nts, the affection and influence of mothers and
sisters, powerfully and lastingly affect our intellectual and moral
nature. From a wise father we learn more than from all our teachers.
When a celebrated artist, Benjamin West, was asked "What made him a
painter?" his reply was, "It was my mother's kiss." "I should have
been an atheist," said a great American statesman, "if it had not been
for one recollection, and that was the memory of the time when my
departed mother used to take my little hand in hers, and caused me on
my knees to say, 'Our Father, who art in heaven.'" On the other hand,
those who have been so unfortunate as to have had an unhappy home
rarely emancipate themselves from the evil effects of their upbringing.
If they do, it is after the severest struggle. "The child," it has
been said, "is the father of the man," and it is in the family the
child receives his first impressions for good or for evil. The world
he first lives in is his home.

Family life supplies a great test of character.--When Whitefield was
asked whether a certain person was a Christian, he replied, "I do not
know. I have never seen him at home." People are often one thing in
the world and another in their own family. In the close intercourse of
the home circle they exhibit themselves in their true colors. A man
who is a good son or a good brother is generally found to be a good
man. If he is a source of evil in his own home, in his intercourse
with the world he will, sooner or later, be found wanting.

It is beyond the scope of this book to dwell at length upon the duties
incumbent on the various members of a family. It may be sufficient to
indicate generally the feelings which should animate the young persons
who belong to it. Probably most of those into whose hands this manual
will come are members of a family. What should therefore be their
conduct at home is a question that well deserves their consideration.

1. _Obedience_ is the fundamental principle of family life. Every
family has a head, and that head must rule. "Order is heaven's first
law." Where there is no obedience there can be no order in a family.
The first form of authority which is placed before the child is that of
the parent, and to the parent he has to be subject. "Children," says
the apostle, "obey your parents in all things, for this is well
pleasing unto the Lord." Even for those members of a family who have
grown out of the state of childhoo