The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1845-08-28
From he Mothers Msgl1ins.
IMPORTANCE OF EARLY HABITS

hcu dfe governed, says Dr. faley,
. in nine cases out Of ten, in all that they
do, BY habit" Il Is Of immense impor-
lance. then. that early habits be OF the right
kind. One who in youth has formed bad
habits. often finds himself under the lyran-
nv Of cruel master, from whose power il
seems impossible 10 escare; aud in mo-
menis Of ingenuonsness he will scknow-
ledge, with shame and remorse, that he is
not his own--thai penicious habit has
insidlously got control over him, and ihrea-
tens his ruin. On the other hand, the ac-
QUESTION Of good habits inspires that self
respectso indispensable tolhe accomplish
meni Of anything great or useful: and be.
gets an ease Of manners, cheerfuIness OF
temper, and dignity Of department. emf
neminenly adapted 10 secure the friendship
Of the wise and sirtuous.
But the importance Of correct habits is
fully seen only in connection with that un-
iyersal law, applicable alike to our physical
mental and moral nature. 8 Whatsoever
a man soweih, that shall be also reap"
Complaints Of degcneracy, physical and
moral, are loud and frequent, and the evil
dences. especially Of the former, meet The
eye in almost every circle.
The fear that those, in whose welfare
we are most deeply interested, viii fail 10
answer any valuable purpose in life, eth
er for themselves or others, is, in many
Eases, painfully felt by rejecting parents.
and by the friends Of humanity. Any one,
who casts . wakeful eye over the face Of
society, cannot fail 10 see multiiudes Of
young men and lads, who ought 10 be pre-
panng, BY habits 81 self-denial. and patient,
systematic study, or active industry, for
stations Of responsibility and usefulness,
almost utterly wasting what Providence
designed as the seed-time ola glorious har-
vest. We cannot fail 10 see them, in in
Vulnerable instances, by habits Of idleness
and mental dissipation. encouraged, per-
hsps, by weak parental indulgence, SOW
ing iheseeds ofineurable mental and physi-
cal imbecility. And when he considers the
constantly increasing power Of downward
habits, like rock descending from the
mountain. he must see that. without mi
racle in after life. it is nearly certain tina:
such youth viii never become substantial,
virtuous citizens; but viii more probably
be burden and reproach.
Every indulgence, however trifling, not
fully approved by conscience, lessons the
power Of resisting temptation, and makes
the next offence easier and deeper. Thus
II the young lad is permitted to indulge
appetite or passion. or pride, or Incidence,
or neglect Of any duty, the more frequent
the indulgence The heavier must be the
harvest Of disappointment, shame and sor-
row.
But, in this age Of luxury and false re-
fnement, the young of the other sex, also,
are in no less danger from habits which
must inevitably be followed by unavailing
regre. The young man OF intelligence
and spirit. who Is not wanting in homage
10 female excellence, and who would Be
civil to all, with difficulty suppresses the
s,gh OF pity at the sight Of muliitudes now
destroying themselves, or who have alrea-
by lost that mental and physical vigor and
buoyancy which proper training gives;
and have thus lost The influence their Gre
ator intended them to exert. This he
knows 10 one result of indulging habits of
idlencss and luxurious living, giving their
thoughts to light literature, or none at all.
and neglectIng the means ofsolid, substan-
tial improvement. Multitudes more, lust
entering their teens, he sees, in like man.
ner, sowing such seeds of bodily and men,
cal weakness, as, by the Interchangeable
laws OF Jehovah, must inevitably result in
days and nights Of suffering and disease
---rendering them not merely useless TO So
ciely, but the occasion Of bitter mortifca-
tion and disappointment 10 their friends.
do parents really intend that these love-
~ beings, whom Providence has intrus,ed
70 iholi care, 70 b. trained for glory, no