CHAPTER II.

I PROPOSE in this chapter to speak of some of the measures to be adopted in the prosecution of these desirable ends.

What can parents effect in the attainment of this mighty object? How shall they prosecute this great enterprise? By what measures may they hope to secure this unspeakable good to their children? To these inquiries, I reply,

1. Much is accomplished by the force

of example. "Be yourself, what you wish your child to be," is perhaps the most weighty axiom in the education of children. Example influences, long before instruction can inform, or authority can bind. "Precept constrains; example allures. Precept compels; example persuades. Precept is a dead, example a living law." Especially has example influence over the young. Next to the law of conscience, it is the first law with which they are acquainted; and it often remains the strongest motive to action, after all other motives are forgotten. Children are imitative beings; and few persons are aware how soon they understand the import of what they see and hear. The example of an

affectionate and watchful parent can scarcely fail of exerting a most insinuating and powerful influence. No child is too young to be the accurate observer of its parent's conduct, and to be purified, or contaminated, by his example. The remark cannot be too strongly enforced on parents, that however insensibly, they are incessantly moulding the minds, the habits, the character of their children, by the power of their example.

You do not mean that your child

should possess an unyielding, imperious spirit; that he should be overbearing and contemptuous; or that he should be unkind, unamiable, and uncourteous. But what if he discovers in you a hasty, uncontrollable temper; what if he sees

that you are haughty and disdainful; that you are fond of sharp contention, and disregard all the laws of kindness and courtesy: the effect will be, in spite of all your efforts, that your example will be the governing motive of his conduct. You do not wish to see your child idle and slothful, and afraid of toil and hardship. But what if you yourself are a man of fashion and leisure; what if your child you do not deem it reputable to labor; and that instead of redeeming your time, and being diligent and unwearied, you are satisfied with living at your ease: is it very probable, that your child will aspire to great activity, energy and usefulness? You desire that your child

suspects that

should be a man of honorable feeling and unbending veracity; that he should be punctual in his engagements, and thorough in his business. But, if while he hears you commending and extolling these virtues, he knows that you descend to what is little and mean; that you are disingenuous, equivocal, and false; that you are loose and immethodical will not your habitual conduct be apt to have more influence with your child, than your most positive precepts ? You wish your children to be discreet in the choice of their associates. But what if you yourselves are devoted to dissipation and convivial intercourse; what if you occasionally resort to corrupt and corrupting society; what if you