FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 231 



little coat." The coat that Hannah made for Samuel, who, from serving 

 in the temple, became the prophet and the upright ruler. The little coat 

 has a figurative application to every mother's high calling. For she not 

 only provides for the body, but for the moral "habits" of character and 

 conduct. The mother, more than anyone else, helps to weave her child's 

 "habits" of thought and conduct, and does it as clothes are made, stitch 

 by stitch, little by little, and by silent influences. Hannah's daily life 

 helped to weave Samuel's noble character. The mother made tl^e man. 

 Train them so that, with Henry Clay, they will say, "I would rather be 

 right than be president." Then, as Bishop Simpson said, they can say, 

 "The voices that spoke to me when a child are now speaking through me 

 to the world." In this way you have a picture that will never fade, its^ 

 influence will live on and on, and as Lowell says: 



"An angel stood and met my gaze 



Through the low doorway of my tent. 

 The tent is struck, the vision stays; 

 I only know she came and went." 



FRIDAY AFTERNOON. 



MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. 



MRS. MARY A. MAYO. 



We want to talk this afternoon as a mother to mothers, as a daughter 

 to daughters. Mothers, what are you teaching your daughters in regard 

 to themselves? how are you teaching and for what purpose? These are 

 serious questions and demand from us careful thoughts and truthful 

 answers. Are you teaching them, in a good mother's sweet way, what 

 God designed them for, and how? or are they growing up in ignorance 

 of the laws that control their being? And not only that, but which con- 

 trol the lives of the children that shall be bom unto them. 



Is that bond of confidence, which between you and your little daughter 

 is perfect, being weakened as she grows older, until arriving at woman- 

 hood's years (when she needs it the most) it is broken altogether? When 

 this bond of confidence is broken, the mother is the one who generally 

 breaks it. And so subtle and delicate is that tie of confidence that when 

 once broken it is never so strong and perfect again. The average mother 

 does not purposely sunder this bond of confidence, but from the pressure 

 of work, carelessness, of indifference, and frequently by a spirit of mock 

 modesty, she fails to impart to the boy or girl the very knowledge that 

 concerns them most. The children come to us and ask us strange ques- 

 tions, questions that are forcing themselves upon the mind of every grow- 

 ing child. In reply to these momentous questions, sometimes we smile 

 and put them off with evasive answers; sometimes we say, "wait until 

 you are older," or bid them cease asking such questions; while frequently 

 we deliberately tell them what is not true. Why, in the name of reasoik 



