The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1852-09-16

you need not despair of making the per-
feet conquest you DESIRE" d3ai 600
81 am glad you are sauguine 1 only
wish were equally so." irH
"It might not be as well if you we're.
1t is almost always the case that we are
most in danger Of falling when we thing
ourselves secure. In conscious weak
ness there is often real power"
eff that conciosness gives power,
then / am strong enough" replied Mrs.
Burton. 20 a. .H. go m.a
And she was stronger than she sup
posed, and strong because she felt her
self weak. Had she been confident Of
strength she would not have been watch
full over herself, tut fearing every mo-
ment lest she should betray her natural
irascibility and fretfulness of temper,
she was all the time upon her guard.
To her own astonishment and that Of her
husband, she was able to maintain the
power she had gained over Harry, and to
be calm even when he was disturbed.
But in all the states Of moral ad-
vancement there are days and nights, as
in our natural life. There are times
when all the downward tendencies ofour
nature are active and appear to govern
US entirely; when our sun has gone
down and all within us is dark. At
such times we are tempted to believe
that it has become dark forever, that
the sun will no more appear in our hor-
izon. This is only the night before the
mornings, which will certainly break and
seem brighter and full of strength to the
anxious spring. a 4f
Such changes Mrs. Burton experience
ed, and they were the unerring signs Of
her progress. Sometimes for days to-
gether she would not be able to control
herself; against all the perverse tempers
of her child her feelings would react un-
duly. But these seasons were Of shorter
and shorter duration on every recurrence
of them, and the~reason was, she strove
most earnestly for the sake of that child
to reduce her whole mind into state Of
order. rf ,- .F sl.tt fsalr4 rg
1t must not be supposed that Mrs.
Burton always found the will of her boy
ready to yield itself up even to the con-
troll of gentleness and love. With him,
too, was there night and morning;
season when all the perverse affections
of his mind came forth into disorderly
manifestations, refusing to hearken even
to the gentle words of his mother and
a season when these were all quiscent
and trnly human, because good affections
governed in their stead. These changes
were soon marked by the mother and
their meaning fully comprehended. AT
first they were causes of discouragement
but soon were felt to be really encour-
aging, for they indicated advancement.
Faithfully and earnestly, day by day,
did Mrs. Burton strive with herself and
her boy; the hardest struggle was with
herself; usually, when she had gained
the victory over herself she had nothing
more to do, for her child opposed her no
longer.
Days, weeks, months and years went
by; during all this time the mother
continued to strive earnestly with her
self and with her child. The happiest
results followed; the fretful, passionate,
disorderly boy, became eyen-minded and
orderly in his habits. A word gently
spoken was all powerful in its influence
for good, but the least shade of harsh
ness would arouse his stubborn will and
deform the fair face of his young spirit.
Whenever mothers complain to Mrs.
Burton of the difficulty they find in
their children, she has but one
piece of advice to give, and that is to