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thers and their infants; that maternal tenderness has the most powerful influence; that none, let their qualifications be what they may, can supply the place of a Mother;

"She knows each chord, its various tones,
Each spring, its various bias *."

All this is now so generally acknowledged, that it need not be dwelt upon.

It is the neglect, the abandonment of all these high endowments, the perversion of these talents, the dereliction of the most sacred duties, the renunciation of the brightest, the purest enjoyments; it is all this that requires to be dwelt upon.

And can a mother's love grow cold?

Can she forget her boy?

His pleasing innocence behold,

Nor weep for grief-for joy?

* They have a remarkably quick insight into character, and a warmth of affection, a tenderness and a delicacy, which win the affection of others, and enable them to correct faults without giving offence and to present Christian principles and virtues to their children in their most amiable form.-Christian Education.-Babington.

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Ye clasp your babes and kiss;

Your bosoms yearn, your eyes o'erflow;

Yet ah! remember this

The infant rear'd alone for earth,

May live, may die-to curse his birth :

Is this a Mother's love?

A Parent's heart may prove a snare;
The child she loves so well,
Her hand may lead, with gentlest care,
Down the smooth road to hell:
Nourish its frame,-destroy its mind:
Thus do the blind mislead the blind,
E'en with a Mother's love.

Mothers must be solemnly called upon to devote themselves to the service of those who have the most powerful of all claims upon them; they must be exhorted to become diligent labourers in this mighty work; they must be awakened to the indispensable obligation they are under of undertaking the cultivation of their children, of forming their dispositions and their habits by watchful attention, by constant precept, and above all,

by unvarying example *.

"Ye shall lay up

words in hearts and in your

your

these my souls: and ye shall teach them your children; speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way; when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Parents must be convinced that this is the business that properly belongs to them; this is the end and should be the aim of their existence. They must be made to feel that the whole circle of temporal employments and temporal delights boast no

* Let Parents, instead of excusing themselves by laying the fault to nature, exhibit in their own conduct that character they would wish to see their children possess.Allen's Lectures on the Christian Religion.

Let a Parent be particularly on his guard against his faults and weaknesses when in the bosom of his family. The reverse is not seldom the case. The circumspection and restraint practised abroad, are often greatly relaxed at home. Here liberties and self-indulgencies are thought more allowable; wrong tempers are not instantly repressed in the bosom, and are suffered to deform the countenance, and also sometimes to break out in unchristian tones, expressions, and conduct.-Babington on Christian Education.

"What is the first requisite in Parental management? Example !-What the second? Example !-What the third? Example."

higher privilege, yield no sweeter satisfaction than that of preparing immortal spirits for earthly virtue, and for heavenly bliss.

According to PESTALOZZI, NUMBER, FORM, and LANGUAGE, are the foundation of all knowledge. Mothers will find that the following exercises in number will awaken and fix the attention, and gradually strengthen the minds of their little ones, and therefore prove both profitable and amusing, provided they be properly administered.

Whether these exercises be mastered in twelve weeks or in twelve months, is a matter of little moment; but until they are mastered (let the time be what it may) children should not be pushed one step in advance.

These exercises will enable children to count readily forward and backward; and to prove, as well as to answer, with ease and promptitude, with or without visible objects, every question that can be proposed in adding, subtracting, &c. under twenty.

This first foundation gradually and pleasantly laid, the mother may proceed, with a reasonable hope of success. Should she, on the contrary, hurry over the first, but most important, as well as most difficult part of the

process, and wish her children to make what she conceives to be a rapid progress, she will prepare for herself constant disappointment, in their uncertain and confused answers, in consequence of their not having been familiarized by a long, patient, and unremitting practice in FIRST PRINCIPLES.

Mothers, by thus advancing prematurely, will, far from accelerating, inevitably retard, if not annihilate the very capability of future progress.

The first thing the Mother, or one of the elder brothers or sisters has to do, is to let the little ones count with moveable objects, as marbles, beads, beans; or better with small pieces of wood, cut in the shape of cubes or oblongs.

A mother, who had been educated in an institution for daughters, which formerly was connected with Pestalozzi's establishment, gave the first exercises in Number, in the following manner:

The Mother, placing one of the cubes before the children, said: This is one cube; and made them repeat it.

Children. This is one cube.

Mother. (adding a second.) Here you see

two cubes.

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