232 EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 



youth practiced from necessity ; and if the mother without casting 

 any shade upon the sunny youth of her daughters, were to teach 

 them for their pleasure what it had been her task to practice in 

 youth, the homely but substantial accomplishments of house\vifery, 

 these sons and daughters would achieve happier lives for themselves, 

 and would escape many a trap and pitfall which tho whirligig of 

 time, in its eccentric and uncertain course, may onng'llSm into con- 

 tact with. Every gon of wealth snouia learn a trade or calling; every 

 daughter of affluence should graduate as a housewife. To affect to 

 sneer at wealth is both absurd and vulgar, for in general its enjoy- 

 ment implies the possession of some of the most worthy virtues ; but 

 the young should be taught this lesson, without which their educa- 

 tion will never fit them for the highest and best achievements of life, 

 viz. : that moral worth, not material wealth, makes up the highest 

 dignity of manhood and womanhood; that well-earned self-respect 

 is the highest reward any man can compass; that whoever possesses 

 these, whether mechanic or millionaire, meet upon a common plane, 

 and that upon the highest and best level of existence that human 

 life can achieve. 



Good Manners While care is taken in the education of the 

 young, that the development of physical perfection is accompanied 

 by the healthy progress of mind and morals, what are called " good 

 manners " must not be lost sight of. To paraphrase the catechism 

 these are " the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual 

 grace." They constitute the manifest expression of mental and 

 moral health not the expression of profession, but the spontaneous 

 effusion of a well-constituted character. They are the blossoms 

 which bloom upon the tree of worth and goodness, instinct with 

 the fragrance of every virtue from which they seek the springs of 

 existence. Good manners do not mean the mechanical observance of 

 social formalities, the cold and unsympathetic routine of propriety. 

 Courtesy of speech and manner, even if it be only following tne 

 adjunct to " assume a virtue if you have it not," is always pleasi ng 

 and agreeable; but that is as " the tinkling cymbal," when com- 

 pared with the grateful music which is awakened in the chords of 

 a good heart by the impulses of an upright mind. Good manners, 

 so considered, are the stamp which attests the unalloyed gold of a 

 sweet and harmonious disposition, and no base or spurious counter- 

 feit, however perfect the imitation or however bright and plausible 

 the resemblance, can ever seek to rival its perfection. It should be 

 the constant care of parents to teach the young that the courtesies 

 of life are something real, and not a mere hollow form; and in 

 training them in their conventional modes of expression, to gift the 

 youth with those graces of character which shine out in good man- 

 ners deference and obedience to elders and superiors, respectful 

 homage to the aged, chivalrous protection for the weak and feeble, 

 sympathy with the unfortunate and even with the erring, and pleas- 

 ure in adding to the happiness of others. These constitute true 



