ration at the wisdom which it unfolds. Man is 

 destined to be long conversant with external 

 objects ; it is, therefore, of essential importance 

 that these objects should be calculated to please 

 his taste and to interest his affections. Were it 

 otherwise, he might still indeed be stimulated to 

 exertion by the cravings of hunger ; but he would 

 be deprived of all that is generous in his motives 

 and elegant in his employments. His mind 

 would be cold, morose, and intensely selfish ; 

 and, through the whole period of his history, he 

 would be doomed to remain a worthless and 

 brutal savage. 



To save us from this degradation, we are en- 

 dowed with various feelings and propensities, 

 which receive an ennobling gratification from 

 the sensible objects with which we are sur- 

 rounded. 



In childhood it very early appears that there 

 is a peculiar pleasure resulting from the mere 

 exercise of the different senses. The mother, as 

 she fondles her infant offspring, traces the first 

 dawn of intelligence, not merely in the eagerness 

 with which he seeks the delicious food that na- 

 ture has provided for him, but in the eye which 

 courts the cheerful light of heaven, and the ear 

 which delights in harmonious sounds and tones 

 of kindness, and the hand which gladly seizes 

 the bauble which affection offers. Nor is this 

 simple and primary source of enjoyment less 

 distinctly indicated in the innocent smile which 

 plays upon his little cheek, as objects flit before 



