‘Asafout pedon sty ponws yey, ‘ssed op af 56K ean 99 F831 780 eas aL smo 2m sam Ey pore pod 5] upd jo 90m ot Joog pu. Bens soe ‘x30 051 ‘eB o ou ut wg sea aL ef so WOH gL ‘eu Jona V ro pop quHET UL ug ut Boa'y rea YOFT UL pao “as aye pay du panoyjens se 6d pop don sxs0y prtd - = asa $008 5709 “Poo #90510 298 ree eae, ‘pos 935 gor 1 Poumon sped sana ys 1g SEP 8 sama poe 009 AN BAWiSs Gly 149nN3 M9N aHL298 01 SH ‘oan 218 QUID PA oy ogeoez -sdiu ov00s peo, “‘sdnps pumassoy qne.A, 1 poe nok snus os pay “mp PIP eau mH HORAKfrom “The Duties of Children to their Parents” by Cotton Mather (1663-1728) ‘These are excerpts from an essay by Mather, a writer of the Puritan era. He is best snotom for his account of the Salem Witch Trials. The essay from which the following text is is about how children of the Puritan era were expected to treat adults/parents, as per the Biblical commandment “Honor thy father and mother”. I have ‘changed some punctuation to make this easier to understand. ‘Come, Ye Children, Hearken to me; I will tell you, what you shall do, that your Parents might be Happy in you, and that your own Happiness may be secured and increased...Cursed be he that sets Light by his Father or his Mother...o them especially am I now to bring the Warming from God. the Heavy Curse of God will fall upon those children, who make light of their parents. The Curse of God! the Terriblest Thing that ever was heard of...Can’t | mention this tremendous thing, The Curse of God, and oh, my Children, Will you not Tremble at Undutiful children are commonly cursed and banned by such a Vengeance of God...undutiful children soon become horrid creatures, for unchastity, for dishonesty, for lying and all manner of abominations: and the contempt that they cast upon the advice of their parents is one thing that pulls down this curse ‘of God upon them. A strange disaster..follows undutiful children, much evil pursues that kind of sinner... They are followed by one plague after another...And if these undutiful children ever live to have children of their ‘own, God pays ‘em home in their own coin. It becomes children to reckon it One main Design, and business and privilege of their lives: to be comforts unto their parents. ...Tis no unusual thing for the death of undutiful children to be embittered with some extraordinary circumstances of Confusion and Calamity....It is remarkable that the most of them, who are executed on the gallows, do at their execution call out this: Oh, ‘Tis my Undutifulness to my own parents, Tis my Disobedience...that hath brought me unto this Lamentable end!‘There was a law in Israel, Deut. 21:21, That the Rebellious Child be put to Death. After stoning, he was hanged... ‘The God of Nature hath placed a distance between Parents and their Children, children that set light by their parents forget this distance... You set light by your parents if you: Talk saticily and clownishly unto them ~ Reproach them or Backbite them - behave with Impudence say anything but what the Glory of God make it necessary to say - Show them resentment if they do you any injury ~ Withhold the obedience that is due to them Fail to take their Word and Will as Law + Fail to count it right that you are a Servant unto them - Give them any displeasure ~ Fail to seek their satisfaction in the Grand Motions and Changes of your life - Do what they forbid ~ Their anger be a light matter with you On staying away from “bad kids”; ...ungodly youths in the town do poison one another. These youths cry up an in religion...they draw one another on until they become idle, profane..ripe for the Fiery Indignation of God. from “The Education of Children” by Cotton Mather (1663-1728) ‘These are excerpts from Mathers essay about what School should be like. Again, I have changed/modernized some punctuation and phrasing to make this easier to understand. A good school deserves to be called the very salt of the town that hath it..a woeful putrefaction threatens the Rising Generation: barbarous ignorance, and the unavoidable consequence of it, if it have not schools to preserve it [the Rising Generation]. But schools, wherein the youth may by able masters be taught the things that are necessary to qualify them for future servicablenss...have their manners...well-formed under a Laudable Discipline, and be over and above Well-Chatechised in the principles of religion. Let Scholars regard their Tutors as their Parents. My Child, the Master of the ‘School is a Father to Thee. ..Honor your Tutors, and perform the Tasks which they Impose upon you. Don’t set light by thy School-Master, but Love him, and Prize him, and be thankful to him and thankful to God for him. ‘These are ways to escape the Curses of God.