tion of the young. While, through the influence of a board of education, normal schools, &c., there has been, in some respect, decided improvement in our common schools; in one respect there is reason to fear that these schools have degenerated. They are not so well governed as formerly. This may be attributed, in part, to the influence of a few prominent individuals, who have radically wrong views of human nature and of moral government; but, to a great extent, it arises from the fact that children are not governed at home.

If a teacher is a good disciplinarian, much of his time, which ought to be spent in teaching, is consumed in direct efforts to sustain his authority; much of which effort would not be necessary, did the parents teach their children to obey at home; and were their influence, at all times, in favor of good government in school. Thus, the community lose much of the advantage which they would gain, could the teacher devote himself, unreservedly, to teaching. If the teacher is not a good disciplinarian, the children, not being in the habit of obeying at home, will be sure not to obey at school; hence, but little advantage is gained to any one from the school. Parents ought to feel that a large part of the responsibility of this rests with themselves, and, for the sake of the rising generation, see that their children are taught at home to obey in school.

Family government derives importance from its relation to the State. When we inquire why it is so easy in this country to raise a mob, and why there is in our community so much violation of law, a satisfactory answer may be found by entering the family circle. The first lessons of disobedience and disloyalty are learned there. If a child does not learn to yield to the authority of his parents, when he becomes a man he will not be ready to regard the power of the civil authorities.

The cause of popular liberty is injured and retarded in the Old World by the want of loyalty in the New. Our faults are greatly exaggerated, but would we take away the occasion of the misrepresentations of royalists, and would we prove ourselves the true friends of good government, we must begin at home, and each one rule his. own house well.

The importance of family government appears transcendently, in its relation to the government of God. Children are committed to parents, not only to be trained for the home and the school, not only to be made good citizens, but also, and above all, to be made the

loyal subjects of the King of kings. Yes, the child is to be trained for God and for heaven. But if he never learns to submit to the authority of his parents, what reason is there to hope that he will bow submissively to the authority of God? If, when he perceives the relation of the parent to himself, he does not regard that relation, when recognizing the Divine existence, he perceives the relation which God sustains to himself, why will he any more regard this higher relation? If, when his parents know more than he does, and are disposed to make a right use of their knowledge in training him, he will not heed their guiding hand, what will he care for the statutes of Him who is infinite in wisdom and love? If his parents are able and disposed to govern him better than he can govern himself, and yet he is allowed to trample on their authority, the perfection of God's government will not prevent his rebellion against it. Here is a relation of paramount importance, for it is endless. The rebellion of the child against God will, if persisted in during this life, fix his eternal destiny. This view should take the deepest hold upon the Christian parent. That children may be trained for heaven is the great end for which they are committed to the parent. Herein is involved a vast responsibility. It is not enough to minister to the physical wants of the child; indeed, this is but a small part. We are to consider his wants as an immortal being, and make the family government subservient to the Divine. It is a solemn fact, that it will be subservient to, or subversive of, the Divine government. The influence of the parent upon the child will be to make him submissive to God, or to strengthen him in his rebellion. And parents must render an account to God for this influence by which they indirectly sustain, or subvert his authority. Parents should feel that the relation of their children to themselves will have an important influence upon their relation to God.

When

The training of an immortal mind is a momentous work! Bacon, the sculptor, was retouching the statue of Chatham, in Westminster Abbey, a divine, who was a stranger, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Take care what you are doing. You work for eternity." To parents it may well be said, In family government, take care what you do. In the highest sense, you work for eternity. When the sculptured stone shall have crumbled into dust, the souls of your children will show the work of your hands.

A MOTHER'S CARES.

BY REV. E. P. DYER.

"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband, also, and he praiseth her."—KING LEMUEL.

"A mother is a fine thing in a family.". SCOTCH GENTLEMAN.

O, WHO can tell the thousand cares a mother only knows,
From earliest dawn of morning light till evening's glad repose?
The stitches and the steps she takes there 's nobody can count,
Or number all her busy thoughts, and tell us their amount;
But this I'm sure, from morning's dawn till evening's silent close,
A mother has a thousand cares a mother only knows.

suppose it numbers nine,

Just see her little family,
Who, eighteen scores of times a year, must breakfast, sup and dine;
So often must the snow-white cloth upon the board be spread

For self and husband,- daughters four, two sons, and kitchen maid;
So often must each dish be washed, each fork and spoon and knife;
Who wonders if the mother fades amid the cares of life?

