SLEEP.

OING to sleep is a matter very difficult to accomplish with some people. A patient's ways and whims must be studied. Too much light, too little light; too much noise, too little noise-the exciting cause of sleeplessness must be found out. Perfect silence and perfect darkness, though necessary to many people, will certainly keep others awake. Being quite alone will keep people awake. The lower part of the bed being so chilly that the knees get drawn up into the warmer atmosphere made by the heat of the body, is a cause of sleeplessness. A room that gets "stuffy" will keep people awake. A wrong height of pillow is a constant source of wakefulness. It is a very good thing in these cases to place the upper pillow lengthways, so as to raise the shoulders a little. A wedge-shaped small pillow under the neck will also relieve the head, and a small pillow, about eight inches square, under the shoulder, if the sleepless person is lying sideways, will ease the body also. If the neck and head are wrongly placed, there will, in many cases, be no sleep. A light, warm, wool shawl taken into bed and held up to the neck, and just so far in front of the mouth as to be breathed through, will give sleep. It is often quite possible for the sick person to put himself to sleep. A quiet refusal to entertain any thought; keeping the eyes shut, and the breathing regular; letting, as it were, the whole body and mind drop into a state of inaction, will put a person to sleep, who, if he did not thus intend and try to sleep, would lie awake till downright weariness brought a feverish, unsatisfactory repose. Without sleep recovery is impossible.

THE FOLDED LAMB.

HAVE a little child in heaven,

A dear one angel-bright; Christ unto her a crown has given, And garments pure and white. She stands upon the crystal sea,

Before the throne above, With harp and palm of victory,

And sings the song of love.

I miss the hands that clung to me,
And made my heart so glad;
I miss her prattle and her glee;
And I am very sad.

God's will be done-He knoweth best :
Her wanderings are o'er;
My little lamb is safe at rest

Where sin can hurt no more.
She might have strayed-I cannot
Christ knew what lay before; [tell;

But now I know that all is well,
And fear for her no more.
Before one rising cloud could dim
Her sky, or drop in tears, [Him
Christ came and took her home with
To summer all the years.

I often think, where she has gone
What honour great I bear,
That I have one before the throne
Who calls me "mother" there!
She is with Christ-and I am His;

Round Him our hearts entwine;
And though far up the heights of bliss,
In heaven she still is mine.
And oh! when I my own shall meet,
Together we shall go,

And cast our crowns before His feet,
And learn His love to know!

Quiver.

HYMN TO THE SEASONS.

HEN spring unlocks the flowers, to paint the laughing soil;
When summer's balmy showers refresh the mower's toil;
When winter binds in frosty chains the fallow and the flood,
In God the earth rejoiceth still, and owns its Maker good.
The birds that wake the morning, and those that love the shade;
The winds that sweep the mountain, or lull the drowsy glade;
The sun that from his amber bower rejoiceth in his way;

The moon, and stars,-their Maker's name in silent pomp display.
Shall man, the lord of nature, expectant of the sky,-
Shall man, alone unthankful, his little praise deny?

No; let the year forsake his course, the nations cease to be,
Thee, Master, must we always love, and, Saviour, honour Thee.
The flowers of spring may wither, the hope of summer fade,
The autumn droop in winter, the birds forsake the shade,
The wind be lulled, the sun and moon forget their old decree,-
But we in nature's latest hour, O Lord, will cling to Thee.

THE MORAL TRAINING OF CHILDREN.

HE moral discipline of infancy and early childhood is a subject of incalculable moment, because amiable dispositions are capable of being cultivated, and those that are evil of being restrained, even in the cradle. From the first hour of consciousness the infant is, not only a moral being, but subject to the moral laws; and it is a primary duty of those who are responsible for its education to inculcate and enforce obedience to these laws. The inspired volume assures us that if we "train up a child in the way it should go, when it is old it will not depart from it." This is truly a work attended with many difficulties, but the results are not doubtful. The propensities and passions of young children are of great activity; and as neither the counteracting sentiments, nor the intellectual powers, by which they may be controlled in after-life are at this time equally developed, it is the more incumbent on those who govern them to regulate from infancy, on sound principles, the dispositions they display.

"Though clasped and cradled in his nurse's arms,
He shines with all a cherub's artless charms,

Man is the genuine offspring of revolt,
Stubborn and sturdy-a wild ass's colt;
His passions, like the watery stores that sleep
Beneath the smiling surface of the deep,
Wait but the lashes of a wintry storm,

To frown and roar, and shake his feeble form."

