those harder
mental efforts through which a mother's highest duties may be
comprehended and performed. And what shall be said for the despicable
vanity which would barter opportunities of forming and directing a human
character for the sake of trimmings and fancy buttons? We cannot possess
the confidence and friendship of our children without taking pains to
deserve them. If the father chooses to be "the governor" of his family,
then the _ex-governor_, and nothing more, can he be to his grown-up
children,--an official once set over them by some Know-Nothing or other
fatality, at length happily shelved with the rubbish of the nursery.
Nowhere are the external sanctities of domestic life more respected than
in our Northern States, and here should its fairest promises be
bountifully fulfilled. Above all things, it is to be remembered that
whatever moral power a man would have his children possess, that must he
especially demand and exercise in himself. The Law of the household must
afford the luxury of a Conscience; for if ever the maxim "_Summum jus,
summa, injuria_" be worthy of remembrance, it is in the management of
children. Well for those who realize that education is no merely lineal
advancement, but a spreading and flowering in many directions! well for
those who cultivate all the capabilities of love and trust in their
children! "When I think," says Jean Paul, "that I never saw in my father
a trace of selfishness, I thank God!" There comes the time when young
men go forth to battle in the world, and the father prays bitterly for
the power to endow them with the results of his own experience. But only
to him who has borne himself truthfully and honorably before his family
can that good gift be given.

Upon the subject of religious education "Levana" is finely suggestive.
All cobweb-makeshifts which obscure the beautiful substance of a holy
life are swept aside. To the young, not what others say, but what they
do, is right. Children, like their elders, will resist all mere
reasoning upon the disadvantages, whether temporal or spiritual, of
actions to which they are tempted. But they are ever ready to absorb the
faith of the household, and to be nourished by it. "For those who wish
to give anything," exclaims our author, "the first rule is, that they
shall have it to give; no one can teach religion who does not himself
possess it; hypocrisy and mouth-religion will bring forth only their
like." The hardly noticeable