l as directing the observation to
the movements of the bee--that ever-active insect, which, without
the aid of reason, exercises prudence and foresight, and provides
against the wants of winter. A child will readily understand such
instruction as this, and will blush to be found spending precious
hours in idleness. And in the same way with other duties, whether to
God or mankind, the fowls of the air and the flowers of the field
might be made profitable teachers, and the child would, wherever he
went, be surrounded with instruction.

This mode of teaching has this special recommendation--it raises up
no evil passions: and a child which would display an evil temper by
being reproved in words, will feel no such rancor at a lesson being
inculcated in a way like this.

This instruction will also be much longer remembered than one
delivered in words, forasmuch as the object upon which the
instruction is based would be continually presented to the eye.

And, we believe, almost all duties might be inculcated in this
manner. Thus, humility by the lily, patience by the spider,
affection by the dove, love to parents by the stork,--all might be
rendered teachers, and in a way never to be forgotten. And that this
mode of teaching is the best, we have the example of Christ himself,
who almost invariably enforced his instructions by an allusion to
some created thing. What, for instance, was so likely to teach men
dependence upon God as a reference to the 'ravens and the lilies,'
which without the aid of reason had their wants cared for? And in
the same way with children--what is so likely to teach them their
duties, as a reference to the varied things in nature with whose
uses and habits they are well acquainted?

God should be the object upon which the child's thoughts are taught
to dwell--for the minds even of children turn to the beautiful, and
the beautiful is the Divine. All thoughts and actions should be
raised to this standard; and the child would raise above the
feelings of self-gratification and vanity, and the panting for
applause, to the favor and love of God. Thus should religion be the
great and the first thing taught; and a mother should be careful
that neither in her own actions, nor in the motives she holds out to
her children, should there be any thing inimical or contrary to
religion.

And by this course the best and happiest results may be expected to
follow. The perverse and headstrong passions of the human