that vanity will stoop to any meanness. When the appetite has once been excited, food must be had, however coarse: husks will suffice in most cases.

As children should not be informed of their personal advantages, neither should they be commended for quickness of parts or intellectual attainments. I have known even young children who would be induced to exertion by praise, but who would do nothing comparatively without it, because they had been accustomed to work under its influence.

I

It should be an invariable rule, in all cases, but more especially with regard to children, not to do evil that good may come. would rather lose, in a child's intellectual advancement, all that must be purchased by praise, or attained by the more dangerous excitement of emulation, than gain for him the highest attainments of science at the expense of one moral feeling. What, indeed, has knowledge to do with happiness, unless it lead to the source of happiness, through the paths of humility, faith, obedience, and charity? Knowledge, indeed, is power; as it has been proudly said. But, let it be remembered that knowledge, in the unconverted and unsanctified, is power to do evil, rather than to do good. The moral principle, on the other hand, when early attended to and carefully guarded, prepares for the reception of that better knowledge which is able to make wise unto salvation.

If Christian parents would calmly reflect on what they may observe around them, they would perceive that a worldly selfish spirit may very soon be cherished in their little children. "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life"" have their actings in the infant heart at a very early period. How all these are cherished by undue attention to dressing, curling, braiding, and adorning, by exposing children to drawing-room display and drawing-room commendation, any one who will consider the matter is competent to judge.

One of the first and most striking truths presented to the mind by an attentive consideration of this subject is, that few parents are aware how much they have it in their power to facilitate the proper education of their children. It cannot be too earnestly impressed on the attention of all who have the care of children, that their education is not conducted entirely in the schoolroom, but extends to the whole of their treatment during every hour they are awake. This is too frequently overlooked. The teacher desirous of performing her share of the task to the satisfaction of all concerned, often finds herself impeded or her efforts completely baffled by faults or deficiencies in the ideas or habits of the pupils, arising not from any natural defect, but from some want of due care in their previous management.

The obligation imposed upon those who undertake the mental training and education of children cannot, it is conceived, be got rid of by merely and exclusively attending to their intellectual ad

vancement. Such a course, though widely adopted, is highly reprehensible; it leaves undone much that is essentially necessary to the future wellbeing of the child. And though this want is frequently supplied by the kindly influence of a judicious and affectionate parent, it is not always so; nor in any case is it wise or just, to leave the formation of the moral character of a child to the chance of events over which it is seldom in our power to exert any effectual control. Yet, on the other hand, it is just to remember, that the teacher can seldom hope to effect much in the moral training of a child, or thus to perform what I conceive to be the more important half of her duty, if not aided, and still less if obstructed, by the tendencies of home-influence.

A MOTHER'S INFLUENCE,

NE of the inspectors of Sing Sing prison was once asked how it was that he, a Wall Street lawyer, brought into sharp collision with the world, had preserved so much tenderness of heart :

"My mother was a member of the Society of Friends," said he, " and a serious conversation she had with me when I was four or five years old has influenced my whole life. I had joined some boys who were tormenting a kitten, we chased the poor creature, and then threw stones till we killed her; when I came into the house I told my mother what we had done; she took me on her lap and talked to me in such a moving style about my cruelty to the poor helpless little animal, that I sobbed as if my heart would break. Afterwards, if I were tempted to do anything unkind, she would tell me to remember how sorry I was for having hurt the poor little kitten. I never forgot that circumstance. For a long time after I could not think of it without tears, it impressed me so deeply that when I became a man I could never see a forlorn, suffering wretch run down by his fellow-beings, without thinking of that hunted and pelted little animal. Even now the spectacle of that kitten and the recollection of my dear mother's gentle lessons come between me and the prisoners at Sing Sing, and for ever admonish me to be humane and forbearing."

THE prayer of the excellent Bishop Wilson may well be adopted by every mother conscious of responsibility and deeply anxious to train her children for God :-" O Lord, give me skill and conduct, that with a pious, prudent, and charitable hand I may govern those committed to my care; that I may be watchful in ruling them, earnest in instructing them, fervent in loving them, and patient in bearing with them.'

"THE family is the nursery of the Church. If the nursery be neglected, what in time will become of the gardens and the orchards ?"-Gurnal.

THE VINEYARD LABOURER.

JOILING among the vines one day,
In the Master's vineyard sweet,
T
I saw my sister bow her head,
'Neath the burden and the heat.

She was not weary of working,

For she loved the Master well;
And she thought of the blessèd hour,
When the shades of evening fell.

She portioned a task out bravely,
And thought, "He would have it
so; "

Then the Master stood beside her,

And His voice was soft and low,

"I have not need of thee to-day,

In the vineyard so fair and sweet;" And she whispered low, "My Master, Let Him do what seemeth meet."

But her heart was sad and heavy,
As she left her work that day;
She knew not where she was going,
Or aught of that untried way.
He led her forth to the desert,

And He spoke to her of rest; Then she smiled and whispered gladly, "O Master, Thy way is best."

Perhaps He will bring her rested,
And meet for some higher toil,
To work once more in the vineyard,
Or reap the fruit of the soil.

But perhaps He will lead her onward,
To His glory and His rest;
I know she will smile and whisper,
"Master, Thy way is best!"
B. C.

TOO OLD TO SAY PRAYERS.

[The following verses embody words really spoken by a little girl to her mother; and are part of a poem in which a mother describes how her heart was changed through the unconscious rebuke of her child.]

?

MOTHER," says she, as she and I were going one night upstairs, "Am n't I old enough," she says, "to give up saying my prayers For I've been seven such a long time now, I think I'll be eight very soon; And it's long since I've had a knife and a fork, and given over using a spoon."

Why what dost thou mean by such talk? I said; and she turns on me

her eyes,

And gives me a look quite innocent, and yet as wise as wise;

Why, mother," she says, “there's a lot of things, like saying 'I will' and

I won't,'

That children are always bid to mind, and that bigger people don't.

"And brothers, when they were as young as me, wore their little frocks instead

Of coats and trousers, and little ones are sent off soon to bed,
And set to learn our A B ab, and I thought that saying one's prayers
Was just like these, for I never see any grown-up folks say theirs."

“O bairn,” I said, “have done with thy talk," for each word was like a knife ;
"Of lessons thou'st given thy mother one that'll last her all her life;"
And I knelt down beside her little bed, and all that I could say
Was just, "Our Father, Who art in heaven," and "Lord, teach me how to pray."
"And pardon," I said, "a sinner's heart, that comes to Thee on her knees,
And pardon her ways that's been blind so long that it's only now she sees;
And pardon," I said, "a sinner's life, and give her Thy grace to mend,
And be Thou to me, and be Thou to mine, a Saviour and a Friend."
Dora Greenwell.

HINTS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD.