ion of simplicity, frugality and temperance as opposed to
extravagance, display and ostentation. Purity, too, should reign as
queen of the hearth, regulating the glance of the eye, the
conversation, and even the thoughts of the occupants. And union and
harmony of wills, without which the idea of home is inconceivable, can
come only through obedience which binds the children to parents, wife
to husband, and all to God.

But, unfortunately, this is not always the case. From many domiciles
peace and tranquillity have fled, giving place to frivolity, vanity
and worldliness and all their attendant train of vices. How many
parents, deceived by the wisdom of the flesh, seek their own
gratification in all things, and denying their children nothing that
luxury or extravagance craves, pamper and spoil them by indulging
their every whim. To train up the young to the steady and
uncompromising fulfilment of duty is the only means to produce a hardy
and sturdy generation of men and women, whose fidelity can be relied
on in the trials and emergencies of after-life.

But some fathers and mothers, when their children call for bread,
reverse the parable by giving them a stone, and when they ask for an
egg, give them a scorpion. We can imagine with what righteous
indignation Our Lord would have denounced such a mode of action.
Foolish parents even of limited means dress their girls in expensive
and gaudy apparel, which not only offends against taste and economy,
but sometimes transgresses the laws of modesty and decency.
Familiarity between the sexes is permitted and encouraged by doting
and foolish mothers, who introduce their sons and daughters to
juvenile society functions, receptions, parties and unbecoming dances;
so that children who should be at their lessons or playing healthful
games with suitable companions, are taught to affect society manners
after the most approved fashion of their silly elders. Persons of this
stamp may prepare for a rude awakening, for the day of reckoning for
themselves and children will be sure and terrible.

Many parents, while indeed quite solicitous according to their lights,
for the temporal good of their offspring, training them to a trade or
profession, or settling them in marriage, devote but little thought to
their spiritual welfare. They dread a vocation in their family as a
catastrophe. It would be well, indeed, for persons of this character
to ponder the words of the Pastoral Letter of the S