^. ,i 







■^ Behold, then, the nest made, and protected by 

 every prudential means which the mother can devise, 

 fehe rests upon lier perfected work, and dreams of the 

 now guest which it shall contain to-morrow. 



At this hallowed moment, ought not we, too, 

 to leflect and ask ourselves what it is this mother's 

 heait contains ? 



A soul ? Shall we dare to say that this ingenious 

 architect, this tender mother, has a soul ? 



Many persons, nevertheless, full of sense and sym- 

 pathy, will denounce, will reject this very natural idea 

 as a scandalous hypothesis. 



Their heart would incline them towards it ; their 

 mind leads them to repel it ; their mind, or at least 

 their education, the idea which, from an early age, has been impressed 

 upon them. 



