Throughout the universe of space Parents I had, but where are they? Now I am one amidst the crowd Of life and action, hurrying round; Now left alone-for like a cloud They came, they went, and are not found. E'en from myself sometimes I part, Yet surely by my bed thou art, To prompt my pulse, inspire my breath. Of all that I have done or said How little can I now recall! Forgotten things to me are dead; With thee they live, thou knowest them all. Thou hast been with me from the womb, The moment comes, the only one Though when, and where, and how, can none That moment comes, when strength must fail, When health, and hope, and comfort flown, I must go down into the vale, And shade of death, with thee alone. Alone with thee;-in that dread strife, Be mine eternal portion this, Since Thou wert always here with me, And be for evermore with Thee.-Montgomery. THE AFFECTIONS. THE cultivation of the affections comes next to the development of the bodily senses; or rather they may be said to begin together, so early does the infant heart receive impressions. Kindness towards animals is of great importance. Children should be encouraged in pitying their distress; and if guilty of any violent treatment towards them, they should see that it gives offence, and is not approved of. But before showing any disapprobation, a very young child should be made to know when he really does hurt an animal; for young children are often cruel from the mere thoughtlessness of frolic; they strike an animal as they would strike a log of wood, without knowing that they occasion pain. In the I once saw a mother laugh very heartily at the distressed face of a kitten, which a child of two years old was pulling backwards by the tail. At last the kitten, in self-defence, turned and scratched the boy. He screamed, and his mother ran to him, kissed the wound, and beat the poor kitten, saying all the time, "Naughty kitten, to scratch John! I'll beat her for scratching John! There, ugly puss!" This little incident, trifling as it seems, had no doubt important effects upon the character of the child; especially as the mother who would do such a thing once, would be likely to do it habitually. first place, the child was encouraged in cruelty, by seeing that it gave his mother amusement. Had she explained to him that he was hurting the kitten, and expressed her pity by saying, "Oh, don't hurt kitten; she is a good little puss, and she loves Jolin," what a different impression would have been made on his infant heart! In the next place, the kitten was struck for defending herself; this was injustice to the injured animal, and a lesson of tyranny to the boy. In the third place, striking the kitten because she had scratched him, was teaching him retaliation. For that reason, a chair or table, against which a child may have accidentally hurt himself, should never be struck, or treated in an angry manner. A grown up person knows, to be sure, that an inanimate object is not capable of feeling pain, but the infant does not know it; the impression made upon him is, that it is right to injure when we are injured. A spirit of revenge is one of those evil passions to which our nature is most prone, and with respect to which we should most anxiously guard against the influence of habit and of example. The mind of a child is not like that of a grown person, too full and too busy to observe every thing; it is a vessel always ready to receive, and always receiving. Every look, every movement, every expression, does something towards forming the character of the little heir to immortal life. Does a mother regard it as too much trouble thus to keep a watch over herself? Surely the indulgence of evil is no privilege; the yoke of goodness is far lighter and easier to bear than the bondage of evil. Is not the restraint which the mother imposes upon herself good for the child, and blessed, doubly blessed, to her own soul? The rule, then, for developing good affections in a very young child is, that he never be allowed to see or feel the influence of bad passions, even in the most trifling things; and in order to effect this, those who have the management of children should endeavour to drive evil passions out of their own hearts. Nothing can be real that has not its home within us. The only sure way, as well as the easiest, to appear good, is to be good.Altered from Mrs. Child. ON GAIETY. WHOM call we gay? That honour has been long The innocent are gay-the lark is gay, That dries his feathers, saturate with dew, Beneath the rosy cloud, while yet the beams The Cottager, a witness of his song, Himself a songster, is as gay as he. Whose head-aches nail them to a noon-day bed, OUR COTTAGE. THE brook is rippling gently by, The breeze sends forth its plaintive sigh: Our Cottage. Our peaceful home from strife is free, While we with joy can daily see Our Cottage. Here peace and plenty reign around, In ev'ry bosom love is found, And God's best blessing spread around Our Cottage. No vile deceit shall enter here, Our Cottage. Let those who are to blessings blind ON LANGUAGE. Their Cottage. Anon. MAMMA. What book are you reading, Charles? CHARLES. Bingley's Animal Biography, mamma. MAMMA. Show me what part you were reading; and tell me if you quite understand it. CHARLES. Nearly all of it, mamma. Always ask MAMMA. I wish you, my dear, never to pass over a single word which you do not understand. for an explanation of it. CHARLES. Here is the place in the book, 'The Antelope tribe.' MAMMA. We will take this then for our lesson. Read it, Charles, one sentence at a time. CHARLES. "The antelopes are in general an elegant and active tribe of animals, inhabiting mountainous countries, where they bound among the rocks with so much lightness and elasticity, as to strike the spectator with astonishment.' MAMMA. Stop there, Charles. What is the Antelope? LUCY. An animal. MAMMA. Of what class. FANNY. A quadruped. MAMMA. What is meant by saying, 'they are in general active?' &c. CHARLES. That they are most commonly so. MAMMA. You are right. What do you mean by 'elegant?' CHARLES. Graceful, well made, full of grace. MAMMA. Can Lucy tell me what 'active' means? Lucy. Lively, moving about a great deal. FANNY. A class, a race of beings. MAMMA. Give me an instance by which this can be proved. CHARLES. Oh mamma, the hymn we transposed yesterday, 'Let every nation, every tribe On this terrestrial ball,' &c. MAMMA. What part of speech is 'active?' MAMMA. Lucy, tell me what your sister means by an adjective? LUCY. A word added to a noun, to show its quality. MAMMA. Which is the noun, then, here? LUCY. Tribe,' mamma. MAMMA. What does 'an animal' mean? CHARLES. Any living thing. MAMMA. This is not a sufficiently clear definition. FANNY. No, because plants are alive; but they are quite different from animals. |