And from those honor'd lips will drop once more, Oh, what a beauteous tale of Home, it tells A sovereign Eagle, and a yielding Dove. Yet as she comes, what wrath-commission'd stroke, His eye displeas'd,-how can the maiden brook ? Oh, who can tell what pangs his soul pierc'd through, There fix'd, in meek and beautiful surprise They glow with thought, they breathe, they speak, they live. The living forms of Wonder and of Woe. F. M. TEMPER. ON no part of the character has education more influence, than on temper; the due regulation of which is an object of so great importance to the enjoyment of the present life, and to the preparation for a better. An authority firm but affectionate; decided, yet mild; imposing no unnecessary restraints; but encouraging every innocent freedom and gratification, exercised according to the dictates of judgment, and supported by rewards and punishments judiciously dispensed; is the best means of securing good temper in our children; and evinces that selfsubjection on our part which is essential to its successful cultivation on theirs. This, at once, will put an end to those impulses of temper in ourselves which are the most fruitful sources of irritation to others; for, it is surprising how quickly our own irritability will be reflected in the little ones around us. Speak to a child in a fretful manner, and we shall generally find that his answer partakes of the same character. We may reprove; we may punish; we may enforce obedience; but all will be done with double the effect if our own temper remain perfectly unruffled; for what benefit can reasonably be expected, when we recommend that by our injunctions which we renounce by our example? The variations and inconsistency to which characters of impulse are also liable, are particularly trying to children. There are few tempers that can resist the effect of being sharply reproved at one time, for what, at another, is passed over without notice; of being treated one day with excessive indulgence, and the next day with fretfulness or severity. We all have our weak and irritable moments; we may experience many changes of temper and feeling; but let us beware of betraying such variations in our outward conduct, if we value the good temper and respect of our children; for these we have no right to expect on their part, without consistency on ours. If a fault be glaring, it must be seriously taken up; but in the management of temper, especially in early childhood, much may be effected by a system of prevention. A judicious attendant may avert many an impending naughty fit, by change of object, gentle amusement, and redoubled care to put no temptation in the way, if she observe any of her little ones weary, uncomfortable, or irritable. This, for instance, will generally be the case with children when they first awake. They should therefore, then be treated with more than common tenderness; never roused from sleep suddenly or violently; nor exposed to any little trials, till they have had time thoroughly to recover themselves. It is scarcely necessary to add how peculiarly this tender consideration is required, not only in illness, but under the various trifling indispositions so frequent in infancy. Children ought not to be, unnecessarily, thwarted in their objects; which, at a very early age, they pursue with eagerness. Let them, if possible, complete their projects without interruption. A child, for example, before he can speak, is trotting after a ball; the nurse snatches him up in a moment, to be washed and dressed, and the poor child throws himself into a violent passion. Whereas, had she first entered into his views, kindly assisted him in gaining his object, and then gently taken him up, this trial would have been spared and his temper uninjured. We should avoid keeping children in suspense, which is often done from a kind motive, though with ill effect. If a child asks his nurse for cake, and she can give it him, let her tell him so at once, and assure him that he shall have it; but, should she be unable to grant his request, or know it would be improper for him, do not let her hesitate; do not let her say, "I will think of it, we shall see," but kindly and decidedly refuse him. If he sees his mother going out, and petitions to accompany her, it will be better she should say "no," or "yes," at once, for he will receive with ease an immediate, but kind, refusal: when, probably, he would cry bitterly at a denial, after his expectations had been raised by suspense. When a child is to go to bed, we ought not to fret him for the last half hour, by saying every few minutes, "I shall soon send you to bed— Now, my dear, it is time to go-Now, I hope you will go"-but let him be told that, at such a time, he is to go to bed, and when that time arrives, no common excuse should prevent it. We ought also to be guarded against attaching too much importance to trifles; from this mistake, many an useless combat arises in most nurseries. How often have I observed a nurse more disturbed, and a child more alarmed and fretted, at a torn or dirty frock, that at a breach of truth, or a want of generosity! Here the lesser good is preferred to the greater, and the primary object of education forgotten.* By such measures as have been recommended, accompanied by a quick sympathy with the peculiar characters, and peculiar infirmities of children, much may be done towards forming among them a habit of good temper. But, such is the irritability both of mental and bodily constitution in childhood, that, with our best efforts, we must not expect unvarying success. From some hidden cause, generally to be traced to their bodily state, many children, perhaps all occasionally, are prone to a certain fretfulness, or irritability, which will baffle every attempt to overcome it, and which, therefore, is rather to be borne with than opposed,— never to be humoured, but to be received with unmoved serenity and patience. In such cases, there appears to be no other method of proceeding. This, indeed calls for great patience; but, without great patience, who can perform the duties required towards children ?