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mean that prejudice, "the spider of the soul," as it has been aptly called, does not seem, like love, to be native to the young mind. In many children it is quite overlaid by the growth of the sweeter affections. Its perpètual exclusion from the tender mind cannot be too assiduously sought. To accomplish this end, the most vigilant circumspection is requisite. Unguarded words (and the tongue is never so unguarded as in the domestic circle) may soon plant the bitter weed in a soil too ready to nourish it. The thoughtless censure of a neighbor may create an ineradicable prejudice. A hasty animadversion, even upon the minister of God, may interpose in the mind of a child a fatal obstacle to its edification, and even its salvation. Oh, never let us be accessory to a feeling of disrespect for the accredited servants of the Lord. In these times of free-thinking and speaking, how slender the reverence for the sacred office compared with that which so well became the generation that has gone, whose childhood was more carefully nursed amid the sanctities of religion, and participated in the general spirit of veneration for the servants of the Most High!

Children are IMITATIVE. The consideration of this quality naturally arises out of the preceding remarks. Now they should have the best models. And as the best models we can produce are imperfect at best, they will be prone to copy the imperfections. Hence the unspeakable importance of striving to set before them a good example, in all things conformed to a high and holy standard. Example is not confined to the few, fleeting years of life. It survives the tomb. Over its vitality all-conquering

Death has no power. We live again in those who come after us, and shape and mould their destiny. "As the mother, so is her daughter," was a proverb ancient as Ezekiel, who seized on the popular saying, and applied it to the case before him. When the heart of the father is turned toward his child, that heart feels the gentle shock, and reacts with affecting tenderness on the paternal bosom. There is no power like that with which God has invested parents over their children.

Children are naturally SELFISH. This is among the follies or sins "bound in the heart of a child." To its destruction let your wisest, steadiest efforts be directed. Place before them, in all its

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august and impressive beauty, the disinterested benevolence of the Son of God, who "pleased not himself," who was "the servant of all," and lived for others, even for those who were incapable of conferring a favor on him, while they had deeply offended him. Nor will it suffice to inculcate preceptive lessons upon them. They must be initiated by practice into the reality of benevolence. They must part with beloved objects for the good of others. They must be inoculated with a detestation of the natural selfishness of their hearts, or it will grow in future life to a disgusting deformity. Cecil threw the idolized necklace of his child into the fire, to teach it faith, or trust in his ability and willingness to provide a better. This was severe, perhaps too severe for the object, but it would seem no discipline can be too sharp for the extinction of selfishness. But, with all the perversity of childhood, there is an important sense in which it may be said to be TEACHABLE. fact of the inquisitiveness, referred to, is in proof of this. Our Saviour, too, tells us we must "receive the kingdom of God as a little child." The mind, in fact, is constantly learning something good or bad, as the lungs habitually breathe a pure or a polluted atmosphere. How early a child learns its vernacular language! With language comes thought; with thought sentiment, opinion, association, all the primordial elements of the future inner man. Even the firmness or weakness of the nerves may depend on the moral treatment of the child. William Wirt tells us that the sight of his aunt running behind the door, and screaming with fright at a thunder-storm, affected him through life with a similar dread of that natural phenomenon. How constantly, often how unconsciously, are we teaching the young! The quality of their lessons is the great point to be considered.

Nor should we fail to mect, in a proper spirit, that TRUSTFULNESS which is a part of their nature. We seem originally constituted so as to expect to find truth in the world, and especially in the hearts of our parents. Nor is it until experience has taught us how falsehood abounds, that this confidence is impaired, and along with advancing years, we demand proportionate corroborative evidence for what claims our belief. It is painful to reflect what injury has been inflicted on the young by unthinking moth

ers and stupid nurses, who take the liberty of practicing on the credulity of children, often to a shameful extent-retailing to them idle superstitions, dealing out abominable fictions, and making them stare, and even tremble, at their lying wonders.

