The Little Folks of House and Farm. 215 



Another point, and one which has hitherto been touched lightly 

 lest the modest public should hold up its hands in holy horror, is 

 this : There should be that mutual confidence in mother and child, 

 that when he is old enough to question and comprehend them, he 

 should have nature's sacred mysteries of life from the pure lips of 

 his own mother, and not be left to recpive them from vulgar and 

 unholy lips, so distorted with demoralizing ideas that his whole 

 life may be soiled and poisoned thereby. What a heritage of 

 shame and sorrow we may spare to our beloved, if we act sensibly 

 and truthfully, trusting in the guidance of Him who in the morn- 

 ing of the years, pronounced all his works " very good." 



Let us teach the little folks of house and farm that temperance 

 is corporeal piety, ''the preservation of the divine order in the 

 body, the harmony of all the members thereof, the true symmetry 

 of part with part, or as one has said, 'the worship of God with 

 every limb of the body.' ' Temperance is of two kinds: modera- 

 tion in the use of right things, and total abstinence in the use of 

 wrong things. Temperance in the use of bread is moderation; 

 temperance in the use of strong drink is total abstinence. If we 

 were discussing stimulants, we might say something about one in 

 very common use, and we are sure we should not offend even 

 those who indulge in the same, for we never remember to have 

 heard an honest user of the " weed " discuss the habit, but he 

 advised all who had not commenced this indulgence never to do 

 so. We want the little folks of house and farm taught to keep 

 the body and the soul clean. We like St. Paul. We believe he 

 was a clean, neat man. He wasn't satisfied with advising us to 

 have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, but added " and 

 our bodies washed with pure water." If he had lived after Sir 

 Walter Raleigh, we feel sure he would have said something about 

 sweet breaths and clean mouths. Strange that he did not antici- 

 pate the weed. One writer says: "I never see a boy beginning 

 to smoke or chew without trembling for his future. I ?ee that 

 the highest possibilities of that boy's manhood may be lost, and 

 though he may have the native strength to resist further evil, I 

 know not a vice to which he is not rendering himself more sus- 

 ceptible." It is urged that there are many good and upright men. 



