120 FABLES. 



APPLICATION. 



THIS Fable is levelled at those parents, too often 

 met with in society, who, through negligence or 

 ignorance of their duty, suffer their offspring to 

 grow up to maturity, without instilling into their 

 minds a single good principle of morality, or a 

 reverence for religion, to guide them through life, 

 and to guard them from falling into the snares of 

 every Wolf who may seek their destruction. 

 Others again, more abandoned indeed, and callous 

 to the tender ties of nature, bring forth an offspring 

 whom they neither cherish nor provide for. Such a 

 description of persons are not fit to become parents, 

 and they must not be surprized, if their want of 

 parental affection produce a corresponding Avant of 

 filial attachment and respect : for the duties be- 

 tween parents and children are reciprocal. It is 

 the goodness of parents which chiefly entitles them 

 to the respect due to that name; and it is a para- 

 mount duty of children to honour, obey, and revere 

 such parents as fulfil the obligations which the laws 

 of God and nature impose upon those who bring 

 children into the world. 



