the boundless ocean. The ecstasy with which this spectacle was greeted in the mind of a child of my own, will never be forgotten by me. He had never beheld any extended water prospect, but his imagination having been nursed by reading descriptions of "the great globe"-the sea as well as the land-he was prepared to feel, in its full force, the scene that burst upon him. Riding from the interior toward the sea-coast, and coming suddenly to an opening which presented the long-desired object, the child sprang upon his feet as if he would have leaped from the vehicle, and cried out with a tone of exultation which no gamut could express, "Father, I see the ocean!" An indescribable emotion was depicted on his countenance as he gazed upon the scene, and such a thrill of joy he had probably not felt before in all his life. It was to him the realization of a fancy which had taken strong hold of his mind, as well as the gratification of that insatiable curiosity which is so common to young persons. What influence that single exhibition will have had in moulding the cast of his mind, and in inspiring him with enlarged business views in our American emporium of commerce and wealth, time may unfold.

In reflecting on the incident above introduced, I have often congratulated myself in having been the instrument of imparting to a child so much pleasure; and my wonder now is, my regret, rather, that I was not more disposed to favor my children with opportunities of seeing the magnificent and beautiful works of God, under the new and varying aspects in which they are presented, by going from place to place. How many times beyond the amount actually allowed, might they have been made acquainted with the marvels of land and water prospects, or with other objects of interest, at a slight expenditure, by way of traveling or excursions abroad! At what small an outlay of time and patience might they not have had their attention turned to objects of grandeur, beauty, or curiosity-to works of nature and of art-by a frequent pointing out of those works, or by comments on their peculiarities? Of what an enhanced degree of enjoyment might not the ardent and inquisitive mind have been made the participant, had some such course been habitually pursued, instead of having been, perhaps, only of casual or occasional occurrence!

Now this mistake or deficiency of which the writer is conscious, if a judgment may be formed from observation, is but too common among parents and guardians of the young. The latter are but too seldom invited to mark the foot-prints of the Deity in his works, or to examine that which is rare or wonderful in human contrivance. Indeed, the curiosity of the child is frequently rather repressed than encouraged, and if he looks out upon the animate or inanimate world, and vividly expresses his delight at grand or uncommon sights, it is quite likely that he will be awed into silence by a frown or a rap. It is evident that the sources of a pure and healthful gratification in the young heart are, in general, slightly appreciated by older persons. Many of the latter are much more fond of their ease and convenience, than of allowing the buoyancy of youth to be fully exhibited in their presence.

By contracting the sphere of innocent pleasures in the mind of the child, such as he would derive from a view of the ocean, or mountain scenery, a champaign country, flocks and herds, rivers, towns and cities, natural curiosities, or specimens of the fine arts, he is, from habit, prepared to sink down into a character of tameness and indifference. That charming enthusiasm, which is ready to respond to whatever is fair and lovely, great and sublime in the natural or artistic world, is thus quenched in its incipiency. Doubtless many a poet, painter, or statuary, many a philosopher and man of observation (so born with all the subjective properties and propensities), has been spoiled by such a process. And it is well if numbers are not repressed from piety and truth when their harmless, though, perhaps, vehement emotions of wonder or pleasure at its appropriate scenes, are habitually checked; when the book of nature and the creations of goodness and genius are présented to the child, not in their own glorious costume, but through the discoloring medium of a false sentiment, or an unimpassioned taste. How sad the fading away of the bright, joyous visions of the youthful mind. under the stern rule of conventional propriety, or of an unnatural staidness!

The warmth of feeling in the young mind, called up by the works of nature, or human imitation of them, should not be restrained; rather let it well forth from the heart, as I noticed,

not long since, in a female of exquisite sensibility, whose intense admiration of a landscape left it doubtful whether her countenance or her soul were the more beautiful. The turn of mind,

and its capacity, are indicated by these strong emotions. Sir Benjamin West, when a child, shed tears on seeing, for the first time, a gallery of paintings. How indicative of his taste and his powers! How prophetic of his future fame! I know a child, not yet ten years of age, beginning to sketch from nature, whose eye caught, with instinctive accuracy, the several charms of a dell, which included a gurgling stream, with an over-arched rustic bridge," and who exclaimed, as he beheld it, "What a beautiful picture this would make !"

