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Children, in too many instances, are looked upon as anything but a blessing: they are treated as incumbrances, or worse; and the neglect in which they are brought up renders it almost impossible for them, when they grow older, to know anything properly of moral or social duties. This result, we know, in numerous cases, is not wilful-does not arise from ill intentions on the part of parents, but from want of fixed plans and principles. There are hundreds of families in this country whose daily life is nothing better than a daily scramble-where time and place, from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night, are regarded as matters of chance. In such homes as these, where the inmates are willing to do well, but don't know how, a word in season is often welcome. "Great principles," we are told, "are at the bottom of all things; but to apply them to daily life, many little rules, precautions, and insights are needed."

In the relation between parents and children, precaution is, perhaps, more needed with regard to punishments than anything else; and as punishment is most frequently inflicted for what is called mischief, we shall confine our remarks to this part of the subject. In some families the children are continually addressed as "tiresome plagues," ," "mischievous little brats," and such like terms. Now, what is mischief? Are the sports and occupations of unreflecting childhood mischief? Are inexperience and a desire for change mischief? Look at a youthful group,

desire to do something, which old people have as well as young ones. It should be remembered that the child's mind is essentially active, and that if employment be not found for him, he will seek it for himself. If children were in all cases properly directed, we should hear very little about mischief. In some families the children are considered to be very good if they do not jump, sing, shout, or make a noise, and are grave and sedate as penguins. But this is in direct opposition to nature: such very good children are very much to be pitied. To be healthful and happy, they must be allowed free and hearty exercise of their limbs and lungs.

It is a settled point in morals, that an accidental fault or error is not to be punished as though it were an intentional offence. Like, we know, begets like; and if, by continual punishment or snubbing, a spirit of opposition has been raised in a child's mind, we must not be surprised at a display of obstinacy in return. If, instead of saying to children, "Leave that alone," "Don't be troublesome,” parents would tell them what to do, give them something on which to expend their activity, there would be but little occasion to complain of mischief. But this system of training involves a great deal of trouble; and many parents, rather than take this trouble, oppose themselves to everything like liveliness on the part of their children. It is certainly much easier to scold and flog than to guide by precept and example. No good, we are often told, can be done with boys, unless they are "kept down." But there is more real mischief in this keeping down than would ever enter the boys' heads if left to themselves. We should be very cautious of injuring the feeling of self-respect which the young possess in common with those of more advanced years. or destroy this feeling, and there is little or no hope for the character afterwards. Punishing for mischief generally produces this result, as the punishment is more often proportioned to the parent's anger than to the child's offence.

Weaken

"Turning to mirth all things of earth, As only boyhood can," and say whether all the impulses they exhibit are to be set down as mischief? Nine times out of ten, the annoyances caused by the presence or pastimes of children arise, not from a desire to mar and spoil, but from thoughtlessness and exuberance of animal spirits. Give a child a plaything: he is amused for a time, but soon tries to alter the form of the toy, or breaks it to pieces. The little fellow did not mean to destroy it; perhaps he was curious to see how the thing was put Children cannot be wound up and set together, or was merely gratifying theagoing as a clock for a week together;

they are liable to go wrong every hour, unless properly superintended and regulated:

"Young heads are giddy, and young hearts are

warm,

And make mistakes for manhood to reform:
Boys are, at best, but pretty buds unblown,
Whose scent and hues are rather guessed than
known."

THE "TURKEY" PATENT OF
NOBILITY.

FROM THE FRENCH.

A FEW days after the Battle of Ivry, Henry the Fourth of France arrived, one evening, incognito, at Alençon, with but a small retinue, and repaired to the house of one of his officers, who was firmly attached to him. This officer was from home, but his wife, to whom the king was unknown, received him not only with every mark of respect, as one evidently holding a high rank in the army, but with a cordial welcome, as he announced himself to be a friend of her husband. However, a short time after his arrival, the Prince, thinking he perceived some symptoms of uneasiness in his hostess, said to her, "Is anything the matter, Madame? I trust I have put you to no inconvenience. Speak freely to me, for, rest assured that it would not be my wish to incommode you in the slightest degree."

