hues."

The nursery is the department of home in which the mother fulfils her
peculiar mission. This is her special sphere. None can effectually take her
place there. She is the center of attraction, the guardian of the infant's
destiny; and none like she, can overrule the unfolding life and character
of the child. God has fitted her for the work of the nursery. Here she
reigns supreme, the arbitress of the everlasting weal or woe of untutored
infancy. On her the fairest hopes of educated man depend, and in the
exercise of her power there, she sways a nation's destiny, gives to the
infant body and soul their beauty, their bias and their direction. She
there possesses the immense force of first impressions. The soul of her
child lies unveiled before her, and she makes the stamp of her own spirit
and personality upon its pliable nature. She there engrafts it, as it were,
into her own being, and from the combined elements of her own character,
builds up and establishes the character of her offspring. Hers will,
therefore, be the glory or the shame.

"Then take the heart thy charms have won,
And nurse it for the skies."

The nursery is that department of home in which the formation of our
character is begun. Infancy demands the nursery. It is not full-formed and
equipped for the battle of life. It lies in the cradle in a state of mere
involution, and in the hands of its parents is altogether passive, and
susceptible of impressions as wax before the sun. The germ of the man is
there; but it has yet to be developed. Its indwelling life must be nurtured
with tender and assiduous care. It demands an influence suited to the
expansion of its nature into bloom and maturity. It demands physical
development, mental evolution, moral training, and spiritual elevation. In
order to these it must live amidst the sweet and plastic socialities of
maternal relationship. It must come under the fostering influence of a
mother's heart, and be reared up by the tender touches of a mother's hand.
This idea is embodied in home as a nursery. This is fourfold in its
conception and relation to the child.

The nursery is physical. This involves the means of keeping the child in
health, and the appliances of a vigorous physical development. The
Christian mother, to this end, should make herself acquainted with the
physiology of the infant body. Many well-meaning mothers, from sheer
ignorance, destroy the health of their children; and it is on th