ABSTRACT

Children are now seen to be the greatest of our national assets, the essential guarantee of strength and stability for the State in the years to come. They cannot be too well-cared for, or too happy; nor can there be too many of them. For too many well-meaning persons children were of an importance commensurate only with their size and stature. They were children, and nothing more; they were to be trained, of course, but their training had little significance for anyone but themselves or their parents, and it was to be narrow in scope and carried on by the sternest methods. The Child is a conspicuous figure in the Bible; he meets us on almost every page. All the life of the people, domestic and public alike, is ordered with partial reference to him. He is to rest, equally with his elders, on the Sabbath Day, and to share in the joyous celebration of the great Festivals.