She, above all others, kno s atel cseny ith the ponese

ns and love. In the unlightened lenne, es

meternity inplis all which is sweet a holy in wh sensibilities.

NEED we any clearer demonstration of the infinite goodness of our Heavenly Father, than is to be found in the fact, that of the best and most indispensable of all teachers, one has been given to every child of man? It is to the mother, that the first rudiments of every branch of our education, whether physical, intellectual, or moral and spiritual, are confided. To her foresight, tenderness and care in infancy, we owe the graceful development of the bodily powers; and it is her prerogative to awaken and vivify those faculties divine-conscience, the moral sense, and the sense of the beautiful, which, notwithstanding their celestial tendency, have much to do with earthly things. It is her province to give to the soul its first noble impulses, and, with God's blessing, to stamp upon it with indelible characters those divine truths, which in the battle of life, are to constitute its panoply. "There exists," says M. Aime-Martin, "in each family a being whose power is irresistible; who lives in our life; who knows no joy but our joy, no happiness beyond our happiness; and whose whole power is derived from love." Now this is indeed the secret of her power. She, above all others, knows and exemplifies the power of tenderness and love. In the enlightened female, the sentiment of maternity implies all which is sweet and holy in the moral sensibilities.

Contrast her gentle influence with those which too generally characterize the discipline of our public schools. How long will public sentiment sustain the appeals which are constantly made to the selfish, the cowardly and mean, rather than to the generous sentiments of the heart? What, for instance, shall we say of the goads of emulation, as an incentive to study? We should love learning for its own sake; but where ambition is the moving power, we learn to love it only for the pride it flatters, and the distinction it confers. It comes to be regarded not as an end to use and enjoy, but as a means of something to show off. These constant appeals to the ambition of the child, must infallibly lead him to take the applause of men, not duty, for his guide; to adopt as the standard of morality, the sliding-scale of public opinion. The direct tendency of these appeals is to banish from the heart every generous sentiment, to dry up all its fountains of good-will and kindness, and to make it the abode of jealousy, vain-glory, intolerance, misanthropy and selfishness. Even love and hatred are not more antagonistic than are virtue and ambition. What indeed but another name for love is virtue; and what is ambition but another name for hatred ?

But we cannot here dwell on other equally objectionable features of school, and too often even of home discipline. In the school-room, particularly, it is observed that the prevailing influences are ambition, ridicule and terror. Can you wonder then, that the mighty sceptre upon earth should be wielded by the blessed being who, in the providence of God, is called to preside in every domestic circle, from the palace of the millionaire to the humblest mud-wall cottage, but whose empire still is that of love?

Another reason for the mother's mightier influence, is to be found in the position, the vantage-ground which she occupies. She is the first book the child peruses, and the lessons which we read nearest the cradle, are ever found to be most deeply graven upon the tablets of the heart. Contact with the world may, in after years, sully them; sensuality, voluptuousness and pride may smother, but they are there still, and there will they be forever. The star which shines upon our cradles, that morning star, memory, is infinitely more potent in its influences, than any which ever