children are a few months older, blocks of wood, which can be heaped up and knocked down at pleasure, become favorite playthings. Such toys are a great deal better than expensive

ones.

As soon as it is possible to convey instruction by toys, it is well to choose such as will be useful. The letters of the alphabet, on pieces of bone, are excellent for this purpose. I have known a child six years old teach a baby brother to read quite well, merely by playing with his ivory letters. In all that relates to developing the intellect, very young children should not be hurried or made to attend unwillingly. When they are playing with their letters, and you are at leisure, take pains to tell them the name and power of each one, as often as they ask; but do not urge them. No matter if it takes them weeks to learn one letter; they will not need their knowledge in a hurry. Do not try to teach a child a new word until he is perfect master of the old one; and do not try to force his attention to his letters when he is weary, fretful and sleepy, or impatient to be doing something else. Among instructive toys may be ranked balls arranged together so as to be counted.

Every step of infantile progress should be encouraged by expressions of pleasure. When a child is able to spell a new word, or count a new number, kiss him, and show delight at his improvement. Benjamin West relates that his mother kissed him eagerly, when he showed her a likeness he had sketched of his baby sister; and adds, "That kiss made me a painter!"

For children of two or three years old, pictures are great sources of amusement and instruction. Engravings of animals are very good things. It is a great object to have proportion observed: if a child have a very small picture of an elephant, and a very large one of a mouse, it will make him think that a mouse is as large as an elephant.

Playthings that children make for themselves are a great

deal better than those which are bought for them, and really please more. A little girl had better fashion her cups and saucers of acorns, than have a set of earthen ones supplied. A boy takes ten times more pleasure in a little wooden cart which he has pegged together, than he does in a painted and gilded carriage bought at a toyshop. There is a peculiar satisfaction in inventing things for one's self. No matter if the construction be clumsy and awkward, it employs time, (which is a great object in childhood,) and the pleasure the invention gives is the first impulse to ingenuity and skill.

Cutting figures in paper is a harmless and useful amusement for those who are old enough to be trusted with scissors; which, by the way, should always be blunt, when placed in the hands of a very young child. Any glaring disproportion in the figures should be explained to a child, and he should be encouraged to make his little imitations as much like nature as possible.

Drawing figures on a slate is a favorite amusement with children; and it may prove a useful one, if pains are taken to point out errors, and induce them to make correct imitations. Young people should be taught that it is not well to be careless in doing even the most trifling things.

Dolls afford a quiet amusement; they exercise ingenuity in cutting garments, and neatness in sewing; they can be played with in a variety of ways. They sometimes excite very strong affection. Miss Hamilton tells of a little girl, who had a limb amputated at a hospital, and bore the operation with great fortitude, hugging her doll in her arms all the time. When it was completed, the surgeon playfully said, "Now let me cut off your doll's leg." This speech produced a torrent of tears, and the little creature could hardly be pacified. She had borne her own sufferings patiently, but she could not endure that her doll should be hurt.

It is very important, and very difficult, to furnish young children with sufficient employment. What we call a love of

mischief is, in fact, nothing but activity. Children are restless for employment; they must have something to do; and if they are not furnished with what is useful or innocent, they will do mischief. No one who has not lived with a family of children can conceive how very difficult it is to keep a child of five or six years old employed. It is a good plan to teach little girls to knit, weave bobbin and watchguards. Making patchwork is likewise a quiet amusement; and if the child be taught to fit it herself, it may be made really useful. If the corners are not fitted exactly, or the sewing done neatly, it should be taken to pieces and fitted again; for it is by inattention to these little things that habits of carelessness are formed.

On no occasion whatever should a child be excused from finishing what she has begun. The custom of having half a dozen things on hand at once should not be tolerated. It ought to be considered a disgrace to give up any thing after it is once undertaken. Habits of perseverance are of incalculable importance; and a parent should earnestly improve the most trifling opportunities of encouraging them. Even in so small a thing as untying a knot, a boy should be taught to think it unmanly to be either impatient or discouraged.

Always encourage a girl in fitting her own work, and arranging her own playthings. Few things are more valuable, in this changing world, than the power of taking care of ourselves. It is a useful thing for children to make a little shirt exactly after the model of a large one, fitting all the parts themselves, after you have furnished them with a model of each part in paper. Knitting may be learned still earlier than sewing. It is a great resource to the aged; and women, in all situations of life, have so many lonely hours, that they cannot provide themselves with too many resources in youth. For this reason I would indulge girls in learning any thing that did not interfere with their duties; such as ornamental work, boxes,

baskets, and purses. Every new acquirement, however trifling, is an additional resource against poverty and depression of spirits.

My grandmother used to say, "Lay by all scraps and fragments, and they will be sure to come into use in seven years.' I would make the same remark with regard to scraps and fragments of knowledge. It is impossible for us to foresee, in youth, what will be the circumstances of our after life: the kind of information which at one period seems likely to be of very little use to us, may become very important. If I happened to be thrown into the society of those who excelled in any particular branch, I would gain all the information I could, without being obtrusive. No matter whether it be as to poetry or puddings, making shoes or learning music, riding a horse or rearing a grape-vine, it is well to learn whatever comes in one's way, provided it does not interfere with the discharge of duty.

LESSON IX.

Duties of Brothers and Sisters.

BELFRAGE.

It is the duty of brothers and sisters to delight in eack other's society, and readily to share their comforts with each other. In other companions, treachery may lurk under the smile of complaisance, and speak in the compliments of flattery; but you will assuredly find sincerity in domestic intercourse. The kindness of the heart beams in a sister's smile, and speaks in a brother's praise. Your hearts must be sadly corrupted, if ever the remembrance of the scenes that passed under a father's roof ceases to interest you, and find no pleasure in the sight of objects which recall these to your thoughts. When you are tempted to envy a brother or sister, because they appear to enjoy more of the notice of your parents and friends than you, consider that this partiality may exist only in your own jealous imagination; or that, if it is real,

you

it is probably owing to their possessing that which you have never been at any pains to cultivate, and to their acting in a manner which you will not follow.

It is the duty of brothers and sisters to admonish one another for their faults. There are failings in the temper, and defects in the manners, which are concealed with care from the eyes of the world, but which are apparent amidst the ease and the freedom of domestic life. If follies are not checked at home, or by strangers, they will settle into habits. The indolence from which the young were never roused has kept them all their after days in poverty, and the pride which was never repressed has rendered them odious. Never let affection render you blind to the deformity of sin, or induce you to palliate what you ought decidedly to condemn.

It is the duty of brothers and sisters to sympathize tenderly with each other. Providence has so framed the human heart, that it requires the aid and rejoices in the comforts of sympathy. We are bound to show pity to a stranger's sorrows, and more strongly is this required from us towards a brother or a sister in affliction. How soothing to a sufferer's heart are the ministrations of a sister, and the word spoken by a brother in season! and how different are the feelings which are excited by the cold inquiries of a neighbor, and the anxious questions of affectionate relatives, eager to know his uneasiness, that it may be relieved!

Let sisters consider how much the persuasive language of mildness and affection is adapted to form the roughest and most impetuous tempers to meekness and wisdom; and that their remarks may direct a brother's attention to sentiments full of beauty and feeling, which he has overlooked.

Brothers and sisters should vie with each other in promoting the comfort of their parents. "Honor thy father and thy mother" is a precept which God has placed at the head of the second table of the law, and which he has enforced by a promise of a long and prosperous life. You owe to your