become
a minister. The mother's love does not allow her to see that her boy
has no gifts as a speaker and no love for a clergyman's life. He longs
to be a lawyer or doctor. Will any one deny that to drive the young
man into the pulpit is the greatest mistake that can be made?

"Sometimes a father, with an only son, perhaps, intends that he shall
be trained to follow in his footsteps. The boy has a dislike for that
calling or profession,--a dislike that was born with him and which
nothing can remove. His taste runs in a wholly different channel;
whatever talent he has lies there. While it may be convenient for him
to step into his parent's shoes, yet he should never be forced to do
so, but be allowed to select that for which he has an ability and
toward which he is drawn. Parents make such sad mistakes as these, and
often do not awake to the fact until it is too late to undo the
mischief that has been done. Let them give the subject their most
thoughtful attention and good is sure to follow."

It was these words, following on the talk he had had with Maggie a
short time before that set Mr. Hunter to thinking more deeply than he
had ever done over the problem in which his son was so intimately
concerned. After his children had retired and he was left alone, he
turned over the paper and read the article again. It stuck to him and
he could not drive it away. Laying the journal aside, he lit his pipe
and leaned back in his chair.

"It is not pleasant," he mused, "to give up the idea of Tim becoming my
successor, for he is the only one I have ever thought of as such. But
there is force in what 'Mit' says about driving a boy into a calling or
profession that he hates; he will make a failure of it, whereas he
might become very successful if left to follow his own preferences. I
wonder who 'Mit' is; his articles are the best I have ever read in the
_Intelligencer_; I must ask the editor, so I can have him out here and
talk over this question which is the biggest bother I ever had."

Before Maggie and Tim separated to go to their rooms, and while at the
top of the stairs they whispered together for a few minutes. The
parent had got thus far in his musings, when he heard the voice of
Maggie calling from above:

"Father, do you think 'Mit' is a smart fellow?"

"Of course, even though I may not agree with all his views," replied
the parent, wondering why his child was so interested.

"Would you like to know wh