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But often as the effect of freezing the genial current of the soul takes place, through a wrong or deficient training, it is, probably, still oftener the case, that this early curiosity, pent up in too narrow and unsuitable limits, will break forth at length, and indulge itself in more questionable forms. The child, if not indulged or moderately encouraged in giving utterance to his innocent emotions of surprise or joy, if not directed to seek his pleasures in the right objects, will be but too much disposed to take a wayward course in this matter. Enjoyment of some kind he will have. His taste for amusements not having been formed on a right model, his mind not having been pre-occupied with sources of pure delight, he will but too surely become corrupted in the pursuit of pleasures little suited to an immortal soul. He will be in danger of resorting to places of amusement where the moral feelings, instead of being refined and spiritualized, are injured, if not fatally perverted. In the country, so far as they are afforded-in the city to any extent-dissipating pleasures will be likely to find their votaries in uninstructed or badly instructed youth. The young mind, when left to itself, is but too apt to be delighted with the tricks of the juggler and the dance of the dissipated; with theatric entertainments, and the carnival of wine and wassail.

Where the exuberant spirits of youth find their outlet in such gratifications, we may bid adieu to their best hopes and noblest aspirations. The true joys of life will have departed from them; and parents reposing on the promises of childhood, and waiting for the precious fruits of wisdom and piety in their offspring, if,

perchance, they have consecrated them to the Saviour, are doomed to the bitterness of disappointment. How much a right direction of the young in respect to the means and sources of enjoyment may have to do with a preservation from such a course, is certainly a subject for serious reflection. It is possible that there is no duty more sacred than to allow children an ample range of harmless pleasures, to the exclusion of all such as are low and degrading, or merely factitious. Observation and experience must teach parents that one of the greatest enemies to the intellect, morals, and piety of the young, lies in the natural love of pleasure and amusement, which, if not directed to its proper objects, will be apt to riot, whenever opportunity affords, in unhallowed scenes.

Original.

MOTHERS, ASSISTANT TEACHERS IN THE GREAT SEMINARY OF PROVIDENCE.

BY REV. WALTER CLARKE, HARTFORD, CT.

THE Mosaic economy was a kind of social microcosm, for the study of all nations and ages. Its institutions, rites, and usages were types of universal truth. The book of Deuteronomy is an epitome of the moral economy of the world. For example-that book pictures the Jewish nation as a great school, and represents all the Hebrew children as at their lessons. We know, also, that the Jewish nation was a great workshop, and all the boys were at their trades. And the lessons of the schools, and the trades of the boys, were all of God's appointment, and all under his supervision. Jewish parents were therefore taught to look upon themselves as assistant teachers in the great seminary of Providence. And that special truth in the Hebrew economy, is really a universal truth in the world's economy. All children, of all nations, are in school learning their lessons. And all children, of all nations, are at their trades, acquiring and perfecting their habits. And over this great school Providence presides as

the head teacher-as the supreme superintendent. Mothers are assistants and subordinates under Providence. And mothers should never forget that God takes upon himself the cares, the sympathies, the responsibilities, and the labors of the head teacher in his own seminary. How many things need to be done in this school of childhood which parents cannot do-with which God must charge himself! To continue the lives of the pupils; to form their innate tastes and predilections; to arrange the circumstances that shall develop their predestined peculiarities of character; to prepare for them their places and their work in society; to renew their hearts, and give them the christian temper; to shape that temper into some one of the special propensities or instincts of the christian life; all this is God's work-is in his department. And he is continually, and in all our families, secretly superintending this work. Our children, and all that concerns them, are included in his plans of Providence. Children are seeds in God's garden; seeds which he is continually preparing for the harvest of coming history. God is continually providing beforehand their work for the children; and as continually preparing the children for their work. Centuries before Josiah was born, a prophet announced that in the plans of Providence a work was being prepared for that Jewish boy. And was not a work ready and waiting for Paul, when Paul was ready for employment? Was it not so with Timothy? Is it not so with every child? Let mothers remember, then, that God has taken their children into his school; and that they are assistants only in the great seminary of Providence. Let them always think of their children as pupils under the divine superintendence, and always bear in mind that an unseen Father is secretly preparing work for the children, and the children for their work.

Look at the case of that Hebrew mother, Jedidah, the wife of Amon. How many sorrows and discouragements must have embittered her heart while she remembered the wickedness of her house, and pondered the prospect of her boy! At length the little one is himself in peril, probably from alarming sickThe mother's anguish finds vent in prayer-the boy recovers-and Jedidah, "the beloved of the Lord," names him Josiah, "the healed of the Lord." Ignorant alike of the an

ness.