’s own. You and I, my reader, have known blessed women who had the great Mother heart, though they have never been mothers. They have been the truest and deepest lovers!

In the first letter I received from my mother, on the birth of my firstborn, I remember these words: “You will never have another hour to yourself.” In a sense it has been true, and only love can supply the demands made on motherhood. Love toils. Love perseveres.

Love watches.

Love holds on in the dark.

Love waits through long, long years. Love hopes on, banishing fear. Love begets love. Love is its own reward. Love never fails.

There is an obedience from fear. Thousands of homes have proved this, and have also proved its failure. Commandments kept from motives of love are alone satisfactory to both parents and children.

One must not only love, but win love in return. There is an obedience from fear. Thousands of homes have proved this, and have also proved its failure. Commandments kept from motives of love are alone satisfactory to both parents and children. Children, who are the keenest judges in the world, know when worldly ambition, fame, money, or pleasures govern the home, and they equally know if love and the principles of Jesus Christ are the ruling power. The child who is won by love may wander from the way for a time, but when he is older he shall surely return to it.

Children, who are the keenest judges in the world, know when worldly ambition, fame, money, or pleasures govern the home, and they equally know if love and the principles of Jesus Christ are the ruling power.

During the war a young man known to me was tempted by his comrades to yield to a terrible sin. They laughed at his scruples, and made light of fears. He was in the greatest danger, when all of a sudden his mother’s face rose before him, and he was saved. Another young man told me that he also was on the verge of yielding to temptation when he thought of his angel aunt who had brought him up: this was sufficient. Now what was it really that saved those young men? It was the memories which those faces recalled, the early training, the Sunday School, the Christian principles, the devotion, self-sacrifice and love lavished upon them, priceless love! They could not break away from that love!

The greatest of all picture galleries is memory. Take heed what kind of pictures you hang up in the children’s minds!

The greatest of all picture galleries is memory. Take heed what kind of pictures you hang up in the children’s minds! The manner in which you corrected that fault, your grief, your little talk, your tender kiss–all will come back again. Your sympathy when John or Mary failed in an examination, and your encouragement to try again. The glorious Christmas times–the home-coming of father or mother, the gaily lighted tree, the sweet songs of Christ’s birth, the presents for all–are never-to-be-forgotten pictures. The strenuous times when there was little or no money, the self-denial, the gifts for others in still greater need, the prayers and the answered prayers. The boy or girl leaving home, the hidden grief of those whose love can never be repaid. The sorrow, it may be, because of the error or sin of some member of the family, and the generous forgiveness. And underneath all the outstanding, dominating, passionate thing, Love–a Love which turns earth into Heaven!