The work of training is, in some degree, lightened by the fact that children are very imitative: what they see others do they will try to do themselves; and if they see none but good examples, good conduct on their part may be naturally looked for. Children are keen observers, and are very ready at drawing conclusions when they see a want of correspondence between profession and practice in those who have the care of them. At the age of seven the child's brain has reached its full growth; it seldom becomes larger after that period, and it then contains the germ of all that the man ever accomplishes. Here is an additional reason "Sir," replied the lady, "I will frankly for laying down the precept:-Be your-confess to you that I am in some little selves what you wish the children to be. embarrassment. This is Thursday, and, When correction is necessary, let it be slight as your acquaintance may be with administered in such a way as to make the province, you will not be surprised at the child refrain from doing wrong from the difficulty I find in providing you a desire to do right, not for the sole rea- such a supper as I could wish: I have son that wrong brings punishment. had the whole town searched; there is experience teaches us that if a good thing literally nothing to be had, and I am is to be obtained, it must be by perse- quite distressed. One of my neighbours vering diligence; and of all good things, says he has a fat turkey in his larder, the pleasure arising from a well-trained which he will give me with great pleasure, family is one of the greatest. Parents provided he may come himself to take or educators have no right to use their share of it. This condition appears to children just as whim or prejudice may me impossible to be complied with, as dictate. Children are smaller links in this man is one of our village artisans, the great social chain, and bind together whom I could not venture to admit to in lasting ties many portions which other table with you; but, nevertheless, he wise would be completely disjointed: their seems so determined not to part from his joyousness enlivens many a home, and turkey, that no offer I can make will their innocence is a powerful check and tempt him to let me have it, save on these antidote to much that is evil. The im- terms. And now, Sir, you know the plicit obedience which is required of them whole cause of my embarrassment." will always be given when called forth by a spirit of forbearance, self-sacrifice,

and love:

"Ere long comes the reward, And for the cares and toils we have endured Repays us joys and pleasures manifold."

All

"Would he be good company ?" said Henry.

"Yes, Sir; he is the wag of the neighbourhood, and is, besides, a most worthy man, a good Frenchman, a very zealous royalist, and is well to do in the world."

"By all means, Madam, let him come. I am rather hungry, and, even though he bore us a little, it is better to sup with him than not sup at all."

The worthy turkey owner being summoned, arrived in full dress, bringing his turkey with him; and, whilst it was roasting, chatted away freely and merrily, told lots of stories, and so amused the king that, though famishing, he waited for the supper most patiently.

The man's flow of spirits seemed inexhaustible-he never flagged for one moment during the repast: all the while, however, taking at least his full share of the turkey. The good king laughed heartily, and the more merry he grew, the more his guest seemed at his ease, and cracked his jokes with redoubled zest. But, as the monarch was rising from table, the so lately familiar companion threw himself at his feet, exclaiming

man, "is by granting me a patent of nobility."

"Is it to you ?" cried the king, in utter astonishment.

"And why not, Sire? Though I am but an artisan, I am a Frenchman, and have a Frenchman's heart."

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Very well, my good friend; but what are to be your armorial bearings ?"

"My turkey did me such good service to-day, that it is well worthy of the honour."

"Well, be it so," said the king, with a burst of laughter. "Ventre saint-grisyou shall henceforth be a gentleman, and carry in your arms a turkey in pale."

The newly-made noble purchased a property in the environs of Alençon, and the crest of his descendants is still a turkey in pale.

'BE SYSTEMATIC.

"I implore your pardon, Sire. This day is certainly the proudest of my life. It will add more to your convenience I saw your Majesty when you first ar- and comfort through life than you can imarived, and was so fortunate as to recog-gine. It saves money. For a while it may nize you. I did not tell any one, not be a little troublesome, but you will soon even this lady, when I perceived she did find it easier to do right than wrongnot know the person of our great king. that it is easier to act by rule than withForgive me, Sire. Had I acted other- out one. wise I should not have amused your Majesty so much, nor would your Majesty have so much enjoyed my neighbour's surprise."

The lady was also now at the feet of the king, who, with that condescending kindness which was so essentially his characteristic, begged them both to rise. "No, Sire," cried the artisan, persisting in remaining on his knees; "I must lie at your feet till your Majesty deigns to hear me a moment longer."

"Speak," replied Henry, who was greatly delighted with the scene.

"Sire," answered the man, as gravely as possible, "the glory of my king is dear to me; and I cannot think, without pain, how it will be tarnished by his having suffered such a rustic as myself to appear at his table. I see but one way of averting such a misfortune."

"And what is that way ?" replied the king.

"The only way, Sire," answered the

Be systematic in everything; let it extend to the very minutest trifles, it is not beneath you. Whitfield could not go to sleep at night, if, after retiring, he remembered that his gloves and ridingwhip were not in their usual place, where he could lay his hands on them in the dark on any emergency; and such are the men who leave their mark for good on the world's history. It was by his systematic habits from youth to age that Noah Webster was able to leave the world his great dictionary. 66 Method was the presiding spirit of the life," writes the biographer.

Systematic men are the only reliable men; they are the men who comply with their engagements. They are minute men. The man who has nothing to do is the man who does nothing. The man of system is soon known to do all that he engages to do; to do it well, and to do at the time promised; consequently he has his hands full. When I want any mecha

nical job done, I go to the man whom I always find busy, and I do not fail to find him to be the man to do that job promptly and to the hour.

