well as in
their individual character, should qualify themselves for the responsible
mission of home. Can the ungodly wife or husband fulfill this mission? Can
the irreligious parent bring up his offspring "in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord?"

Many parents disqualify themselves for their home-mission by devoting too
much attention to society,--by spending more time abroad, at parties,
theaters and masquerade balls, in gossiping and recreation, than at home
with each other and with their children. They commit their children, with
all the family interests, to nurses and servants. They regard their
offspring as mere playthings to be dandled upon the knee, brought up like
calves in the stall, and then turned out to shape their own destiny.

This is a sad mistake! There is no substitute for home,--no transfer of a
parent's commission, no adequate compensation for a parent's loss. None can
effectually take the parent's place. Their influence is overwhelming and
absolute.

"With what a kingly power their love
Might rule the fountains of the new-born mind!"

Not even the dark villainies which have disgraced humanity can neutralize
it. Gray-haired and demon guilt will weep in his dismal cell over the
melting, soothing memories of home. Their impressions are indelible, "like
the deep borings into the flinty rock." To erase them we must remove every
strata of their being. They give texture and coloring to the whole woof and
web of the child's character. The mother especially preoeccupies the
unwritten page of its being, and mingles with it in its cradle dreams,
making thus a deathless impress upon its soul.

"The mother in her office, holds the key
Of the soul; and she it is who stamps the coin
Of character, and makes the being who would be a savage
But for her cares, a Christian man!"

What a folly and a sin, therefore, for Christian parents to give over their
holy mission to another, while they immerse themselves in the forbidden
pleasures and recreations of the world! Oh, if you are loving, faithful
parents, you will love the society of your household more than the fashions
and the fashionable resorts of the world; you will not substitute the
"nurse" and the "boarding school" for the more efficient ministrations of
the Christian home.

"If ye count society for past time,--what happier recreation
than a nursling,
Its winning ways, its prattling tongue, its innocence and mirth?
If ye coun