Cast of Character

Somewhere have heard the story of the old southern hunter who sent his faithful dog on an errand—an errand on which the dog encountered a forest fire and lost his life. And the old man bitterly wept over the dog’s burned body and said, “I had to be careful what I told him to do, ’cause I know’d he’d do it.” So it is with our children, we have to be careful what we tell them to do—and more than this, we have to be careful what we show them to do. The celebrated William James said: “It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.” There may be some exceptions, but sometimes when we are older it may seem safe to assume that we are so well set that small departures from correct conduct aren’t too serious. We may think we know how far we can go and still get back without doing ourselves much damage. But many a man has gotten into trouble long after he was presumed to be old enough to know better! But for the moment suppose we assume that our character is so set that we who are older can safely engage in a little careless conduct. But what about whose characters aren’t so set? What about the boy who may be watching us, who isn’t so sure of himself? What if, following our example, some young person departs from a safe path, just a little, and then a little more—and finally goes too far. It is a solemnly serious business to tell a youngster what to do—and it is also solemnly serious to set a bad example before him. And since we can’t be sure when the character of young is safely set, we’d better conform to a pattern that would be safe for young and impressionable for people to follow. Even if we assume that we ourselves are “set”, we should consider those who aren’t so set—those who hear our words and watch our ways and shape their actions after us.