Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot.--Thomson.
By the general voice of mankind, children are held to be
a blessing to the good. Where the bonds of love do not tighten as the
children grow, it is like those cases where the chords and muscles do
not fasten together after a hurt--there has been malpractice. Let us not
live like quacks. There are some general rules in life which will lead
us toward a greater enjoyment of our children's lives. Through them and
their issue we become immortal on this earth. Death cannot sweep us down
entirely. We leave our lives set in a younger cast of flesh, to hold the
fight against the enemy. While they thus serve us, to guard us from
extinction, we also stand as their ambassadors in heaven, presently to
go on our mission,--first to finish our own preparations, and then to
begin those of our offspring, who will follow in our footsteps. Says
Shakspeare: "The voice of parents is the voice of gods, for to their
children they are heaven's lieutenants." Our experience teaches us that
virtue and honesty are in themselves great rewards. Whether we be
virtuous and honest matters little in our estimation of the value of
those qualities. The thief, quaking before the Judge, cannot but compare
his own lot with that of the good man who sits above him. The one has
followed every bent of his inclination, which gradually became more and
more capricious, more difficult to satisfy. The other put on a steadying
curb in early life, denied himself nine times where he humored himself
once, and