they teach it to be gentle and patient, they set an example of perverseness and ill-humour in their behaviour to each other, the child will soon despise them both. Let the parents always support each other's authority; let them set the example of every virtue which they wish the child to practise; and let each of them teach their children to respect the other. This leads me to the important subject of education:-The temper and disposition of a child, the habit of obedience, and the first principles of religion, should all be formed during the first five or six years of its life, when it is chiefly under the care of its mother; women, if they are what they ought to be, seem particularly suited to this task, from the gentleness and tenderness of their dispositions, and the happy art which they possess of gaining affection and softening authority, by kindness. But they are apt to fall into errors, from which I wish to guard them. They do not always consider the absolute necessity of teaching a child obedience from the very first, even before he can speak. From infancy he should be taught that nothing is to be gained by passion or crying. This is attended with very little difficulty, if it be done early and custom will soon make it easy to the child; but we often see mothers, who never attempt to govern their children, till their little passions have gained so much strength that they know not how to conquer them, except by methods which would never have been necessary, if they had been taught obedience from the beginning. If a child has been accustomed, from infancy, to do what he is bid; and, if his little heart have been gained by the kindness of a prudent mother, her displeasure will be a great punishment, her praise, a great encouragement. Rough words and blows are almost always proofs that the parent does not know how to govern. The child should be governed like a reasonable creature and not like a brute beast that has no understanding. Carefully watch the very first appearance of any thing wrong in the disposition and temper of the child, and check it immediately. Teach him to confess his faults, and, when he does so, forgive him; but convince him that they are faults and must be rooted out, because they offend God. Above all, give him early impressions of religion. As your children grow up, give them reason to consider their parents as their best friends. Encourage them to open their hearts to you, and help then to get the better of their faults. Never let them be idle; for idleness is the root of all evil. Children should have time to play as well as to work, but they should not get a habit of doing nothing. Accustom them to be neat, active and industrious. When they are of an age to marry and settle, do every thing in your power to make them happy. Assist them with your advice; set them a good example in every thing; and pray to God to bless them. AN ILLUMINATION NIGHT. To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR, I SEND you a favourite recollection of my young days, which impressed me much at the time, and has often been recalled. It was on the return of Peace, that I went out in the evening, to see the grand Illuminations. It was the offer of a father's protection alone that could have tempted me out, for I was ever a great coward, and always had a horror of a crowd. We first stopped to admire the grand and magnificent display of lamps at Somerset House, which is always very splendidly ornamented. We then went to the Theatres, all very gay with their gaudy Crown and G. R.'s. We made a round through some of the Squares, where we saw many of the houses of noblemen and great men, with so many candles in each of the windows, that the number in the whole house would have lighted a small family for a whole winter! By a round-about way, we at last reached Pall Mall, determining to see the grandest, the last of all. And truly nothing could exceed the beautiful blaze which Carlton House exhibited, the colours were so soft and so glowing, and the taste with which the lamps were hung was so elegant, that one could have fancied one's self in Fairy-land, and viewing an enchanted Castle! I was quite satisfied, and agreed to return home as quickly as possible, feeling quite sure I could see nothing more that night that would please me so much. But I was mistaker, I was to receive greater pleasure, my best feelings were to be gratified more than I had imagined when I set out; for, in a narrow dirty street, (in our way to get quietly home,) in the window of a mean-looking small house, I saw a paper fastened to the middle pane of glass, and by a faint light behind it, where all else was darkness, I could read, written in a very bad, but large hand," Glory be to God in the highest, and on Earth Peace, good will towards man!" I was perfectly delighted. This was indeed shewing the matter in its true light. I was thankful to the writer of those words, as I fancied I returned home in a better state of mind than I went out. PACIFICA. THE IMPORTANCE OF PUNCTUALITY *. (Sent us in the form of a printed hand bill.) METHOD is the very hinge of business; and there is no method without punctuality. Punctuality is * Punctuality means exactness in keeping our engage ments. important, because it preserves the peace and good temper of a family. The want of it not only hinders our necessary duties, but sometimes quite prevents them. The calmness of mind which it produces, is another advantage of punctuality. A disorderly man is always in a hurry: he has no time to speak to you, because he is going elsewhere; and, when he gets there, he is too late for his business, or he must hurry away to another, before he can finish it. Punctuality gives weight to character. "Such a man has made an appointment, then I know he will keep it." And this produces punctuality in others. Servants and children will be punctual, where their leader is so. Appointments, indeed, become debts. I owe you punctuality, if I have made an appointment with you; and have no right to throw away your time, if I do my own. ON THE TEMPER NECESSARY IN CORRECTING CHILDREN. To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR, THERE is nothing more requisite, in a teacher, than patience and command of temper. Children will not easily be brought to believe that they are corrected for their good, when the correction is given in passion and in anger. On this subject, allow me to relate, for the benefit of those who have children under their care, an affecting little story, to be found in Chaucer's "Parson's Tale." As the original is in old English, I shall be pardoned for making a few alterations in the language. "A philosopher being one day very angry with his scholar, for a great fault which he had com-mitted, would have beaten him for it; and took a rod for the purpose. When the child saw the rod, he said to his master, "What think you to do ?" "6 Í will beat thee, said the master, for thy correction." "Forsooth, said the child, you ought first to correct yourself, that have lost all your patience for the offence of a child." "Indeed, replied the master, weeping, thou sayest true: take thou the rod, my dear son, and correct me for mine impatience." R. B. Extract from Captain Franklin's Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea. CAPT, FRANKLIN, in an account which he gives of a party of North American Indians, assembled together to drink and smoke, says, "The younger men appeared to ridicule the abstinence of one of the party, who neither drank nor smoked. He bore their jeering with perfect composure, and assured them, as I was told, they would be better if they would follow his example.-I was happy to learn that this man was not only one of the best hunters but the most cheerful and contented person of the tribe." R. B. THE VILLAGE SABBATH. MR. EDITOR, It was on a fine morning in spring, that the Sabbath rose upon me in the lovely village of Elford. I shall not easily forget that morning; for, as I had arrived late on the preceding evening from the bustle and noise of London, the contrast was most striking. I seemed to have passed, at once, from the world of tumult and trouble, into the valley of |