And yet 't is hers to wash, and bake, and brew, and mend for all.
She may have help. But who knows not most modern help removes

No very heavy cares, except "the fishes and the loaves?
So week by week and year by year, to " manage " her affairs,

She meckly toils to guide the house amid a thousand cares.

She's not a moment's time to waste, but, steady as the clock,
She knits the boys their winter hose, or darns a daughter's frock;
She's waiter to a thousand wants, and hears a thousand pleas,
From hungry ones just come from school, or babe upon her knees;
And not a bruise does one receive, but, oh! she shares the smart,
With all the deep, warm sympathy that thrills a mother's heart.

'Tis she who rocks the cradled babe with kind and patient heart,
The earliest at the couch of pain, the latest to depart;
She toils and toils the livelong day, and when she seeks repose
Her busy thoughts will scarce allow her weary lids to close.
Whose ear like hers the whole night long attends each painful noise,
The croupy breathing of her girls, the coughing of her boys?

Nor will she from the summer's heat or winter's coldness shrink,
But rises in the sultry night to give her children drink ;
And when the wintry wild winds howl and urge the drifting storm,
She'll rise and spread an extra quilt to keep the children warm.

There's none so full of cares as she upon the wide, wide earth,
And yet, a mother is not prized one half a mother's worth.

Forgive me, then, this fond attempt, from thoughts of other days,
To rear to mothers' memories a monument of praise;

For one yet lives upon the earth, for whom my heart doth swell
With filial gratitude and love as words can never tell.

That one is she who gave me birth, who, 'mid a thousand cares,
Poured out, and still pours out, for me, a mother's yearning prayers.

THE WORLD'S FAIR.

WE find, in a London magazine, twenty fanciful definitions of the Great Industrial Exhibition, furnished by as many different correspondents. Some of them are striking and beautiful, while others are amusing for their quaintness.

Yeast fermenting all the world.

The works of all nations in one volume.
The harvest-home of thirty years' peace.

Britannia giving a conversazione to the world.

The new public-house on the highway of experiment. The glass hive of the world, with industry for the queen bee. A royal thought, framed and glazed for all the world to read. A laudable attempt to make the whole world Family Friends. A net spread by the mistress of the seas to catch all kinds of fish.

People taking pleasure surrounded by panes.

A public exposure of people's business affairs.

The cradle of peace, wherein the child of war will be hushed to repose by the sweet lullaby of labor.

The latest and most popular Encyclopedia of the Arts and Sciences, written by the people, edited by the prince, printed by the press of the Times, and published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

It is only on the gem we are disturbed to see the dust; the pebble may be soiled, and we never regard it. So, in case of the virtuous, imperfections appear most conspicuous.

NOVEL-READING.

EDITORIAL.

Ir is generally conceded that some of the finest fruits of the finest minds are found in this field of literature, encumbered, it is true, with ponderous heaps of the most vile trash. One in a thousand of these volumes may, perhaps, be read with some profit, and no serious injury, while four hundred and ninety-nine of the residue are so frivolous as to render their perusal a criminal waste of time. The other five hundred will be found positively injurious in various ways.

Habitual novel-reading is detrimental to the health and vigor of the body. Nature will not be robbed with impunity of a requisite amount of food, air, rest and sleep. Reprisals are always made where the hours of night are devoted to this exercise.

The nervous system, moreover, being intimately connected with the brain, becomes the predominating system during the period of youth, because this predominance is necessary to the proper development and increase of the body. Now that strong excitement of the feelings, occasioned by works of fiction, has a tendency to produce such a predominance of the nervous system as permanently to generate the most afflictive nervous diseases.

Novel-reading prevents a strong symmetrical development of the mental powers. In young ladies, especially, do the sensibilities and imagination need to be repressed rather than stimulated, while the understanding and judgment require the most assiduous cultivation. Hannah More says truly, that youth need more ballast. The education, however, which is afforded by works of fiction, consists in crowding more sail than the craft can carry.

An eager perusal of light literature destroys all taste for solid reading. Control over the thoughts is lost, while the bewitching scenes of romance are floating through the mind. Historical, scientific, and especially religious works, become insipid and dull. The habit of receiving pleasure, without any exertion of thought, by the mere excitement of curiosity and sensibility, may be justly ranked among the worst effects of habitual novel-reading. It cannot but be injurious to the human mind never to be called into action. Under circumstances of perpetual inaction, it wilts and withers like the muscles of an arm which is always unused.

Novel-reading tends to inflame the passions, pollute the imagination