Ms 7, 1904
Interview/Counsel on Age of School Entrance
St. Helena, California
January 14, 1904
This manuscript is published in entirety in 6MR 348-374; portions appear in 3SM 214-226.
Report of an Interview, January 14, 190419LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 1
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Counsel Regarding Age of School Entrance
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For years, much instruction has been given me in regard to the importance of maintaining firm discipline in the home. I have tried to write out this instruction and to give it to others. In one of the forthcoming volumes of my writings will be published considerable additional matter on the training of children.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 18
Those who assume the responsibilities of parenthood should first consider whether they will be able to surround their children with proper influences. The home is both a family church and a family school. The atmosphere of the home should be so spiritual that all the members of the family, parents and children, will be blessed and strengthened by their association with one another. Heavenly influences are educational. Those who are surrounded by such influences are being prepared for entrance into the school above.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 19
Mothers should be able to instruct their little ones wisely during the earlier years of childhood. If every mother were capable of doing this, and would take time to teach her children the lessons they should learn in early life, then all children could be kept in the home school until they are eight, or nine, or ten years old.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 20
But many who enter the marriage relation fail of realizing all the sacred responsibilities that motherhood brings. Many are sadly lacking in disciplinary power. In many homes there is but little discipline, and the children are allowed to do as they please. Such children drift hither and thither; there is nobody in the home capable of guiding them aright, nobody who with wise tact can teach them how to help father and mother, nobody who can properly lay the foundation that should underlie their future education. Children who are surrounded by these unfortunate conditions are indeed to be pitied. If not afforded an opportunity for proper training outside the home, they are debarred from many privileges that, by right, every child should enjoy. This is the light that has been presented to me.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 21
Those who are unable to train their children aright should never have assumed the responsibilities of parents. But because of their mistaken judgment, shall we make no effort to help their little ones to form right characters? God desires us to deal with these problems sensibly.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 22
Model Church Schools to be Connected With Our Sanitariums
In all our sanitariums the standard is to be kept high. With these institutions should be connected, as physicians, managers, and helpers, only those who keep their households in order. The conduct of the children has an influence that tells upon all who come to these sanitariums. God desires that this influence shall be reformatory. And this can be; but care is required. The father and the mother must give special attention to the training of each child. But you know how the families are up on this hillside. The patients understand how it is. The way it is presented to me is that it is a shame that there is not the influence over the young children that there should be. Every one of them should be employed in doing something that is useful. They have been told what to do. If the father cannot be with them, the mother should be instructed how to teach them.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 23
But since I have been here, the light has been given me that the very best thing that can be done is to have a school. I had no thought that the very little ones would be embraced in the school—not the very little ones. But it would be best to have this school for those who can be instructed and have the restraining influence upon them which a school teacher should exert. We have a school here because the Word of God could not be taught in the other [public] school. Our brother that teaches that school is fully capable of carrying a school with teaching the Word. He is fully capable of doing that. He has his position, they have hired him, and as long as they let him stay undisturbed, he had better stay there.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 24
But here is a work that must be done for the families and for the children that are as old as seven years and eight years and nine years. We should have a lower department, that is a second department, where these children could be instructed. They will learn in school that which they frequently do not learn out of school, except by association.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 25
There are to be those who are older, that you have confidence in, who are trying to be Christians, as special monitors. Whenever the children are out of the building, these monitors should take charge of a certain company and see that there are no wrong things carried on among them. That is what we used to have when I went to school. That is what was done when the children were let out at recess or at noon. And then when in the school, the older ones would take charge of the younger ones. The teacher would give them the lesson that they should have, and then the monitors would carry them on in the study, say in spelling, in reading, and such things as that; and they would become educated—the teachers as well as the little children were learners. That is the way the primary schools were carried on when I went to school.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 26
I thought it was a little strange that they should have these little classes given into the hands of the students, and I asked the teacher if she would not explain it to me. She said she would. She said that those who were put over these children were learning more in that very discipline of hearing them read and spell and cipher than it was possible for them to obtain in their classes. That is why they were appointed.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 27
Should the children be in school?
