, pre-eminently important, that
children should be trained to strict _honesty_, both in word and deed.
It is not merely teaching children to avoid absolute lying, which is
needed. _All kinds of deceit_ should be guarded against; and all kinds
of little dishonest practices be strenuously opposed. A child should be
brought up with the determined principle, never to _run in debt_, but to
be content to live in an humbler way, in order to secure that true
independence, which should be the noblest distinction of an American
citizen.

There is no more important duty, devolving upon a mother, than the
cultivation of habits of modesty and propriety in young children. All
indecorous words or deportment, should be carefully restrained; and
delicacy and reserve studiously cherished. It is a common notion, that
it is important to secure these virtues to one sex, more than to the
other; and, by a strange inconsistency, the sex most exposed to danger,
is the one selected as least needing care. But a wise mother will be
especially careful, that her sons are trained to modesty and purity of
mind.

But few mothers are sufficiently aware of the dreadful penalties which
often result from indulged impurity of thought. If children, in _future_
life, can be preserved from licentious associates, it is supposed that
their safety is secured. But the records of our insane retreats, and the
pages of medical writers, teach, that even in solitude, and without
being aware of the sin or the danger, children may inflict evils on
themselves, which not unfrequently terminate in disease, delirium, and
death. Every mother and every teacher, therefore, carefully avoiding all
explanation of the mystery, should teach the young, that the indulgence
of impure thoughts and actions, is visited by the most awful and
terrific penalties. Disclosing the details of vice, in order to awaken
dread of its penalties, is a most dangerous experiment, and often leads
to the very evils feared. The attempts made, in late years, to guard
children from future dangers, by circulating papers, and books of
warning and information, have led to such frightful results, that it is
hoped the experiment will never again be pursued. The safest course, is,
to cultivate habits of modesty and delicacy, and to teach, that all
impure thoughts, words, and actions, are forbidden by God, and are often
visited by the most dreadful punishment. At the same time, it is
important for mothers to prot