stem always produces these results. It may be, and perhaps
generally is, greatly modified by other influences acting upon the mind of
the child at the same time, as well as by the natural tendencies of the
boy's character, and by the character and general influence upon him of his
father and mother in other respects. It can not be denied, however, that
the above is the tendency of a system which makes a boy's income of
spending-money a matter of mere chance, on which no calculations can be
founded, except so far as he can increase it by adroit manoeuvring or by
asking for it directly, with more or less of urgency or persistence, as the
case may require; that is to say, by precisely those means which are the
most ignoble and most generally despised by honorably-minded men as means
for the attainment of any human end.

Now one of the most important parts of the education of both girls and
boys, whether they are to inherit riches, or to enjoy a moderate income
from the fruits of their own industry, or to spend their lives in extreme
poverty, is to teach them the proper management and use of money. And this
may be very effectually done by giving them a fixed and definite income to
manage, and then throwing upon them the responsibility of the management of
it, with such a degree of guidance, encouragement, and aid as a parent can
easily render.

_Objection to the Plan of a regular Allowance_.

There are no parents among those who will be likely to read this book of
resources so limited that they will not, from time to time, allow their
children _some_ amount of spending-money in a year. All that is necessary,
therefore, is to appropriate to them this amount and pay it to them, or
credit them with it, in a business-like and regular manner. It is true that
by this system the children will soon begin to regard their monthly or
weekly allowance as their due; and the parent will lose the pleasure, if
it is any pleasure to him or her, of having the money which they give
them regarded in each case as a present, and received with a sense of
obligation. This is sometimes considered an objection to this plan. "When
I furnish my children with money," says the parent, "as a gratification, I
wish to have the pleasure of _giving_ it to them. Whereas, on this proposed
plan of paying it to them regularly at stated intervals, they will come
to consider each payment as simply the payment of a debt. I wish them to
consider it as a gratuity on