Editor’s Table: True Love

Editor's Table. True Love. Now that the season of outings has arrived, a word or two to impress a more strict observance of the Sabbath day is in order. Obedidence to the command of God as given in the 9th and 13th verses of the 59th section of the Doctrine and Covenants should be insisted upon by parents who love their children—parents who love their children right, for there are two kinds of love. There is an inordinate, inconsistent love which parents sometimes have for their children. It is weak and short-sighted, and has not strength, righteousness, justice nor reason in it. And it is against this kind of love that I want to raise a warning voice to the mothers and fathers in Israel. It may be illustrated by an incident: "Papa, Saturday afternoon I have a half holiday, and I want to go up in the canyon and spend Sunday there." Papa says: "Well, go on, my boy. I think you ought to go. You ought to have a little rest.- You have had to work all week; you have been engaged every day until Saturday afternoon, and there is no time for you to get a little rest except for you to get off and spend Sunday in the canyon. My son, you may go." Now, that is what I call "puppy-love," short-sighted, the very essence of weakness in love. True love, on the other hand, consistent love, true and rightful appreciation of good principles, would cause the father to say to that boy: "My son, would you think of going up the canyon Saturday night to spend Sunday there, perhaps hunting or fishing or lounging about, your example to be followed by others, and by your younger brothers and sisters, and you not be where you ought to be on the Sabbath day, and the people of the ward and your neighbors know where you are, and that you are absent? I cannot consent for you to go." That answer implies true love. In this word of caution the

828 IMPROVEMENT ERA. father would save his boy from contracting a habit of treating the Sabbath day ligntly, and of not hallowing the Sabbath day, of making it a day of pleasure, recreation and amusement, away from the channels pointed out by the Lord in the revelation to which I have referred. The love which I speak of as "puppy-love" is that premature, immature love in which a parent enters into the plea of the child, and yields sympathetically to his argument. But there is a duty also of the child in this connection. When father says "No, my boy, do not do it. I cannot give you my consent," the boy has a duty then to perform. He cheerfully says to fathar, "If you say so, that ends it; I will not go. I would not go a step unless I could do so with your approval." If you have trained your children right, you will receive such an answer, and you thus reap your regard for such training. You rea'ize a blessing, in that you feel that you possess the love, confidence and willingness to obey, of one you love more than you can tell. Children sometimes wish to go off here and there, and they ask for money, more than they should have. It is a curse when given to them. The money is often furnished by father, when he ought to have stamina enough to say no to the child. And young men and boys should have respect, reverence and obedience enough for father to cheeerfully accept the refusal. But often the money is given, the children go out and become habituated to the ways of the world. They come in contact with the abominations of society, and by and by the boys and girls thus indulged by their parents become devoid of faith, of love for the Church of God, heedless to the convictions of the truthfulness of the gospel, and of everything that is good and wholesome, uplifting and Godlike, and they are smirched with the beggarly elements of the world. Parents should early hold the reins tight, in kindness and true love, and should seek to reason with their children and show them why th-ir requests for money and Sabbath breaking should not be granted. You will perhaps not be able to convince them at once, but by kindness and true love they will come to learn in time that you know better than they, and they will thank you for it, and say, "0 if papa had allowed me to have my way, where would I have been now? But because he held his hand closely upon me,