394 AGEICULTURE AND THE HOUSE. 



be a horse, and which it is important to preserve. Man 

 is so wise, as well as tyrannical, that he finds it difficult 

 to believe that he is not to remodel and reconstruct 

 every thing which is provided for his use and comfort 

 before it is fit for his imperial service ; and so he med- 

 dles with every body and every thing. It is much 

 easier for him to comprehend his own handiwork than 

 the Lord's. His boy stands before him, a bright, strong, 

 attractive lad, full of capacity and promise ; a combina- 

 tion of faculties good and bad, each striving for the 

 ascendency ; a fresh and glowing creation from the hand 

 of God, intended to rejoice his father, and bless man- 

 kind. It is only necessary for that father to know where 

 to encourage him, where to suppress him, and where to 

 let him alone ; to distinguish between his healthy pow- 

 ers, which a superabundance of youth and strength may 

 sometimes make offensive, and those unhealthy deform- 

 ities, which, even while quiet and slumbering, are dis- 

 gusting and discouraging. But this is no easy task. 

 Where there should be peace and mutual confidence, 

 a contest begins : and, before it ends, the boy has lost 

 his self-respect, his love, his confidence in his fellow- 

 men ; his virtues are discouraged ; his vices rage. Or it 

 may be, that, in rooting up the tares, the wheat has been 

 pulled up along with them ; or his good points may 

 have been distorted into subserviency and inefficiency, 

 while his bad ones may have learned how to play the 

 hypocrite, and rule. Where, too, there should be a manly 

 and dignified intercourse, there is too often an effemi- 



I 



