Hillsdale Whig standard. (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1846-1851, 1851-06-24
FROM the New York Weekly Sun.
Discipline Of the Family.
ny REV. ASA d. SMITH, D. d.

the Primary School Of our immortal beinl
Amid all its scenes. the formation OF chara'
ter is constantly going forward. Its circun
stances and its institutions, as God appointe
them, are all suited to form character arigh
Pre-eminently of this sort is tho househol
economy. That it has thousand tenderness
ses and joys-that a sweet light is blent evo
with its lingering shadows--that itisa shiel
and covert from the storms of life,-tho
here the weary world worn heart finds repos
and precious balm for its many wounds
in all this, taken by ITSELF we have but a
inferior view of its excellenoies and utilities
We prize it chiefly as formative institution
as contrived by God for the right devslope
ment and shaping of our whole being, espe
cially nnr higher powers.
We may regard it as q discipline for M
mind. From the curiously constructed or
gans Of sense, the means whereby the QUITE
world first wakes to action tho inner
up to highest of the dvinely appointed
social arrangements, everything is adapted Il
envove and mature intellect. II is eminently
so with the family. Take the conversation
Of the parents with each other. How free i:
| it; and who knows not that the intellect ever
works best when most unrestrained, What
force is given to It's action by the warm at.
mosthere of ioUe that is breathed around it
We all know how easy, comparatively, il il
to think, to study or talk, on whatever sub
ject, with sympethetic spirit, and who fre.
quent the opportunities for such inspiring
mental converse Here are two minds -
God has so ordered tin daily contacts; for
this very purpose are they separated from the
rest of the world. They are at once fellow
pupils and mutual teachers, both melting and
helping each other,-the force of each mind
as the combined force of both. And what
necessities Of mental effort does the family
state impose upon them. | take little notice
of their consultations on purely economical
matters; though these. in a community like
ours, where rising in life is the order of the
day, and rising can be achieved only by
thinking, are of no moan account. They
have higher matters jointly to consider; and
such as task mind to the utmost. What
questions are constantly raised in regard to
the care and training Of their beloved off
spring! How, and where, and when, and by
whom shall they be taughti What are there
unfolding peouliatites Of character; and how
are these to be wisely met! If a botanist
may properly consecrate lifetime to the
study of plants and flowers, what subject of
thought to the parent, the opening, expand
ing immortal minds around his ireside?-
What manner of discipline is best for them;
what degrees Of nduIgence-what manner
Of restraint How shall excressences be
pruned away and defects suppliedl How
shall admonition be discretly given and re-
prOOfbe ma4Ss leasetgap pepdiheEeise RffstiaiaaGh.
ing? These, and the like, are questions,
which, if even partially considered, with
n m Of mi xa
or failure in view, can not but powerfully
stimulate and exercise the parental mind.-
They take hold directly or indirectly upon all
call on their earthward
and heavenward hopes, for all wisdom. Add
to all this the thought needful to meet the
ten thousand inquiries, often rice and diff
cult, of juvenile curiosity-and the stern neo-
essary common to all teachng-of seeing
clearly that which you would clearly commu-
nicate, it is further and abundantly evident
that the intellect of no faithful parent can be
either slumberous or stationary,
1t may not be amiss 10 glance here at the
low estimate put by some lordly and self con-
ceited husbands on the intellectug capacities
of woman, and by consequence on her pow
ct 10 enlarge the intellectual privileges of the
husband. Mu,ilating in their thought the
office of woman, simply.
ITO study k0Hsskold good,''
and that Of the lowest sort. Dstrusting her
Judgment, or improperly limiting her sphere
they are chary of coniding to her matters of
grave concernment-especla of exercising
her intellect and beneGtting their own by
IN any difficult out door problem |
They either eek needed counsel elsewhere,
DR. rest in th.ir own fancied sagacity. 1t
would be worse than in vain to meet such |
error by insiting that the structure and hab- |
tudes ofmind are in both sexes precisely the |
same. AS well insist that there is no differ |
once in physical structure. AS we'll contend |
bat the Venus De Medici should be shaped |
md finished like the Stalwart Apollo. We |
receive, OF course, the truth, that the woman
IS, in some sense, the "weaker vessel" Her
mind, like The form in which it dwells, suited
% the quiet, the gentle, the beautiful, rather
han the rough, the stormy, the bold, the i'm
oetuous. She was made to lean on stron-
ger arm; it is fitting she should leave TO that
lrm the stern and perllous work from which
ler peaceful and loving spirit would naturally
-eco. But does it follow thence that her
Intellect is of little avail to the domestic cir
lie; or that il may not he profitable TO the
read of that circle, in his profoundest mu
sings and queslonings in regard to his out
loor activities, responsibilities and pcrilsi-
Why the very fact that the cast of her mental
powers is peculiar, may render them the
more servicable-they may be, as touching a
rivon case, the very complement of his; they
supply just that which was lacking. We
ire quite inclined to the opinion expressed
,y one of our most distinguished jurists, that
there are very few evils to which a man is
subject, that ho might not avoid, if he would
,onverso more with his wife and follow her
ADVICE" A Thousand biasses may the hus
,and's mind receive, amid the jostling crowd
rom which tho wife is FREQ. She takes
fresh Wow of things. She
las a certain nice perception Of proprieties
moreover, sort of esthetical sagacity--and
IN unsophisticated common sense, not little
ervicable in disposing of many grave ques
ion---not little helpful to the right training
# intellect.
The rapidiry with which glass bottles are
made is almost incredible. A workman,
With the assistance OF gatherer snd blower,
will begin and finish 20 dozen quart bottles