This Fable is levelled at those parents, too often met with in society,
who, through negligence or ignorance of their duty, suffer their
offspring to grow up to maturity, without instilling into their minds
a single good principle of morality, or a reverence for religion,
to guide them through life, and to guard them from falling into the
snares of every wolf who may seek their destruction. Others again,
more abandoned indeed, and callous to the tender ties of nature,
bring forth an offspring whom they neither cherish nor provide for.
Such a description of persons are not fit to become parents, and they
must not be surprized, if their want of parental affection produce a
corresponding want of filial attachment and respect: for the duties
between parents and children are reciprocal. It is the goodness of
parents which chiefly entitles them to the respect due to that name;
and it is a paramount duty of children to honour, obey, and revere such
parents as fulfil the obligations which the laws of God and nature
impose upon those who bring children into the world.
[Illustration]
[Illustration] [Page 127]