CHAPTER XI
Be Dutiful
In this second portion of our subject, we find that relationship broadens. Instead of dealing only with ourselves, we deal with others. Man is a social being, but is only worthy of that name as he seeks to make society happier and better by his presence. Each day every boy is compelled to choose between two courses of conduct, duty and disobedience. The one, however great the cost, is accompanied by a sense of right; the other, which demands no effort, by anguish and peril. No boy need hesitate to be dutiful. Conscience dictates, reason approves, and though the triumphs of genius might be more dazzling, the chances of good fortune more exciting, yet he who heeds the counsel will profit thereby, daring nobly, willing strongly and succeeding admirably.
TRUE TO THE LAST.
In the Museo Brobonico, at Naples, are seen the helmet, lance and breastplate which were used by a pagan sentinel at Pompeii. It is thought that the soldier who used them was on duty when Mount Vesuvius began to rain burning lava upon the city. While others fled, he stood by his post. Of Wellington it was said: “He never boasted of a higher motive and perhaps never thought of one, than duty.” Admiral Nelson while standing on the deck of his vessel received a mortal wound, and on being afterward assured that the conquest was theirs, exclaimed: “Thank God, I have done my duty,” and died. When Frederick the Great was about to engage in the great battle of Lutzen he ordered all his officers to a conference at which he said: “To-morrow I intend giving the enemy battle, and the battle shall decide who are hereafter to be masters of Silesia. I expect every one to do his duty. Now, if any of you are cowards, step forward before you make others cowardly, and you shall immediately receive your discharge without ceremony or reproach.” As none stepped forward he said: “I see there is none among you who does not possess true heroism, and who will not display it in defence of the king, the country and himself. I will be in the front and rear, and will fly from wing to wing; no company of my soldiers shall escape my notice, and whomsoever I find doing his duty, upon him will I heap honor and favor.”
WHAT DUTY IMPLIES.
“Duty” may be defined as the thing that can be done, because it is the thing that ought to be done. To be dutiful implies a respect and reverence for others who are placed in authority in whatever capacity, parental, official or governmental. “It is,” said Gladstone, “coextensive with the action of our intelligence. It is the shadow which cleaves to us, go where we will, and which only leaves us when we leave the light of life.” Fortunate the boy who is not an orphan, and blessed is he who knows how to appreciate his parents. If God has been kind to spare father and mother, every boy should be good enough to respect them. Nothing is more unbecoming than forward or contemptuous conduct toward them. The great proverb writer, thousands of years ago, said: “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the raven of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.” That is, he shall come to an untimely end. The boy who heeds parental counsel shall be included in the promise of the first commandment: “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
WHY A BOY SHOULD OBEY HIS PARENTS.
A boy should obey his parents because God commands it. It is a law written in our natures as well as in the Bible. General Hancock once hastily rose from his table and exclaimed, “I left my boy on London Bridge, and told him to wait there till I came back.” He hastened to the spot, and there the brave boy was, and had been for several hours! Such obedience was the groundwork of a noble character.
Obedience to parents is an evidence of Christian piety. It ought to be prompt, cheerful and without protest. Such gives great pleasure to them, and no less to the boy. When Epamimondas, one of the greatest generals of Greece, conquered Sparta and delivered his own country he was greatly applauded. “My joy,” said he, “arises from my sense of that which the news of my victory will give my father and mother.” Disobedience produces the keenest suffering in them, which sooner or later reacts on the boy. “A wise son heareth his father’s instruction; but a scorner heareth not rebuke.” “A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to his mother.” Samuel Johnson was a disobedient lad. His parents were poor and he had difficulties sometimes which seemed almost insurmountable, till he passed his fifteenth year. His father was a bookseller in Litchfield, England. On market-days he used to carry a package of books to the village of Uttoxeter, and sell them from a stall in the market-place. One day he was sick and Samuel was asked to go in his place. From a silly pride he refused to comply. Fifty years after this boy became the celebrated author and compiler of the English Dictionary, and one of the most distinguished scholars in England, but he never forgot his unkindness to his hard-toiling father. When he visited Uttoxeter he determined to show his sorrow and repentance. Going into the market-place at the time of business, he uncovered his head and stood there for an hour in a pouring rain, on the very spot where the book-stall used to stand. “This,” said he, “was an act of contrition for my disobedience to my kind father.”
A boy should obey his parents because God’s law contains a reason: “That thy days may be long upon the land.” Obedience is here shown to be conducive to long life and prosperity. By it the boy learns self-control, and a prompt submission as a principle of action. “Such a boy in all probability will soon become a man of like character. He will obey the laws of health. Entering business, he will obey the laws of success, industry, perseverance, economy and enterprise. His powers under full control, he also will be a law-abiding citizen in society. Such character tends to long life and the enjoyment of the gift of God.”