nd
make a tame dull animal of a creature whose very faults give indications
of a soaring nature." Even Lady Belfield, to whose soft and tender heart
the very sound of punishment, or even privation, carried a sort of
terror, asked Mr. Stanley "if he did not think he had taken-up a
trifling offense too seriously, and punished it too severely."

"The thing is a trifle in itself," replied he, "but infant prevarication
unnoticed, and unchecked, is the prolific seed of subterfuge, of
expediency, of deceit, of falsehood, of hypocrisy."

"But the dear little creature," said Lady Belfield, "is not addicted to
equivocation. I have always admired her correctness in her pleasant
prattle."

"It is for that very reason," replied Mr. Stanley, "that I am so careful
to check the first indication of the contrary tendency. As the fault is
a solitary one, I trust the punishment will be so too. For which reason
I have marked it in a way to which her memory will easily recur. Mr.
Brandon, an amiable friend of mine, but of an indolent temper, through a
negligence in watching over an early propensity to deceit, suffered his
only son to run on from one stage of falsehood to another, till he
settled down in a most consummate hypocrite. His plausible manners
enabled him to keep his more turbulent vices out of sight. Impatient
when a youth of that contradiction to which he had never been accustomed
when a boy, he became notoriously profligate. His dissimulation was at
length too thin to conceal from his mistaken father his more palpable
vices. His artifices finally involved him in a duel, and his premature
death broke the heart of my poor friend.

"This sad example led me in my own family to watch this evil in the bud.
Divines often say that unbelief lies at the root of all sin. This seems
strikingly true in our conniving at the faults of our children. If we
really believed the denunciations of Scripture, could we for the sake of
a momentary gratification, not so much to our child as to ourselves
(which is the case in all blamable indulgence), overlook that fault
which may be the germ of unspeakable miseries! In my view of things,
deceit is no slight offense; I feel myself answerable in no small degree
for the eternal happiness of these beloved creatures whom Providence has
especially committed to my trust."

"But it is such a severe trial," said Lady Belfield, "to a fond parent
to inflict voluntary pain!"

"Shall we feel for their pain and