"The mill-streams that turn the clappers of the world arise in
solitary places."--HELPS.
"Lord! with what care hast Thou begirt us round!
Parents first season us. Then schoolmasters
Deliver us to laws. They send us bound
To rules of reason."--GEORGE HERBERT.
1. SCHOOL OF CHARACTER.--Home is the first and most important school
of character. It is there that every human being receives his best
moral training, or his worst, for it is there that he imbibes those
principles of conduct which endure through manhood, and cease only
with life.
2. HOME MAKES THE MAN.--It is a common saying, "Manners make the
man;" and there is a second, that "Mind makes the man;" but truer than
either is a third, that "Home makes the man." For the home-training
includes not only manners and mind, but character. It is mainly in the
home that the heart is opened, the habits are formed, the intellect is
awakened, and character moulded for good or for evil.
3. GOVERN SOCIETY.--From that source, be it pure or impure, issue
the principles and maxims that govern society. Law itself is but the
reflex of homes. The tiniest bits of opinion sown in the minds of
children in private life afterwards issue forth to the world, and
become its public opinion; for nations are gathered out of nurseries,
and they who hold the leading-strings of children may even exercise a
greater power than those who wield the reins of government.
4. THE CHILD IS FATHER OF THE MAN.--The child's character is the
nucleus of the man's; all after-education is but superposition; the
form of the crystal remains the same. Thus the saying of the poet
holds true in a large degree, "The child is father of the man;" or
as Milton puts it, "The childhood shows the man, as morning shows the
day." Those impulses to conduct which last the longest and are rooted
the deepest, always have their origin near our birth. It is then that
the germs of virtues or vices, of feelings or sentiments, are first
implanted which determine the character of life.
5. NURSERIES.--Thus homes, which are nurseries of children who grow
up into men and women, will be good or bad according to the power that
governs them. Where the spirit of love and duty pervades the home,
where head and heart bear rule wisely there, where the daily life
is honest and virtuous, where the government is sensible, kind, and
loving, then may we expect from such a home an issue of healthy,
useful, and happy beings, capable as they gain the requisite strength,
of following the footsteps of their parents, of walking uprightly,
governing themselves wisely, and contributing to the welfare of those
about them.
6. IGNORANCE, COARSENESS, AND SELFISHNESS.--On the other hand, if
surrounded by ignorance, coarseness, and selfishness, they will
unconsciously assume the same character, and grow up to adult years
rude, uncultivated, and all the more dangerous to society if placed
amidst the manifold temptations of what is called civilized life.
"Give your child to be educated by a slave," said an ancient Greek
"and, instead of one slave, you will then have two."
7. MATERNAL LOVE.--Maternal love is the visible providence of our
race. Its influence is constant and universal. It begins with the
education of the human being at the outstart of life, and is prolonged
by virtue of the powerful influence which every good mother exercises
over her children through life. When launched into the world, each
to take part in its labors, anxieties, and trials, they still turn
to their mother for consolation, if not for counsel, in their time of
trouble and difficulty. The pure and good thoughts she has implanted
in their minds when children continue to grow up into good acts long
after she is dead; and when there is nothing but a memory of her left,
her children rise up and call her blessed.
8. WOMAN, ABOVE ALL OTHER EDUCATORS, educates humanly. Man is the
brain, but woman is the heart of humanity; he its judgment, she its
feeling; he its strength, she its grace, ornament and solace. Even
the understanding of the best woman seems to work mainly through
her affections. And thus, though man may direct the intellect, woman
cultivates the feelings, which mainly determine the character. While
he fills the memory, she occupies the heart. She makes us love what
he can make us only believe, and it is chiefly through her that we are
enabled to arrive at virtue.
9. THE POOREST DWELLING, presided over by a virtuous, thrifty,
cheerful, and cleanly woman may thus be the abode of comfort, virtue
and happiness; it may be the scene of every enobling relation
in family life; it may be endeared to man by many delightful
associations; furnishing a sanctuary for the heart, a refuge from the
storms of life, a sweet resting-place after labor, a consolation in
misfortune, a pride in prosperity and a joy at all times.
10. THE GOOD HOME IS THUS THE BEST OF SCHOOLS, not only in youth
but in age. There young and old best learn cheerfulness, patience,
self-control, and the spirit of service and of duty. The home is the
true school of courtesy, of which woman is always the best practical
instructor. "Without woman," says the Provencal proverb, "men were
but ill-licked cubs." Philanthropy radiates from the home as from a
center. "To love the little platoon we belong to in society," said
Burke, "is the germ of all public affections." The wisest and best
have not been ashamed to own it to be their greatest joy and happiness
to sit "behind the heads of children" in the inviolable circle of
home.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: DAY DREAMING.]
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