ll always be
secure against evils like these; let me hope, that the young men who
read it will abstain from those vices which lead to such fatal results;
that they will, before they utter the marriage vow, duly reflect on the
great duties that that vow imposes on them; that they will repel, from
the outset, every temptation to any thing tending to give pain to the
defenceless persons whose love for them have placed them at their mercy;
and that they will imprint on their own minds this truth, that a _bad
husband_ was never yet _a happy man_.

LETTER V

TO A FATHER

225. 'Little children,' says the Scripture, 'are like arrows in the
hands of the giant, and blessed is the man that hath his quiver full of
them'; a beautiful figure to describe, in forcible terms, the support,
the power, which a father derives from being surrounded by a family. And
what father, thus blessed, is there who does not feel, in this sort of
support, a _reliance_ which he feels in no other? In regard to this sort
of support there is no uncertainty, no doubts, no misgivings; it is
_yourself_ that you see in your children: their bosoms are the safe
repository of even the whispers of your mind: they are the great and
unspeakable delight of your youth, the pride of your prime of life, and
the props of your old age. They proceed from that love, the pleasures of
which no tongue or pen can adequately describe, and the various
blessings which they bring are equally incapable of description.

226. But, to make them blessings, you must act your part well; for they
may, by your neglect, your ill-treatment, your evil example, be made to
be the _contrary of blessings_; instead of pleasure, they may bring you
pain; instead of making your heart glad, the sight of them may make it
sorrowful; instead of being the staff of your old age, they may bring
your gray hairs in grief to the grave.

227. It is, therefore, of the greatest importance, that you here act
well your part, omitting nothing, even from the very beginning, tending
to give you great and unceasing influence over their minds; and, above
all things, to ensure, if possible, _an ardent love of their mother_.
Your first duty towards them is resolutely to prevent their drawing the
means of life _from any breast but hers_. That is their _own_; it is
their _birthright_; and if that fail from any natural cause, the place
of it ought to be supplied by those means which are frequently resorted
to witho