their personal worth. He is the custodian of their dignity. Good or
bad, they are parents and remain parents. Woe unto those who despise
the authors of their days!

Respect overlooks an innocent joke at the expense of a parent, when
absolutely no malice is intended, when on both sides it is looked upon
as a matter of good-natured pleasantry. It brooks humor. Not all
familiarity breeds contempt.

But contempt, which is directly opposed to respect, is a sin that is
never anything but mortal. It refuses honor, belittles dignity and
considers parents beneath esteem. It is contempt to laugh at, to mock,
to gibe and insult parents; it is contempt to call them vile,
opprobrious names, to tell of their faults; it is contempt, and the
height of contempt, to defy them, to curse them or to strike them. It
is bad enough when this sort of thing is directed against an equal; but
when parents are made the objects of contempt, it acquires a dignity
that is infernal.

The malediction of Heaven, the almighty wrath of God follows him or her
who despises a parent. We are repeatedly told in Holy Writ that such
offenders "shall die the death." Scorn of parents is looked upon as a
crime almost on a par with hatred of God. Pagans frequently punished it
with death. Among Christians it is left to the avenging wrath of God
who is pledged to defend the dignity of His delegated paternity.

It is not a rare occurrence to see just retribution visited upon
parents who in their day were undutiful, unworthy and unnatural
children. The justice of Heaven often permits it to be done unto us as
we do unto others. Our children will treat us as we shall have treated
our parents; their hands will be raised against us and will smite us on
the cheek to avenge the grandsire's dishonor and tears, and to make us
atone in shame for our sins against our parents. If we respect others,
they will respect us; if we respect our parents, our children will
respect us.

CHAPTER LVII.
FILIAL LOVE.

HE who has a heart, and has it properly located, will not fail to love
that which is good; he will have no difficulty in so doing, it will
require neither command nor persuasion to make him do so. If he proves
refractory to this law of nature, it is because he is not like the rest
of mortals, because he is inhuman; and his abnormal condition is due,
not to nature's mistakes, but to his own. And no consideration under
heaven will be equal to the task of instilling affect