252 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



attractions are formed, whilst old ones, as with a re- 

 touch of the magnet, are refreshed ; and there is no 

 willing return to work after a conversation. To 

 mitigate an evil which cannot be prevented, let the 

 missions of the unfittest person about the house be 

 few not on the spur of the moment, and at the bid- 

 ding of every body otherwise the solid day, broken 

 in pieces, is thrown away like the fragments of a jar 

 not fit to be mended, but for such loved excursions 

 allot such hours as are followed by a better induce- 

 ment to return than that which the spade presents. 

 All house work will be found bad for the boy; though 

 trifling as to time, such jobs are great as to pretence, 

 and all out-of-doors work is by them rendered nuga- 

 tory. Get up early some mornings, and see the 

 stable duties sufficiently well done ; mark the time 

 that may be requisite ; make a liberal allowance for 

 less activity in your absence, and point out the allow- 

 ance; then fix the hour at which the garden work 

 must commence, and see that the hour is exactly 

 observed, though the work of the broom should be 

 left unfinished. This neglect may be noticed at the 

 breakfast hour of rest. There is no harshness in 

 this, but merely what is felt to be just; and such 

 strictness is essential to moral discipline; for what is 

 neglect or idleness but a species of theft ? The 

 reasonableness of this even a stubborn youth cannot 

 resist, and he will be brought by a little patience to 

 see that regularity is a saving to himself, and a little 

 perseverance on your part will add to the value of 

 his discovery the force of a habit. 



But if you would have reason and conscience 

 to rule, avoid every thing that is not reasonable. 



