_, and God has smitten us
for it. We showed him by our example, what was right; but through a
false indulgence, we did not correct him for what was wrong. We were
blind to his faults. He was a handsome boy, with sprightly parts: we
took too much delight in these outward things. He soon got above our
management, and became vain, idle, and extravagant; and when we
sought to restrain him, it was then too late. We humbled ourselves
before God; but he was pleased to make our sin become its own
punishment. Timothy grew worse and worse, till he was forced to
abscond for a misdemeanor, after which we never saw him, but have
often heard of him changing from one idle way of life to another;
_unstable as water_, he has been a footman, a soldier, a shopman, a
gambler, and a strolling actor. With deep sorrow we trace back his
vices to our ungoverned fondness; that lively and sharp wit, by
which he has been able to carry on such a variety of wild schemes,
might, if we had used him to bear reproof in his youth, have enabled
him to have done great service for God and his country. But our
flattery made him wise in his own conceit; and there is more hope of
a fool than of him. We indulged our own vanity, and have destroyed
his soul.'"

Here Mr. Worthy stopped Mrs. Incle, saying, that whenever he heard
it lamented that the children of pious parents often turned out so
ill, he could not help thinking that there must be frequently
something of this sort of error in the bringing them up; he knew,
indeed, some instances to the contrary, in which the best means had
failed; but he believed, that from Eli, the priest, to Incle, the
laborer, much more than half the failures of this sort might be
traced to some mistake, or vanity, or bad judgment, or sinful
indulgence in the parents.

"I now looked about," continued Mrs. Incle, "in order to see in what
I could assist my poor mother; regretting more heartily than she
did, that I knew no one thing that was of any use. I was so desirous
of humbling myself before God and her, that I offered even to try to
wash." "You wash!" exclaimed Bragwell, starting up with great
emotion, "Heaven forbid, that with such a fortune and education,
Miss Bragwell should be seen at a washing-tub." This vain father,
who could bear to hear of her distresses and her sins, could not
bear to hear of her washing. Mr. Worthy stopped him, saying, "As to
her fortune, you know you refused to give her any; and as to her
educatio