Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-11-22
"rhc child /, Father to the MAN.


" Children are what the mothers are.
so foudest fathers ioudest care
Can fashion go the infants heart
AZ those creative beams that dart
With all their hopes and fears, upon
The cradle Of q sleeping son
SO sings Walter Savage Landor and he
does not oyer-estimate mothers power
\ mother once asked o clergyman when she
should begin to educate her child, which was
then turned three wears old. Madame,
was the reply, YOU have lost three years
already. From the first smile that CLEANS
over an infants cheek, your opportunity be
gins Education is a mental railway be-
ginning at birth and running on TO eternity.
No hand can lay il in the right direction
but the hand OF a mother. Alexander Pope
says:
"'ris education forms the human mind:
just as the twig is bent, the trees inclined.
Maternal fingers are the most deft and skill
ful in the bending process, and nothing in
the world is more important than the bias
which they give il. On the summit of the
Rocky Mountains, ten thousand feet above
the sea, are two fountains, so near that it
would have been easy to divert either stream
let to the other Follow the course of one
of these infant rivers, and you reach the
'fMlA va NifAliNs l' ~ Has hNiNiDf Allt lllLuAN
Mississippi Rctrace your steps to the source
of the other stream, follow its course, and
You are led to the mouth of the Columbia
and the great Pacific Ocean. To go from
the terminus of one stream to that of the
other You have to scale mountains ten thou
sand feet high, and to travel no less than five
thousand miles So much for the influence
OF bias in early youth. The mothers heart
is the child's schoolroom. Letus hear what
keen old 4Esop has to say about this;
A school-bog stole horn-boob from one
his school.fellows, and brought it to his
mother Instead of chastising him, she
smiled upon the deed. In course of time
the boy, now grown into man, became a
confirmed thief, and being caught in the
very act, he was bound aud led to execution
Perceiying his mother among the crowd
wailing for her son, he begged the officers
10 be allowed to speak one word in her ear
She quickly drew near, and he, seizing the
lobe of her ear between his teeth, bit it off.
The crowd joined her in upbraiding the I'M
natural son. 1t is she" he said, "who is
the cause of my ruin for if, when | stole
the horn-book she had punished me as
deserved, ! should never have come to this
untimely end" She spared the rod and
spoit the child. She smiled on a bad deed
and SO had to weep for worse Her foolish
fondness was fatal in its effect, for a child
may have too much OF its mothers blessing.
As the old bird chirps, the Young one
learns " If the mare have a bald face the
filly will have blaze" Trot feyther. trot
mither how can the foal canter ? ?" Chill
dren will follow the example of their pa.
rents but will initiate their faults more
surely than their virtues and 1T is not
easy to straighten in the oak the crook that
grew in the sapling." "What the colt
learns in youth he continues in age" The
Italian proverb says Little children and
headaches-great children and heartaches "
but a mothers prudent love may greatly
lessen both, 81" A craw like snaw We never
saw" and " As the crow is, the egg will
be so if the mothers morality should
be dark of plumage, it may be fairly pre-
dicted that the child's morality will be OF an
equally sombre hue. Usually, the child is a
chip Of the old block, whether that be heart
of oak or touch-wood Let every mother
remember that ga pet lamb makes a cross
ram" and that her children are sure to be
spoilt by coddling, as a great many chill
dren are
said an old crab to a young one why
do you walk so crooked child " Walk
straight Mother" said the young crab,
show me the way, will You and when
see You taking a straight course | will try
and follow" Example is better than pre-
cept, and where the fox steals geese the cub
will prowl for goslings. A crooked stick has
a crooked shadow, and youth whose early
training has been in sin is likely to bring
both himself and his trainers into sorrow
II may be true that BARNS are certain care
and nae sure joy," but it is also true that
sufficient care may ensure the JOY, Tor the
Good Book teaches that if we train up q
child in the way he should go, when he il
old he will not depart from It, 1t is quit
| true that this rule appears in actual life t'
/ have its exceptions, just as a good COW MAJ
| have an i'll calf, but as every farmer viii
tell you, the latter is not probable if du
7are hc taken in the breeding. A discredit
able old saw, which is sternly Scottish, says
Hang thief when he's young, he'll m
steal when he's aud." True, but the wise
plan would be TO do what the mother in tn
fable didn't do, correct the child and teac
it better ways.
Parents, live godly bad example is
contagious disease. II you would enjoy tn
fruit, fence the flower for if you rule yout
well, age will rule itself. Begin betime
however anliabe the child may be, for til
sweetest wine makes the sharpest vinega
" The mill cannot grind with the water tina
is past" When the horse is at the gallo
the brides over late.
" Mother, may God give thee grace
10 train thy infant for the race
OF life that il may reach the goal
Gods love has set before his soul,
Begin thy labors from the first,
Bid the young seed Of spring-time burst,
And lead it on FROM hour TO hour,
To ripen into perfect flower
-Chrisiian nl lI0fL