ortitude as of
resentful aversion and suspicious distrust of the parent as a capricious
tyrant, you will have only yourself to thank for the result.' It is a
matter of common observation that those who complain of their fortune
and lot in life have often to complain only of their own conduct. The
same is true of those who complain of their children. They have
themselves only to blame in each case.

Parents who do not appreciate the responsibilities of their position
usually err on the side of over-indulgence to their children; on the
contrary, those fully alive to the importance of home discipline often
err on the side of over-regulation. To the latter, we commend the reply
of an old lady to the anxious inquiry made by the mother of a too
rigorously disciplined child as to what course should be pursued, 'I
recommend, my dear, a little wholesome neglect.'

Lessons of truthfulness; of fortitude in bearing pain and
disappointment; of the duty of right doing, because it is right and not
because it is the best policy; of frugality and industry; of
self-denial, contentment, and charity, should be early impressed upon
the plastic mind of infancy. We wish also, in this connection, to quote
the words of a wise physician and observer of men, that 'the little
child who is brought up to repeat short and simple prayers at his
mother's knees, has a rule of conduct thereby instilled into him which
will probably never be forgotten; and, in after life he may not only
look back to these beginnings with feelings of reverence and love, but
the recollection of them may serve to strengthen him in some good
resolution, and help him to resist many a powerful temptation.'

We have had occasion frequently in various parts of this work to point
out the intimate relations which exist between the physical and mental
nature of parents and their offspring. Like parent, like child. The same
close connection and sympathy extends to the moral and religious
character; hence that direction and training which relies largely upon
the _force of parental example_ is the most effective method of home
government. Virtuous precepts, or rigidly enforced rules of conduct,
avail little unless the parent keeps the path to which he points the
child.

'Well, upon my word, Mrs. Primrose, you have the handsomest children in
the whole country.' 'Ah! neighbor,' replied the wife of the Vicar of
Wakefield, 'they are as heaven made them--handsome enough if they be
good