senting to our senses nothing but objects of disgust and horror; then, indeed, the world would correspond with the rueful descriptions which querulous genius has given of it. Then, indeed, the following lines of poetry would possess no less truth than beauty.

"For ah! what is there of inferior birth,

That breathes, or creeps upon the dust of earth,
What wretched creature, of what wretched kind,
Than man more weak, calamitous and blind?"

But the truth is, though fallen man is weak, and blind, and sinful, yet his earthly condition, so far from being calamitous beyond that of all other creatures, is attended with a great many circumstances of comfort and delight.

The earth, even in its present state, is filled with the goodness of the beneficent Creator; and Man is the object of his especial care and bounty. Is it nothing that, above and around us, light and colors, with their corresponding shades, are infinitely diversified, to soothe and gratify the eye? That we are furnished with such sweet and melodious sounds to charm the ear? That the earth affords such a variety to delight the palate? That it is decked with the enamel of innumerable flowers of varied colors and delicious fragrance? That by a nice admixture of its different elements, the atmosphere is so exactly fitted for respiration? That the silk-worm spins to adorn, the sheep bears a fleece to warm, and the ground itself yields the rudiments of fine linen to array our frail bodies? That, in all parts of the world, there is furnished a supply of medicaments for the particular diseases of the climates? That fire, air, and water, along with

a great variety of minerals, are made, in so many ways, to minister to the convenience and adornment, as well as to the subsistence of our race? Is all this aggregate of earthly benefits and blessings to be accounted as nothing? Shall man, loaded as he is with so many unmerited temporal blessings, complain and fret because they are mixed with natural evil? Especially shall he do it, when a full moiety of the calamities he suffers, are brought upon him, not by the direct hand of Providence, but by his own follies and crimes?

To love the world more than Him who made it, and life more than Him who gave it, is that worldly mindedness which is base and criminal. But a moderate or subordinate love of the world, of life, and of all its innocent enjoyments, along with lively gratitude to their donor, is what becomes our rational and moral nature. Whereas, on the other hand, to think or speak contemptuously of the common gifts of Providence, betokens as little of humility as of thankfulness.

NUMBER LXXI.

OF THE INQUISITIVENESS OF CHILDREN.

ONE of the distinctive qualities of our nature is the principle of curiosity; whereby we are distinguishable even more clearly than by the principle of reason from the brute animals, of which several kinds seem possessed of some small degree of rational faculty, but very seldom, or never, manifest an inquisitive curiosity after any kind of information. Whereas, in our own species, the disposition to pry into the How, and the Why, is sometimes seen from the very cradle, and is always to be regarded as an auspicious token; it being, in fact, the germin of all future improvementthe genuine bud of intellectual fruit. Nor scarcely is it conceivable, how great advantage might be taken of such a toward disposition, were it under the constant management of superior skill united with patient industry. But in the nurture and training up of children, this important particular is, for the most part, overlooked, and their carly curiosity either damped or misdirected. And, in this way, many are made dullards or frivolous, who might ave been shaped to intellectual excellence.

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Curiosity in children," observes the admirable Locke, "is but an appetite after knowledge, and therefore ought to be encouraged in them, not only as a good sign, but as the great instrument nature has provided to remove that ignorance they are born with; and which, without this busy inquisitiveness, will make them dull and useless creatures."

The passage here quoted, is a text, which might furnish matter enough for a long practical discourse on education. But my design is only to throw out hints, to be improved and enlarged upon by the intelligent reader.

Were we ourselves cast upon a strange country, where every thing was unknown to us, and were we destined to spend our lives there, our only way of acquiring the knowledge of it, would be by questioning the experienced inhabitants. Accordingly, if not downright dolts, we should feel disposed to ask them a multitude of questions, of which the most part would seem frivolous, impertinent, and even ridiculous, to those who knew the country well. Now should they all, with one accord, refuse to answer our questions, or turn us off with false or improper answers, or laugh us to scorn for our ignorance and impertinence, and even proceed to chide us, with contumelious expressions, for the interruption and trouble given them by our inquisitiveness; such treatment would naturally damp and discourage us, and involve us at last in the hopeless condition of contented ignorance.

But should we find there only a few to heed our inquiries; to give patient and correct answers to our questions; to encourage our curiosity by the gentleness of their manners and the readiness of their replies; how deeply should we feel ourselves indebted to

those precious few, and how happily facilitated would be our progress!

And such as this, but yet more eminently so, is the condition of little children. Not merely are they strangers in a strange land; they are come into a world, where to them every thing is new and strange; a world, of which, and of all therein, they are utterly ignorant. And how do these newly-born citizens of the world act? Why, just as persons come to years would act under the like circumstances. God hath given them an appetite for knowledge, and they seek after it with ardency. What is this? What is that made for? How is it done, and why is it so? These, and scores of similar questions are asked in early childhood; and though they would be impertinent and ridiculous if coming from the lips of adult age, yet from the mouths of these little prattlers they are strictly proper. To them the information they inquire after is material, though their questions may seem trifling in the eyes of those to whom the things were long since known.

A great deal might be made out of the inquisitiveness or curiosity so natural to children. If rightly managed, it would be the mainspring to intellectual improvement. Were their inquiries properly encouraged, it would lead them to think for themselves; it would put them upon the exercise of their reason, as well as of their memory; and would settle in them the habit of inquiry. At the same time, whenever there was observable in them a forward pertness, or any real impertinence, it might easily be checked, without dampening their curiosity, by parents or teachers possessing any considerable degree of prudence and skill.

But all this requires a considerable degree of toil.

It is by