But they who undertake the task of restraining and regulating

these passions, so prone "to frown and roar," should look well after the government of their own minds. If in pursuing their undertaking they yield to the impulse of irritated feelings or of inordinate natural affection, their measures will be ill adapted to the great ends desired, and little likely to attain them. An irritable parent or nurse is unfit for the care of a fretful child, indeed, of any child, and those who are given to excessive indulgence are equally unfit for the office.

"Whoever educates his children well," says Xenophon, "gives them much, even though he should leave them little," and if this is true of mere literary acquirements, how emphatically is it so of that higher kind of education which teaches the science of selfgovernment, the renunciation of vainglory, the forgetfulness of self, a strict regard to the interest and happiness of others, unswerving integrity, and filial obedience! The highest end of learning is to repair the moral ruin we bring with us into the world, by regaining the right knowledge of God and ourselves, and from "that knowledge to love Him, to imitate Him, and be like Him, as we may the nearest, by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith, makes up the HIGHEST PERFECTION."*

Therefore, a loftier ambition should inspire parents and teachers than that of preparing children to excel in knowledge and make their way successfully in the world. These hopes and distinctions should be held secondary. The dignity of your office is great, and to foster tenderness of conscience, to rivet sound principles, to warn them against the world's crooked ways, to inculcate lessons of self-denial, self-renunciation, humility, and strict integrity, and to place before them the bright example of these virtues, is equally your duty, interest, and happiness. "A handful of good life is better than a bushel of learning."

The five primary lessons are those of obedience, truth, kindness, self-forgetfulness, and simplicity.

"

The first lesson is that of obedience, and it is the truest wisdom and kindness to teach and require this from the earliest dawn of reason. Establish your will early as the law, by gentleness and firmness. You can do it far better at the beginning, when the mind is in its waxen state, than later; and never forget that parental authority is eminently needful to repress evil and to preserve order and happiness.

The little stranger should not be allowed to remain for any time doubtful who is to be its guide, otherwise great conflicts of feeling will be shown as long as this doubt continues. Habitual, prompt, and absolute obedience ought to be insisted on, as an indispensable law; and authority maintained, as a necessary and habitual rule, in so uniform a manner that the child should scarcely even think of resistance. Beware of allowing any such rebellion against your

* Milton on Education.

authority to exist as will reduce you to the condition of one who makes a succession of violent efforts, each of which is of the nature of a trial of strength and of rights with the child. And let acts of authority, and of correction when necessary, be done without bustle, in a calm, decisive manner.

Truth is a cardinal virtue,-the most beautiful of all things, and to give the little learners all the aid in it they need, and all in your power to impart, will be found no easy task. Since sober and enlightened heathens could say,-"I love Plato, I love Socrates; but I have a greater love for truth," how much more weighty obligations rest upon Christians to maintain truth at all times, let the consequences be what they may. Therefore impress upon your children, by reiterated instruction, that they should love truth more than they love health, pleasure, freedom, or friends. "Dear mamma," said a promising little girl, "I have broken china goblet." "Well, you are a naughty, careless, troublesome little thing, always in mischief; go upstairs till I send for you." This was a mother's answer to a tearful little culprit, who, tempted to tell a falsehood to screen the fault, had struggled with and conquered the temptation. With a disappointed, disheartened look, the child obeyed; and at that moment was crushed in her little heart the sweet flower of truth, perhaps in after-years never to be revived in life! Oh, what were a thousand goblets in comparison !

your

No error is greater than to terrify youthful delinquents. If you punish them without the clearest and most sufficient reasons; if you are severe for little faults, and especially for accidents; if you even puzzle them with the meaning of words, by rapidly addressing questions to them, you will set fear in array against truth in the breast of the child. Whenever they discern the appearance of excessive and unfounded anger, their reliance on our justice and kindness forsakes them, and self-preservation coming into action, overthrows their infirm integrity. They in consequence prevaricate, or conceal, or lie. Not only encourage them to speak to you freely of their faults, but explain to them that they are erring and sinful beings, and that your corrections are intended to make them better, acceptable to God, happier and more useful when they grow up, and happy in the life to come. Let them see that

you feel you would be wanting in your duty if you failed to enforce the discipline necessary to reformation. Such explanations, given in the tender tones of a mother, early make sensible impression on the mind, and assist the young to preserve the beauty of truth inviolate under their faults. They are then not afraid to acknowledge them. My goodness grows weak," said a boy of five years old, running into his mother's arms, and crying; "help me to be good." Here was an instance of love and confidence in a young child, which proved it was well trained, and which carried a rich reward to the heart of the parent.