arly equal readiness, both of his hands? But if so,
who can do it better than the mother? And when can it be better done
than in the earliest infancy? When is the time which would be devoted to
it worth less than at this period?

CHAPTER XX.

ABUSES.

Bad seats for children at table and elsewhere. Why children hate Sunday.
Seats at Sabbath school--at church--at district schools. Suspending
children between the heavens and the earth. Cushions to sit on. Seats
with backs. Children in factories. Evils produced. Bodily punishment.
Striking the heads of children very injurious. Beating across the middle
of the body. Anecdote of a teacher. Concluding advice to mothers.

It is difficult to determine, in regard to many things which concern the
management of the young, whether they belong most properly to moral or
physical education; so close is the connection between the two, and so
decidedly does everything, or nearly everything which relates to the
management of the body, have a bearing upon the formation of moral
character. This work might be extended very much farther, did it comport
with my original plan. But I hasten to close the volume, with a few
thoughts on certain abuses of the body, which prevail to a greater or
less extent in families and schools; and to which I have not adverted
elsewhere.

The seats of children are usually bad, both at table and elsewhere. It
seems not enough that we condemn them to the use of knives, forks,
spoons, &c., of the same size with those of adults. We go farther; and
give them chairs of the same height and proportion with our own. There
are a few exceptions to the truth of this remark. Here and there we see
a child's chair, it is true--but not often.

But how unreasonable is it to seat a child in a chair so high that his
feet cannot reach the floor; and so constructed that there is no outer
place on which the feet can rest. What adult would be willing to sit in
so painful a posture, with his legs dangling? No wonder children dislike
to sit much, in such circumstances. And it is a great blessing to both
parent and child that they do. No wonder children hate the Sabbath,
especially in those families where they are compelled to keep the day
holy by sitting motionless! Sabbath schools, though they bring with them
some evil along with a great deal of good, are a relief to the young in
this particular--especially if their seats are more comfortable
elsewhere than at home. They