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The SOCIALITY of children is proverbial. How quick to become mutually acquainted! How different their ways from the cool and cautious intercourse of mature and artificial life! Hence arises a parental duty to guard their companionships. Many have been ruined by their early associations. They know not how to choose their friends, such as deserve the name. The serpent has often lurked amid the roses of the social bower. The May Queen Festival has been the school of vanity and ultimate moral ruin; the dancing-room the vestibule of hell. There are higher and nobler pleasures, even for youth, in its most ardent and sprightly forms and manifestations. Great skill, indeed, is necessary in parents, to direct and control the sympathies and socialities of their children. But "if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." The early implantation of the grace of God is the chief of all objects to be sought; the only certain conservative principle of the soul; the pledge of future happiness, and the earnest of future usefulness. Grace alone can bring our dear ones to glory. I cannot but conclude, as I began this paper, with some lines from the poet of the home and the heart.

"His heart, now passive, yields to thy command;

Secure it thine, its key is in thine hand.

If thou desert thy charge, and throw it wide,
Nor heed what guests there enter and abide,
Complain not, if attachments lewd and base
Supplant thee in it, and usurp thy place.
But if thou guard its sacred chambers sure
From vicious inmates and delights impure,
Either his gratitude shall hold him fast,
And keep him warm and filial to the last;
Or if he prove unkind, (as who can say
But, being man, and therefore frail, he may ?)
One comfort yet shall cheer thine aged heart,
Howe'er he slight thee, thou hast done thy part!"

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"COME, Suzy," said the mother, "let us read awhile in this pretty picture Bible. We will read how God made the world." "O mamma, I know all about that.”

"Never mind; let us read it once more. But first we will go and sit in the porch. Look round, Suzy, and tell me what you

see."

"Why, here are the flowers all round the yard, mamma; and there is the beautiful green meadow, with lambs and cows in it, and over the brook is the village, and behind the village are those 'pretty hills."

"Look up, and tell me what you see.'

66 Only the sky, mamma; but it looks very blue, and there are some little white clouds sailing about on it. Ah, there goes a bird! it's a hawk, mamma. And now there are some little birds. Wee, wee things, how happy you must be! O, hear that robin, how he sings in the elm-tree."

"Suzy, there was a time when there was not one of these things made. There were no people in the earth; no animals moving about on it; no birds flying in the air; no trees, nor grass; no sun; no sky. Oh, it was a dark, dismal place. Thick clouds were wrapped around it; a black, muddy sea rolled over its whole surface. It was always, always night-cold, dark, still. God alone was there in the darkness and silence."

"Was it so, mamma? How do you know?"

66 The Bible tells us so. 'In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void. (waste, empty), and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.' The earth was made, but it was not fit for man to live on. But now God was going to make it a beautiful home for us. He is our Father, you

know, and he wanted to make his children very happy. He thought he would put into this home every thing that was pleasant to look at, good to taste, sweet to hear and to smell. Now, shall we go on and see how it was done?"

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yes, mamma; is that in the Bible too ??

"Yes, dear, you have often read it, only you didn't think ; you only read the words. Now I will tell you what he did first. 'God said, Let there be light, and there was light.' Shut your eyes, and try to think how it seemed. The black clouds grew a little lighter. They began to rise slowly up from the water. The dark, muddy waves rolled heavily, and glimmered a little in that first ray. By-and-bye it became night again, dark and still as before. The light of the first day was gone."

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"But after a while it grew light again; the second morning had come. 'Then God said, Let there be a firmament.' means the arch of the sky. The clouds rose up high into the air, and left this open space as we see it now. It looked as a dull, cloudy day does to us. Night came, and closed the second day."

"Did he do nothing else all that day, mamma?"

"The great God, my dear, is never in a hurry, as we are. He never does any more than is best, at one time. But do you think that was a small work for one day? Think how long it takes to build one house; how many men are busy for weeks, and perhaps months, before it is done. Now look up at that noble arch, how broad and high it is. It reaches from the hills on this side to the hills on that side, and the top is above the flight of any bird. Millions of houses could stand under it, and yet it was all made in one day."

66 Go on, mamma."

"The third morning came. You will be glad to hear about this--great and beautiful things were done on the third day. 'God said, Let the waters be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.' First the tops of the mountains, then the hills, then the plains and valleys rose slowly out of the water, and the waves rolled back into great hollows, and became seas. Soon, green grass began to spring on all the hills and vales, bushes

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