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On Spoiling Children.

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Maker, to endue him with strength, that he may be enabled to endure patiently whatever he shall be called upon to suffer. He trusts to the Divine goodness to deliver him at the proper time out of his distress. If this be our state, whatever may befal us, God will be our support; whilst by complaints and murmurs we only increase our misery, and, as it were, seem to be tempting the Almighty to withdraw his assistance from us. We have arrived at the end of another year-a year which ought, and I trust has, taught many useful lessons to all,-rich and poor,-old and young. Let us now review (if we have not done so before,) the events of the past year. Let us observe the various changes which, during the course of it, have taken place amongst even our own friends or relations. Let us judge whether the afflictions which we have experienced have not been sent by a Fatherly hand, as a chastisement for some sin unrepented of, or in the practice of which we still continue. If we believe this to be so, let us, whilst we have the time, seek for pardon of the past through the merits of Christ; and' let us seek, through God's grace, to forsake our sins. And if we be again called upon to endure affliction, may we all be enabled to say, with Eli, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good."

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S. H.S. H.

ON SPOILING CHILDREN.

PARENTS are very apt to think, that if they indulge their children to the utmost of their power, and give them every thing they wish for, whether right or wrong, they are treating them with the greatest pos sible kindness; this is a common, but a very dangerous error, and it must arise from a want of attention to the subject. Surely parents do not consider the misery they are laying up for themselves and their children, when they indulge them in those things NO. 1.-VOL. VII. C

which are for their harm. Never allow a child, however young, to gain the mastery over you; for children can understand, long before you would expect that they are capable of doing so; and if you once allow them to conquer you, they do not easily forget it. It will not be needful often to put on an air of command; but when you do command, you must be obeyed. Always treat your children with firmness and kindness. I am no friend to beating, or harsh treatment, or any severe punishment. Teach a child, from its infancy, that you are seeking its good, and that, therefore, what you order is to be done : you will find that you very seldom will have occasion to use the rod.

Never correct a child when you are in a passion, for that seems like gratifying your own angry feeling, when you are incapable of judging what is best to be done; and children can always discover when you lose that command of temper so necessary in the management of them; correct them whenever it is necessary, and do it without anger. Take care that you do not one day find fault with a child, or punish it, for a thing which another day you omit to notice. But this will be constantly happening, if you are guided only by your own varying temper. Above all, be very careful that you do not set your children a bad example, for they will be always ready to catch at an example which shall serve as an excuse for their faults. It is of very little use to teach a child to do one thing, if you, yourself, do the contrary. It is of no use to teach a child to keep holy the Sabbath day, if you yourself do not keep it holy. Of what use is it to tell a child not to take God's holy name in vain, if you, yourself, are in the habit of cursing and swearing, or using the sacred name without reverence? It is the same in other things: example is better than precept. Let parents lay these things to heart: they will have to answer before the judgment-seat of God for the care of their children.

Nov. 1826.

VERITAS.

The Pipe of Tobacco, or the " Dear Bargain." 27

A DEAR BARGAIN.

THOMAS Round said one afternoon to two neighbours, who were looking at him whilst he was working in his garden, "I know a man who once gave three hundred pounds for a pinch of tobacco, just large enough to fill the bowl of a pipe." The neighbours did not believe that any man could be such a blockhead as to make so foolish a bargain. "I can prove it," said Round; "and I can call the man himself that made it. I saw him take the tobacco myself; it is now as much as twenty years ago, and the man's name is Bill Richards." The men knew Bill Richards, and they said they were sure Thomas must be mistaken, for Richards never had so much money in his pocket at a time, for he was but a slovenly sort of chap, and had seldom any thing to spare, and was often complaining of being poor. "I know that, (said Round); a man is likely to be poor if he will go and give three hundred pounds for a pipe-full of tobacco." Yes, but (said the men,) he never had the money, he could not do it; the thing's impossible, and you are only trying to make a joke of us." "I should like to ask Richards myself," said one of the men, "and I will go and seek for him: he's just by at this very time, I'll be bound to say, at the Blue Boar, for he seldom misses a single evening. I'll go and call him, and I'll bring him to you, and we'll hear what he has got to say about it." Very well," said Round, go and fetch him, if you can persuade him to come out; but I'll be bound to say I shall have finished this bit of digging, and got in these winter greens, before you'll get him from his pot of beer; and besides, he may forget the whole matter, as it is twenty years ago since it happened. And, after all, if he does remember it, I dare say he will tell you that he got that pipe of tobacco for nothing." Nothing!" exclaimed the men; "well, this is a comical story; there is a deal of difference between nothing and three

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hundred pounds. Let's, however, fetch Richards, and we shall hear all about it." They accordingly went; and they were not a very long time before they brought Richards back with them, and he could not think what they could have to say to him. After a little conversation, Thomas Round said to him, Thom. "Do you remember, Bill, the first pipe you ever smoked in your life?"

Bill. "Yes, as well as if it was yesterday; for it was on this very spot, when you were working in your bit of garden, just as it might be now, and I was helping you a little: it's twenty years ago. I was a lad then, about nineteen years of age."

Thom. "And what did you give for the bit of tobacco that you filled the pipe with?"

Bill. "Why nothing at all. Don't you remember that old smoker, Joe, gave it me for nothing, and the bit of pipe to put it in? and here I smoked it, in this very garden; and he offered to give you some, too, out of his box, but you would not have it. Isn't this true?"

Thom. "Yes, it is all true."

Here the other men looked at one another, and at Thomas, as much as to say that he had told them a story. But Thomas went on

"And what did you do after you had smoked the pipe?"

Bill. "Why I was so thirsty, and my mouth was so hot, that I went to the Blue Boar yonder, to get a drop of beer to cool myself."

Thom. "And did you come back again to me to finish the little job you were helping me to do in the garden?"

Bill. "No, I didn't;-for there was a set of lads. there that I knew a little of, and they seemed right glad to see me, and I sat down among them, and I liked the beer so well, that I stopped as long as they did. It was the first time I was ever in an alehouse." Thom. "I doubt it wasn't the last."

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The Pipe of Tobacco, or the "Dear Bargain." 29

Bill. "No; I liked it so well, that I have hardly ever missed being there an evening of my life since. Thom. "Pray, Will, how much do you think you spend there in one night?"

Bill. "Nay, I don't know; sometimes more, and sometimes less. I don't take a great deal, compared to what some others do. Sometimes a pint, sometimes a pot, and sometimes two pots, just as I can afford it."

Thom. "Then you think that first day at the alehouse was what led you afterwards into the practice of going?"

Bill. "Oh yes, I dare say it was; I had never been there before, and if I had not gone that day, and liked it so well, I perhaps should not have got into the way of going at all, but should have passed my evenings, after work, at home, or have worked in my garden, just as you do."

Thom. And do you think that, taking one day with another, you have not had as much as a quart of beer a day more than you would have done if you had kept at home instead of going to the Blue Boar?"

Bill. "Oh, I have not had much more than an extra quart a day by going there, taking one day with another, and that's no great matter of expense, for I have always been in pretty good work. Some of the fellows take a deal more than that, and get into debt a deal more than I have done."

Thom. "And how much do you think you have spent there from that day to this?"

Bill. "Oh, I don't know. It was all along of that first pipe of tobacco. It has cost me dear, I dare say." Thom. "Do you think, now, that you have spent three or four shillings a week extra by going to the alehouse?" Bill. "Well, perhaps I have."

Thom. "Now if you had staid at home, and put that money out to interest, what do think you should have been worth now?"

Bill. "Nay, I don't know."

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