And more, teach your children to be systematic. Begin with your daughters at five years of age; give them a drawer or two for their clothing; make it a point to go to that drawer any hour of the day and night, and if each article is not properly arranged, give quiet and rational admonition; if arranged well, give an affectionate praise and encouragement. Remember that children, as well as grown people, will do more to retain a name than to make one. As soon as practicable, let your child have a room which shall be its own, and treat that room as you did the drawer. Thus you will plant and cultivate a habit of systematic action which will bless that child when young, increase the blessing when the child becomes a parent, and extend its pleasurable influence to the close of life. A single unsystematic person in a house is a curse to any family. A wife who has her whole establishment so arranged, from cellar to attic, that she knows on any emergency where to go for a required article, is a treasure to any man (my experience reader!) while one who never knows where anything is, and when it is by accident found, is almost sure to find it crumpled, soiled, or out of order, such a wife as the latter is unworthy of the name, and is a living reproach to the mother who bore her.

SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND. THERE is grandeur in the romantic scenery of other lands, but it is commonly associated with the idea of repose. There is silence on the mountain and the glen, still and glassy is the wide expanse of the lake, the woods scarce tremble in the breeze, and the voice of the stream sounds like the gentle murmur or breath of nature in its sleep. But in Switzerland there is no silence, or at best it is the hush that precedes the storm. Even Night, the queen of silence, cannot enforce her mandate there while you wander forth when the moon is at her height, and all her attendant sapphires

gleaming and glistening around-long after the last crimson flush of evening has faded away, and long before the rose of dawn lights up the mountain peaks while the valleys are still swathed in darkness--though there is no wind to stir the foliage, and no muffled sound of a cataract reaches the ear-you will hear far off from the desert wastes, a hollow inarticulate moan, an ineffable and mysterious wail, as if nature shuddered under some awful load, and was uttering a pent sigh for its release. That is the voice of the never-resting glaciers, which day and night crawl down towards the valleys, grinding the rocks that are their basement, or wrenching them from their deep foundation. So all night long there is silence in heaven, while the earth is moaning in its caves. It is not, however, the lady moon, but the sun, the fertiliser, the life giver, the great source of energy, that wakes the thunders of the Alps. Fiercely beat the beams upon the sides of the snow mountain, the vast accumulations of a long and dreary winter; and although the frost has long held the masses in his gripe, and refused to let them go, even he must yield to the power that invigorates and releases the world.

HISTORICAL ANECDOTE.

ON the dollars, stivers, &c., coined at the town of Dordrecht in Holland, is the figure of a milkmaid sitting under her cow, which figure is also exhibited in relievo on the water-gate of the place. The occasion was as follows:-In the noble struggle of the United Provinces for their liberties, the Spaniards detached a body of forces from the main army, with the view of surprising Dor drecht. Certain milk-maids, belonging to a ceived, as they were going to milk, some rich farmer in the vicinity of the town, persoldiers concealed under the hedges. They had the presence of mind to pursue their occupation without any symptoms of alarm. On their return home they informed their master of what they had seen, who gave information to the Burgomaster, and the sluices were let loose, by which great numbers of the Spaniards were drowned, and the expedition defeated. The States ordered the farmer a handsome revenue for the loss he sustained by the overflowing of his lands, and rewarded the women.

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A TIGER, roaming for his prey
Sprang on a TRAVELLER in the way;
The prostrate game a LION spies,
And on the greedy tyrant flies:
With mingled roar resounds the wood;
Their teeth, their claws, distil with blood;
'Till, vanquished by the LION's strength,
The spotted foe extends his length.
The man besought the shaggy lord,
And, on his knees, for life implored:
His life the gen'rous hero gave.
Together walking to his cave;
The LION thus bespoke his guest :-

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"What hardy beast shall dare contest My matchless strength? You saw the fight, And must attest my pow'r and right; Forc'd to forego their native home, My starving slaves at distance roam; Within these woods I reign alone; The boundless forest is my own. Bears, wolves, and all the savage brood, Have dy'd the regal den with blood:

These carcasses on either hand,
These bones, that whiten all the land,
My former deeds and triumph tell-
Beneath these jaws what numbers fell!"

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"True," says the man; "the strength 1 Might well the brutal nation awe; But shall a monarch, brave like you, Place glory in so false a view? Robbers invade their neighbour's right: Be loved; let justice bound your might. Mean are ambitious heroes' boasts, Of wasted lands and slaughtered hosts. Pirates, their pow'r by murder gain; Wise kings by love and mercy reign. To me your clemency hath shewn The virtue worthy of a throne: Heav'n gives you pow'r above the rest, Like Heav'n, to succour the distress'd."

"The case is plain," the monarch said; "False glory hath my youth misled; For beasts of prey, a servile train, Have been the flatt'rers of my reign. You reason well; yet tell me, friend, Did ever you in courts attend? For all my fawning rogues agree, That human heroes rule like me.'

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