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Show i BISHOP POTTER ON THi . j DECLrfe OF, THE HOME j Bishop Potter, of Xew 'ork, writing in The ! Tribune of the decline of .theVtnc in this country, declares there is no social pr. et'ore us which begins to equal this one hwKViate importance. Most observant persons will p; L it to concur in this view. The home, as the Jiseopalian prelate points out, and as has been pvivd out an infinite number of times by others iy ply competent to speak on the subjeft, h the tchal foundation of the nation; the bed-rock. i?i Miich the national structure rests; the only bafex-. om Avhich the national na-tional strength can be calculated.- It is the only school of mirity and patriisii. If the moral character of men and womelV not molded during 'their plastic period, youth, ttf more than likely that it will never be properly trlded at any time. Love of "country is love of t!i- .jutherland, love of the home-land merely love oi pe home expanded until it embraces the land'; ich contains the home. Xational prosperity h-Ating on any other foundation is neces5arilyfle: ihg and transitory. Ifence. the vital importance .ot the problem which the decline of the lAmerican Mne involves. -That the home, ryvt.b Vig. -w."UjJm -steadily on the decline, is unl5'nma'tcl?v a fact beyond nial, avers the Bishop. !And endeavors to discover dis-cover the causes aeeojtiting.Tthe fact. Those gentle domestic interiors, hefites, which were frequently to be met with in t'lXy.agazines and the picture shops of the, last generaaort,-woodcuts in which appeared an exceedingly rirous, father, an excessively amiable mother, itd: six round-faced children varying in size andj ,agrj but otherwise as alike as postage stamps we 'o. linger see. The question is, why bjf.'v f hey disappeared? The family were always gr- peJnbout a lamp', and7 the father was always reading frm a book,, inf eren-tially eren-tially a most excellent booki "Is it that gaslight, replacing the lamp, hds desioyed the family circle? cir-cle? Is it that the father ip longer has time to read? Is it that the six chiljren, .cleverly disposed wherever there was room fd, one in the picture, represent families of a size"",hich have now become be-come so rare that they are nowlto be found only among our foreign population I n the tenements? Is it that our young people arejnow. more willing to instruct their parents than, to be instructed ; more willing to give than to receive ? Has the undoubtedly good book been sc'kx replaced by destructive de-structive criticism that the fatlir, hurrying home from Wall street to read to his! jamilj-, would not be able to find one? Those woocj cuts were artistically artisti-cally crude; but they served. 'J'iey met a popular demand, or they would not hibh been so numerously numer-ously drawn and printed. Doe- Jhc abler artist of today find no inspiration in tlJrhome circle as a subject, because the people are ni'donger interestect in the home? 1 . All these questions, the Bishop is afraid must be answered generally. in the afmative. AH the conditions of life in this eounf.r.f jtoday clash .with, the old home ideal. The primaryj'pause, he finds in that republican form of governrtknt'whieh opens j every avenue of success to all; y licit develops the 1 individual imagination among ;mj. fond women far more rapidly than it develops thk capacity of each to attain the success desired, li might be added . that it also outstrips hopelessly i development of the individual opportunity as we!: as capacity for desired success. The Bishop do.cn, say so, but it is a fact that, the idea of mode- .popular, education educa-tion of a strictly secular-sort p ints to. the same material success, worship of the Jdden calf, which clashes with the old home ideil for which he pleads. . j , ; What are those who love tiieir ' nmtry and their kind to do4n this matter, of build' ig up 'the 'home? The only answer to his own que' ion; the Bishop finds, in the education of public o nion.-'.ThK'un-fortunatlv. is far easier said thai carried, out effectually. ef-fectually. Education of public op iion. if successful, success-ful, eontaius a remedy for every jnalady that affects af-fects the body social and the bod' politic, but the successful application of the enr' is no less difficult diffi-cult of accomplishment than the 0 adieation.of the disease itself. The very forces v lich he deplores as making for the disintegration it the home audits aud-its preservative and conservative iihTence upon the. individual and society are active!? opposed to the. education of public opinion alou the lines suggested. sug-gested. "Let all who realize; the priceless value of home and home influence become their propagandist." propagan-dist." Are not they already so .vjhin the limited sphere of their potency? ... The Bhop manifestly has not said the last word on tlil hie subject. The Monitor. '. - ' |