obliged to abandon her children during the greater part of the day to domestics and hirelings,-no, not obliged, there is no duty so imperious, no social convenience, no fashionable custom so commanding as to oblige her; for maternal care precedes all other duties*: a proper discharge of the maternal duties is essential to the peace, the good government, and to the present and future virtue and happiness of a family; wo, therefore, to the Mother who thus voluntarily abandons her little ones.

She may forever renounce the sacred and delightful task of educating them to morality, of rearing up in their hearts the sanctuary of virtue; of training them to think and act according to the laws of Christianity; she may leave them to her domestics, or to their governess, and cease to be a Mother, in every sense of the word! Let none imagine that giving birth to children gives a title to the honorable name of MOTHER! None can justly claim it, but she who endeavours to gain from her child the fulness of love, faith, and gratitude.

To every unnatural Mother these endearing af fections of her children's hearts are lost, and, to her shame, bestowed on the nurse, on the governess, or any other person who is most occupied with them, who best nurses, entertains and instructs them; and from whom they experience most acts of kindness, attention and benevolence.

With the loss of the child's affections, the Mother

* "Nature cries aloud to you, to take care of your child yourself, and never to abandon it to the hands of strangers. Is there a being in the world who can supply to it a Mother's place ?"

PESTALOZZI.

also loses her claim to that unconditional obedience, which, if not founded upon the purest sentiments of humanity, will change into a kind of despotism, paralyzing and deadening every moral principle.

A Mother, who neglects to observe and superintend her child, will lose all influence over him, and continually be at a loss in choosing means best adapted for cultivating the principles of morality within him. "Alas! thou poor and abandoned child! She who gave thee birth is alive, and yet thou hast no mother!" Although she should introduce into her family the most approved methods of instruction, with all the Pestalozzian exercises, and could abandon her little ones during the greater part of the day, she would have the appearance of a good Mother, but be far from being one in reality.

A Mother, who sacrifices maternal duty to the follies and vanities, the sensual pleasures and idle, diversions of the world, will never be able to excite in her children religious sentiments; which, however, she alone can do, and therefore ought to do.

:

A child should not be left in the first period of its development to the action of its own will: its moral guardians, its PARENTS, must guide the infant will till obedience has raised delight, and it feels it has done right this feeling is a fruit of the development of the Godly principle in a child, and it is only by a continuance of the operation of this divine force, that the child's sensual will becomes moral; and it finds in itself an inward guide, which incites it to its ultimate end.

To diminish the power of the sensual will, and to animate the activity, energy and operation of the Godly principle, is the grand secret of Education,

and requires the tender, skilful hand of PARENTS devoted to their Duty.*

Gratitude, faith, and love, are excited within the child, by acts of kindness and love. By means of them, his Mother appears to him as a higher, but, at the same time, as a benevolent power; she

conse

quently becomes to him a representative of the Deity, before he knows the Deity, and these sentiments constitute what may be called the elements of religion.

The name of God is mentioned as the common FATHER OF ALL; to whom his Parents are indebted for every blessing they possess: he must therefore serve and love God, and the desire to please HIM must be the motive of every action.

Every propitious event, every physical and spiritual blessing, is attributed to God. Each time he has performed some good and moral deed, the child is reminded of God; for any sort of succour, protection, comfort, and bounty, thanks are rendered to God, in the presence of the child, from the fulness of the heart. The Mother occasionally prays, in an earnest, unaffected manner, before him, shewing, by all her words and actions, that nothing is, or can remain, hidden before God; and that the study and

"The only solid and true foundation of all morality is found in the first relations of Mother and Child. Mothers, reflect seriously that it is upon your influence over your children in their earliest years, that their future character depends. If it belongs to you to give a right direction to their first ideas, for a stronger reason does it belong to you, still more is it your duty, and in your power, velop and form their first moral sentiments and affections."

to de

PESTALOZZI.

delight of her life is always to act in conformity to His will.*

As to the historical part of the Bible, the following hints may be useful.

She should keep her children as long as possible in Paradise, or in a world of innocence, where sin is unknown, and consequently, omit the histories that give an account of bad men, and wicked deeds.

It is an important principle in education, to practise the tender heart and mind in good, and thus lay the foundation deep and firm before evil be introduced.

We may then reasonably hope that the love of good, and the hatred of evil, will be strong and lasting.

Whereas, by an injudicious haste prematurely to develop to evil, by acting upon the mistaken notion that the mind should be early introduced to depravity, that the knowledge of the world, as it is called, that is, a knowledge of its follies, its errors, and its crimes, should be familiar to the young mind, we destroy tenderness of conscience, and prepare the soil for the reception and growth of the tares which the enemy is ever on the watch to sow.†

When she has selected the parts which she considers as fit to be related, she minutely details all circumstances, which she endeavours to make as intui

* "What child can avoid believing in the God to whom his Mother prays, the God who takes care of his Mother as his Mother takes care of him ?" PESTALOZZI.

"It is thus that we early infuse into the young heart those passions which we afterwards impute to nature; and thus, after having carefully made it bad, we complain because we find it so."

tive as possible, in order to excite the interest, and to fix the whole attention of her little auditor. This she takes some future opportunity of encouraging him to repeat, yet without pressing him, if he should not be inclined.

It would be more advisable to persuade him to relate it to one of his younger brothers, sisters, or companions, as in this manner it would have less the appearance of a lesson.

When sin and perverseness can no longer be concealed, she points out the dreadful consequences of disobedience, and the evils that have arisen from perverse desires and passions in the histories of wicked men. Then may be mentioned the name of Jesus Christ, speaking of Him as of the most perfect pattern of every virtue, as of a Being animated with the purest sentiments of filial love, obedience, self-denial, humility, and submission. The Mother tells him, that she herself is far from being what she ought to be, but that she is striving to become so; and that Jesus is to be her pattern for imitation.

She takes care to describe Him as the greatest Benefactor to mankind; that He is all love, wisdom, and goodness; and imparts the history of his life and deeds, as far as is necessary to prove it. This is done in some hallowed and tranquil moment, with all the effusion of endearing maternal love. It may be hoped that those solemn hours, in which the Mother has dwelt on this subject, must make such an impression on the mind of her child, that the recollection of them, even in a more advanced period of life, will prove most salutary and gratifying. She must shew the most sincere and unfeigned interest for Jesus as the model of all perfection, who, inseparably united