-Selected. RETROSPECTION. "Is there a heart that delights not to cling To the objects it loved in its life's early spring? THE power of retrospection over the mind is too deep and strong not to have its elements in the human constitution for great and wise purposes. We love to trace in it an evidence of the soul's immortality. The same exercises of mind by which we look forward to the future in faith and hope, lead us to look back on the past with fondness or regret. The mind of man is never satisfied with the present-never contented to stand still and drink in its immediate cup of possession-and the future being all in dim perspective, the object of faith and not of sight, human nature with a tenacious *It is much to be regretted that dress is thus often made the subject of dispute and irritation. Personal cleanliness is indeed indispensable; and children, whether it teaze them or not, must be thoroughly washed. But their clothes should be so contrived as not to interfere with their freedom and enjoyment, or to require any great degree of attention. It is desirable to keep them as neat as the case admits of, but, to this, a nurse must take care that neither her own temper, nor their's is sacrificed. fondness for stability turns to the past, as something that has been tried and proved :—something real, though no longer in possession. Again in the past we can count the links which make the chain of our existence oneconnecting the beginning with the end-and as some trifling unforeseen event or circumstance calls up a host of buried recollections, we may rejoice in the consciousness that nothing is lost. Memory has only been asleep; and often presents herself without our conscious agency, self-roused and refreshed by her slumbers. Until we shall possess the talisman which "sheds repose over memory and takes from it regret," it is questionable whether the original gift is one most prolific in pain or pleasure to us. While living with regret on the vanished glories of the past, we are often rendered ungratefully insensible to the blessings of the present. The interest and beauty of passing events, are made tributary to the enhancement of those memories only, connected with the long-loved and the long-lost. When introduced to the happy homes of others, where peace apparently reigns in undisturbed serenity-where amid the bright scenery, musical laughter and artless mirth tell of the unbroken confidence of youth and childhood-even here, is our participation of their happiness overshadowed by comparisons of the present with the time when our sky was all sunshine, our earth was all flowers." 66 The influence of association over the mind is well nigh omnipotent. It transports us through all seasons, supplies the power of creation, and endows inanimate objects with thought, feeling and vitality. Did never the sunbeam which fell just like the sunbeam of fifteen summer's ago, bring back on its rays all the emotions and interests of that former time? We knew a case of this kind possessing such strange power, that we claim indulgence for the passing tribute. It was an old window-sill, which the dew and frost, the rain and sun of more than fifty years had hastened to premature decay. I could never look from that pleasant window of that pleasant house, without pausing with respect and inquiry, to gaze upon that time-worn and weather-worn sill. It was gilded with every setting sun, and seemed to smile in its ray, as if consciously rich in the experience of age, and honorable in the registry of events, past and passing like itself into forgetfulness. Personal knowledge had to be sure much to do with this deep interest. We knew the history of that house. We knew the dwelling had been consecrated by great happiness-by deep sorrow too!-it was the scene of many changesbut the setting sun and the old window-sill were tried friends: "While he ten thousand, thousand years, Had seen the tide of human tears for half a century of those years had his light been borne through that window (resting on that sill and repaying its services with his richest smiles) to the inmates of that dwelling-steadfast amid change and sorrow-rejoicing in their joy and cheering them in their sadness. Oft-times has the eye of weariness been turned thither-ward at the close of day for refreshment, when thinking of the morrow, and of man's sad inheritance of toil and care; and happy childhood has bounded from the same window in its lawless glee. The arm of the happy lover has rested on that time-honored sill, when eyes that saw in unison together watched, from that sacred retreat, the changing tints of yonder sunset sky,-in the eloquent silence which tells that the heart is too joyful for words. "But the young and the lovely, on whose sunny brow, All this, with much that will not stay to be told, seemed to be graven as with the point of a diamond, in the grain of that aged wood; and the concluding lesson was given to point a pathway to Heaven on the 'line of light' which told of something more enduring than the perishable gifts of which we had made idols here. When a sinner who had long contended with his Maker fell down in the depth of the forest at the foot of a little pine and surrendered his conflicttorn spirit to God-it was said by one acquainted with the circumstance, "that little pine will be remembered in Heaven?" Will not many such things be remembered in Heaven?-things which have, though trifling in themselves considered, changed the current of our lives, and given the pervading hue to our characters? Is it probable that the minutest interest of this life will ever be lost, in the world whose rewards and punishments are wholly founded on the deeds of this-where every action will be brought to light, with every secret thought. W For the Microcosm. TO THE ABSENT. I MISS thee at the morning tide, I miss thee more when day has died, As slide the aching hours away, Sleeping or waking, night and day, I miss thee from thy cheerful door, And every favorite room Thy presence made so bright before, Is loneliness and gloom, Each spot where thou hast loved to be, Seem yearning for thy company- I miss thee every where ! FORTECRUCIAN. |