The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1883-02-08

J. y
enough you can train him to do most
anything The same remark is equal
ly applicable to many animals beside
bears. Its explanation is not difficult.
One of our most acute observers, nj
eminent authority in science, eXplains
how SO mlny strange customs and SUI
perstitions, in complete opposition TO
the true welfare and happiness of man.
kind, have become all-powerlui
throughout the world by the fact that
"a belief constantly inculcated during
the early years of life, while the brain
is impressible, appears to acquire a..
most the natu of an instinct, the very
essence of which is that it is followed
independently of reason
The young child is as wax in the
hands of the mother She can mold il
as she chooses-no, not as she chooses,
but according to her ability, even rs
the sculptor his model according to his
ideal and the mastery of the principles
of his art. Every right nj nded mother
would form her child according to the
highest ideals of intelligence and vir-
tue, ii she had the ability, and many
mother grieves that she is so inadse-
quately fitted for this great work, aud
weeps with Mrs Judson in her wall
Poor babes, TO have no guide but mel
A bit of wax no larger than the fist, or
block of marble few in hes square,
may be made, in skillful hands, to take
the shape of any one of the great
masterpieces OF art. Many boy of
modicum ability has in him the ele-
ments that, if rightly developed and
the superlluous material chiselcd away
might make OF Ii m perfect model OF
noble manhood Here is the knot OF
the problem-to pre- erve the ideal lines
and TO remove everything that hides
them. This is the mothers Ia k-to
fill her house with living stat es, or
with statuettes. perfect in time and
symmetry. The materia that is in her
hand may not be of quality or in guam
tity to make colossal statues, but if she
succeeds in making it into good models,
in making of it the best that can be
made, her duty is we'll done.
It must not he forgotten that the
mother trains her child as much
by what she is as by what she
does. She is the atmosphere
Of her child. She is like "the vast
laboratory of the air, which, seeming
to be nothing or less than the shadow Of
a shade, hides within itse'f the prnci-
pies of all things" What she. is Is
stamped ineflaceably upon her child's
being, and he grows toward her by at
traction or away from her by repuls on
according to the development in him OF
qualities VIII ch may come to him during
his growth by cultivation. by inheritanC G
from another source, or by natural de.
velopment. For, as some plants have a
succession of leaves seminal, primor-
dial, persistent--so some children show
a succession of traits and qualities, and
in maturity totally disappoint the prom
Use OF their youth To change The figure,
some children go through as many mem
tai and moral metamorphoses before
reaching the mature state as the frog
does, and in some stages OF their de-
velopment almost drive their parents to
despair. Others excite the liveliest
hopes of ultimate noble maturity. to
bitterly disappoint them. The child
must develop according to the idiosyn.
cracies of its be ng, accord ng TO the
law of its own organization; but, this
being true, it is possible for the mother
who begins in season to so impress ceF-
tain fun amental truths and right prin-
ciples on the brain and heart of her
child that he can never outgrow or es-
cape their influence, and these princi-
Piles shall constantly antagonii tenden-
cies IN him TO evil and strengthen ten
denc es to good, 50 that his whole being
during its entire existence shall respond
in every stage of its development to her
maternal touch. NJ Y. Tribune.