Now, it seems that the question is about these children going to school. I want to know from the parents, every one of them, who it is that feels perfectly satisfied with their children, as they are, without sending them to the school—to a school that has Bible lessons, has order, has discipline, and is trying to find something for them to do to occupy their time. I do not think there is anyone, if they come to understand it, who will have objections.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 28
But when I heard what the objections were, that the children could not go to school till they were ten years old, I wanted to tell you that there was not a Sabbathkeeping school when the light was given to me that the children should not attend school until they were old enough to be instructed. They should be taught at home to know what proper manners were when they went to school, and not be led astray. The wickedness carried on in the common schools is almost beyond conception.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 29
That is how it is, and my mind has been greatly stirred in regard to the idea, “Why, Sister White has said so and so, and Sister White has said so and so; and therefore we are going right up to it.”19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 30
God wants us all to have common sense, and He wants us to reason from common sense. Circumstances alter conditions. Circumstances change the relation of things.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 31
Here is a sanitarium, and that sanitarium must carry the highest possible influence inside and out. Then, if they see children who come there—sharp-eyed, lynx-eyed, wandering about with nothing to do, getting into mischief, and all these things—it is painful to the senses of those that want to keep the reputation of the school. Therefore, I, from the light that God has given me, [declare] if there is a family that has not the capabilities of educating, nor discipline and government over their children, requiring obedience, the very best thing is to put them in some place where they will obey. Put them in some place where they will be required to obey, because obedience is better than sacrifice. Good behavior is to be carried out in every family.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 32
We are educating God’s little ones in our homes. Now what kind of an education are we giving them? Our words, are they loose and careless and slack? Is there an overbearing disposition? Is there a scolding and fretting because parents have not the powers to manage? The Lord wants us to take all things into consideration. Every parent has on his hands a sum to prove: How are my children? Where are they? Are they coming up for God or for the devil? All these things are to be considered.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 33
The book that is coming out will have much to say in regard to the great principles that are to be carried out in training the children from the very baby in arms. The enemy will work right through those children unless they are disciplined. Someone disciplines them. If the mother or the father does not do it, the devil does. That is how it is. He has the control.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 34
We want every child to be where he can be impressed in regard to God’s claims upon him and to carry God’s claims out. The Lord says of Abraham, I know him, that he will command his children and household after him, to keep the way of the Lord. [Genesis 18:19.] These children are to come up with a discipline that they will carry out in their lives, wherever they are. Now here is the work, and it is no light job to decide what to do.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 35
I shall not say so much now, because I want to understand just what I should speak on. I want the objections brought forth, why children should not have an education.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 36
We could do the same as they have in Battle Creek. They took me from place to place in the orphan asylum [Haskell home] in Battle Creek. There were their little tables, there were their little children from five years old and upward. They were being educated on the kindergarten plan: how to work and how to manage. They had a great pile of sand of a proper quality, and they were teaching the children how to work together, how to make Noah’s ark, and how to make the animals that enter into the Noah’s ark. They were all doing this kind of work. It takes something.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 37
Whoever has their children have this education should feel an interest to see that the teachers are paid for doing this extra work. There will have to be an extra teacher. Sister Peck cannot teach them all. She could not be around, but she could use those that are older to help and oversee and do the things that the children are learning, and so they can be worked in. Yet the school should be under the supervision of teachers that carry responsibility.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 38
Now I have perfect confidence in Sister Peck’s teaching, but if she carries on what she has carried on—and I am satisfied it is just the thing that ought to be done—there would have to be an extra teacher; don’t you think so?19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 39
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My ideas have come out in a crude way, just a jot here and a jot there. I have it written out, but not all. I have more to write. I want you to take care of what I have said. First, understand that. This is the light that has been given me in regard to these things.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 41
Here are children that are quick. There are children five years old that can be educated as well as many children ten years old, as far as capabilities are concerned, to take in the mother’s matters and subjects.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 42
Now I want that just as long as Willie’s children are here, and they live here [ages: Henry and Herbert, 7 years; Grace, 3 years], I want they should have the discipline of a school. If it can be connected with this school by putting on an addition to the building, one room say, for such students, every one of us ought to feel a responsibility to provide that room. Those mothers that want to keep their children at home, and are fully competent and would prefer to discipline them themselves, why, no one has any objection to that. They can do that. But provision is to be made so that the children of all that have any connection with this food factory and sanitarium, and these things that are being carried on here, should be educated. We must have it stand to reach the highest standards.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 43
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You are not compelled to let your boy go out from your jurisdiction unless you want him to. That is your privilege. But those parents who have children out of school and don’t take charge of them, if they are not willing to have their children brought in and educated, then let them move off of this hill just as quickly as they can, because they should not be here.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 45
