busy routine, the same absorbing care, the same
wearing, weary process.

This is an outline of the life which thousands of fathers are leading in
this country at this present time. We do not pretend that it is true of
all,--but is it not substantially true, as we have said, of thousands?
And not only of thousands in our crowded marts of commerce, but in our
principal towns--nay, even in our rural districts. It is an age of
impulse. Every thing is proceeding with railroad speed. Every branch of
business is urged forward with all practical earnestness. Every sail is
set--main-sail, top-sails, star-gazers, heaven-disturbers--all expanded
to catch the breeze, and urge the vessel to her destined port.

This thirst for gain! this panting after fortune! this competition in
the race for worldly wealth, or honor, where is it leading the present
generation--where?

To men who have families--to fathers, who see around them children just
emerging from childhood into youth, or verging toward manhood,--this is
and should be a subject of the deepest interest.

Fathers! am I wrong when I say you are neglecting your offspring?
Neglecting them? do I hear you respond with surprise;--"Am I not daily,
hourly stretching every nerve and tasking every power to provide for
them, to insure them the means of an honorable appearance in that rank
of society in which they were born, and in which they must move? In
these days of competition, who sees not that any relaxation involves and
necessarily secures bankruptcy and ruin?"

I hear you, and you urge strongly, powerfully your cause. You must,
indeed, provide for your household. You must be diligent in business.
You may--you ought in some good measure, to keep up with the spirit, the
progress of the age. But has it occurred to you that there is danger in
doing as you do; that you will neglect some other interests of your
children as important, to say the least, as those you have named? Are
not your children immortal? Have they not souls of priceless value? Have
they not tendencies to evil from the early dawn of their being? And must
not these souls be instructed--watched over? Do they not need
counsel--warning--restraint? "O yes!" I hear you say, "they must be
instructed--restrained--guided--all that, but this is the appropriate
business and duty of their _mother_. I leave all these to her. I have no
leisure for such cares myself; my business compels me to leave in charge
all these matters to