ou clothes to
wear, and food to eat, can you be so ungrateful as to make them
unhappy? You have all read the story of the kind man, who found a
viper lying upon the ground almost dead with cold. He took it up and
placed it in his bosom to warm it, and to save its life. And what did
that viper do? He killed his benefactor! Vile, vile reptile! Yes! as
soon as he was warm and well, he stung the bosom of his kind
preserver, and killed him.

But that child, is a worse viper, who, by his ingratitude, will
sting the bosoms of his parents; who, by disobedience and unkindness,
will destroy their peace, and thus dreadfully repay them for all
their love and care. God will not forget the sins of such a child.
His eye will follow you to see your sin, and his arm will reach you
to punish. He has said, Honor your father and your mother. And the
child who does not do this, must meet with the displeasure of God,
and must be for ever shut out from heaven. Oh, how miserable must
this wicked girl now be, locked up in the gloomy prison! But how much
more miserable will she be when God calls her to account for all her
sins!--when, in the presence of all the angels, the whole of her
conduct is brought to light, and God says to her, "Depart from me, ye
cursed!" As she goes away from the presence of the Lord, to the
gloomy prisons of eternal despair, she will then feel a degree of
remorse which I cannot describe to you. It is painful to think of it.
Ah, wretched, wretched girl! Little are you aware of the woes you are
preparing for yourself. I hope that no child who reads these pages
will ever feel these woes.

You have just read that it is in your power to make your parents very
unhappy; and you have seen how unhappy one wicked girl made her poor
mother. I might tell you many such melancholy stories, all of which
would be true. A few years ago there was a boy who began to be
disobedient to his parents in little things. But every day he grew
worse, more disobedient and wilful, and troublesome. He would run away
from school, and thus grew up in ignorance. He associated with bad
boys, and learned to swear and to lie, and to steal. He became so bad
that his parents could do nothing with him. Every body who knew him,
said, "That boy is preparing for the gallows." He was the pest of the
neighborhood. At last he ran away from home, without letting his
parents know that he was going. He had heard of the sea, and thought
it would be a very pleasant