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You can take care of them, but do you?19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 47
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The church here on this hill is a responsible church. It is connected with outside influences. These influences are constantly brought in to testify of us. The question is, Shall it be united, and shall it, if it is necessary, prepare a room—which won’t cost everlastingly too much—a room that these children should come to and have discipline, and have a teacher, and get brought up where they are prepared for the higher school? Now that is the question.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 49
I say, these little children that are small ought to have education, just what they would get in school. They ought to have the school discipline under a person who understands how to deal with children in accordance with their different temperaments. They should try to have these children understand their responsibilities to one another and their responsibility to God. They should have fastened in their minds the very principles that are going to fit them for the higher grade and the higher school.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 50
There is a Higher School that we are all going to, and unless these children are brought up with the right habits and the right thoughts, and the right discipline, I wonder how they will ever enter that school above? Where is their reverence? Where are their choice ideas that they should cultivate? And all these things. It must be an everyday experience.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 51
The mother, as she goes around, is not to fret and to scold and to say, “You are in my way, and I wish you would get away, I wish you would go outdoors,” or any such thing. She is to treat her children just as God should treat His older children. He calls us children in His family. He wants us educated and trained according to the principles of the Word of God. He wants this education to commence with the little ones. If the mother has not the tact, the ingenuity, if she does not know how to treat human minds, she must put them under somebody that will discipline them and mold and fashion their minds.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 52
Now, have I presented it so that it can be understood? Is there any point, Willie, that I have in the book that I have not touched here?19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 53
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Well, if parents have not got it in them you might just as well stop where you are. Therefore, we have got to make provision, because there are a good many parents that have not taken it upon themselves to discipline themselves. They are not disciplined. When the father and mother are disciplined themselves, then we will begin to talk about their disciplining their children. But as long as they are not disciplined themselves, their children are not disciplined. There is so much lacking in the matter, so much to be presumed and ventured, that in the name of the Lord, I say, Establish something where you can have a mind that realizes the importance of the work of dealing with human minds. There are fathers and mothers who do not know anything about how to deal with human minds. They don’t know how.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 62
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No one will force anybody to send them to school. If they cannot see the advantage, and think that home is the best place, why, it is their privilege to stay at home. But then again, there has got to be some advantage.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 64
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I believe that the people about here that have advantages can each do a little something to support a school for the others. I am willing to do it. I do not think that should be a consideration that should come in at all. [We talk of] “the expense,” “the expense,” “the expense”—it is nothing at all to have the weight of a thimbleful of expense.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 66
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From the light I have, with every sanitarium that is established anywhere, there shall be a school with that sanitarium. That is the light given me. That is how it is we are to see that the children are cared for, and the sanitarium shall take an interest to sustain such a thing. It is their business to do it. It is right that they should do it.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 68
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Well, there has got to be a reformation in that line.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 74
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Yes, it is right that it should stand before the people right. Now you will never find a better opportunity to have Sister Peck have the supervision over even the younger children. There has got to be a blending in some way.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 76
As for a room, and there should be room, I question which is best, whether it should be connected right with the building, or whether it should be separate. It seemed to me that it might be a building by itself. I do not know which would be best. That must be considered—the advantages and disadvantages. I think Sister Peck, as well or better than any of the rest of us, could tell how that should be.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 77
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If they have not felt their responsibility from all the books and writings and sermons, you might roll it onto them from now till the Lord comes, and they would not have any burden. It is no use talking about responsibility when they have never felt it.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 90
We want to have a school in connection with the sanitarium. It is presented to me that wherever there is a sanitarium, there must be a school, and that school must be carried on in such a way that it makes an impression on all who shall visit the sanitarium. People will come into that school. They will see how that school is managed. It should not be far from the sanitarium, so that they can understand.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 91
In the management of the school there is to be the very best kind of discipline. In learning, the students cannot have their own way. They have got to give up their own way to discipline. This is a lesson that is yet to be learned by a good many families. But we hear, “Oh, let them do this. They are nothing but children. They will learn when they get older.”19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 92
Well, just as soon as a child in my care would begin to show passion, and throw himself on the floor, he never did it but once, I want to tell you. I would not let the devil work right through that child and take possession of it.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 93
