ther should ever say to a
child, or allow it to imagine, that if it should be naughty or bad, or
do this, that or the other, mother would cease to love it, or father
would cease to love it. Such an idea is poisonous to the true feeling
and conception of love, which should be cherished in every child by
every mother. Mother should take pains to make the child feel,--and she
should take pains to make father do so, too,--that no matter what it
does, their love for it will never weaken or waver. It is not enough to
assume that this will be taken for granted--it should be confided to the
child, at opportune moments, as the most sacred of secrets, the holiest
of promises. And no time is more opportune for the telling of it--no
time means more or counts more--than one of those moments when the child
has done wrong and is troubled in its conscience, and feels ashamed and
forsaken. That is a splendid occasion, for a mother's love and a
father's love to prove themselves, by making doubly plain that although
they, too, may feel ashamed, the strength and warmth of their love is
undiminished.

With nourishment and care of this kind the heart nature of a child is
almost sure to grow and thrive. Its love will feel the influence of the
big love it receives and want to respond in kind. In due time, it may
say to itself, and confide as a holy secret to mother, that its feeling
for her and father will never change, either, no matter what happens, to
the end of time.

As regards consideration for others, with the constant help and guidance
and example of a devoted mother, this can be made to grow and thrive,
too, until it becomes a beautiful and sensitive part of second nature.

With such feelings nourished and cherished in this way, there is ground
for hope that one of a parent's sweetest and most fundamental
aspirations, in regard to the off-spring, will not be disappointed. The
heart will be in the right place.

Now, on the other hand, it is only too easy to see what may happen and
what does frequently happen, if this sacred responsibility of a mother
is neglected.

Suppose the child is left, for the greater part of the time, day in and
day out, to the companionship and care of a hired substitute, a nurse or
governess? In the first place, the substitute is very apt to have no
love at all, or what little it has, may be a very thin and shoddy
variety. Frequently a nurse is unsympathetic, irritable, and selfish.
That does not provide