t to be their duty to look over every page of a book before it
is trusted to their children; it is an arduous task, but none can be
too arduous for the enlightened energy of parental affection. We are
acquainted with the mother of a family, who has never trusted any book
to her children, without having first examined it herself with the
most scrupulous attention; her care has been repaid with that success
in education, which such care can alone ensure. We have several books
before us marked by her pencil, and volumes which, having undergone
some necessary operations by her scissors, would, in their mutilated
state, shock the sensibility of a nice librarian. But shall the
education of a family be sacrificed to the beauty of a page, or even
to the binding of a book? Few books can safely be given to children
without the previous use of the pen, the pencil, and the scissors. In
the books which we have before us, in their corrected state, we see
sometimes a few words blotted out, sometimes half a page, sometimes
many pages are cut out. In turning over the leaves of "The Children's
Friend," we perceive, that the different ages at which different
stories should be read, have been marked; and we were surprised to
meet with some stories marked for six years old, and some for sixteen,
in the same volume. We see that different stories have been marked
with the initials of different names by this cautious mother, who
considered the temper and habits of her children, as well as their
ages.

As far as these notes refer peculiarly to her own family, they cannot
be of use to the public; but the principles which governed a judicious
parent in her selection, must be capable of universal application.

It may be laid down as a first principle, that we should preserve
children from the knowledge of any vice, or any folly, of which the
idea has never yet entered their minds, and which they are not
necessarily disposed to learn by early example. Children who have
never lived with servants, who have never associated with ill educated
companions of their own age, and who, in their own family, have heard
nothing but good conversation, and seen none but good examples, will,
in their language, their manners, and their whole disposition, be not
only free from many of the faults common amongst children, but they
will absolutely have no idea that there are such faults. The language
of children who have heard no language but what is good, must be
co