The Lord wants us to understand things. He says, Abraham commanded his children and his household after him, and we want to understand what it means to command, and we want to understand that we have got to take hold of the work if we resist the devil.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 94
Well, I do not know whether we are any further along than when we began.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 95
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But some things have been said.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 97
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The Lord is in earnest with us. Yes; we have got to be an example. And now you see there are so many sanitariums, and so many schools, that must be connected with them. We have got to come to our senses and recognize that we have to carry an influence—that is an influence in regard to the children.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 100
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Yes, I think the practical is of great value. The practical working out of these things should be accomplished not by merely a lesson, but the lesson must be so simple that the students can take it in, digest it, and know the reasons for it. If they do that, there cannot be so many studies. There must be fewer studies and more drill.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 102
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If they prefer to send their children to the public school, let them send them. But these many studies is a great fallacy.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 105
I have seen such precious talent that is sacrificed. A father says that a child can have so much money. And that is all he can have in his schooling. Some of the most precious youth came to Battle Creek. The father said so and so. They would go to the public school. And they would sit up with a little lamp burning, long into the night, to get all these studies that they had to have. Well, when they came to get through with that, they just broke down. Some of the most precious talent broke down, and they died in a short time.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 106
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Your school is to be a sample school. It is not to be a sample after the schools of the day. It is not to be any such thing. Your school is to be according to a plan that is far ahead of these other schools. It is to be a practical thing. The lessons are to be put into practice, and not merely a recitation of [theory].19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 108
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Brother Leininger’s children had no need to have died, but they were not under the discipline of the care that they ought to have had. The Lord wants us to have that education that we can utilize, and the most simple education that the children can have now is the very best for them. Then there will be a reaching out after more and more education as years come on. But they are not to stuff themselves right now with things clear beyond their years. It is not the right thing to do. We have got to have our A.B.C., and the Alpha is not the Omega. We must learn that.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 110
My idea is to have advantages for the little ones. We are not to throw them into Brother Anthony’s school because they are children and don’t have to pay anything. Brother Anthony, I believe, will do his best as far as the schooling is concerned, but he cannot teach the Bible. There is the Bible. That is what we want. It is to teach our children when they rise up and when they sit down, and when they go out, and when they come in. Your children here must be in such a school as that. You cannot teach them the commandments of God, the law of God, and importance of the law, in a public school.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 111
What is their reading lesson—do they have reading books?19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 112
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Well, this has got to be worked out some way. Have you got any propositions to make? Let us hear them.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 114
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We are educating for the kingdom.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 118
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I cannot see a particle of sense in that. Just cut off some of those studies. Teach them the Bible. Have that as one of their living, practical points of education. That is what it ought to be. We should take no account of how many things they bring out in some other schools. We are on a different road.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 121
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I think we should consider that problem. If there are those who do not want to send their children to our school, at which preparation is given for the future eternal life, to learn here the Alpha of how they should conduct themselves for the Omega, the end, then they can take their children and put them where they please. If this is the public school, all right. What we want is to educate our children for the future immortal life, and we have but a little time to do it in. This is the work to be accomplished. We are to educate them how to behave, and all of this. I tell you, the teacher carries a big responsibility to [inculcate] principles to work upon for all time.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 124
We must educate our children so that we can come up to the gates of the city and say, “Here am I, Lord, and the children that Thou hast given me.” [See Hebrews 2:13.] We must not come up without our children to hear the words, “Where is My flock, My little flock, that I gave you—that beautiful flock that I gave you, where are they?” [Jeremiah 13:20.] And we reply they have been left to drift right into the world, and so they are unfitted for heaven. What we want is to fit them for heaven so we can present the little flock to God, and say, “I have done my best.”19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 125
We think that another teacher should be brought in. We need one that has a good, all-round disposition. One that is even, and that can mold and fashion. These little ones move by impulse, just as they feel.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 126
I think what care the Lord had over the children of Israel. They were so forgetful. He told them just what to do. He told them to plaster the rock, and they were to write on this rock the commandments of God. This was after that they passed over Jordan. You see how particular He was.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 127
And then there were the two mounts, there were places that they had to go through that repetition, one the mount of curses and the other the mount of blessings. From these two prominent positions the advantages of the blessing and the disadvantages of the curse were pronounced.19LtMs, Ms 7, 1904, par. 128