In fact no one can question this, but the father does
not always use that superior knowledge as he should. Perhaps he has
yielded to the dearest wish of the mother that their son should become
a minister. The mother's love does not allow her to see that her boy
has no gifts as a speaker and no love for a clergyman's life. He longs
to be a lawyer or doctor. Will any one deny that to drive the young
man into the pulpit is the greatest mistake that can be made?
"Sometimes a father, with an only son, perhaps, intends that he shall
be trained to follow in his footsteps. The boy has a dislike for that
calling or profession,--a dislike that was born with him and which
nothing can remove. His taste runs in a wholly different channel;
whatever talent he has lies there. While it may be convenient for him
to step into his parent's shoes, yet he should never be forced to do
so, but be allowed to select that for which he has an ability and
toward which he is drawn. Parents make such sad mistakes as these, and
often do not awake to the fact until it is too late to undo the
mischief that has been done. Let them give the subject their most
thoughtful attention and good is sure to follow."
It was these words, following on the talk he had had with Maggie a
short time before that set Mr. Hunter to thinking more deeply than he
had ever done over the problem in which his son was so intimately
concerned.
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