HOW TO PROMOTE HEALTH, HAPPINESS, ETC. 245 
which we admire in others, it would doubtless lead us to the 
acquisition of this treasure, which few of the rich men of the 
earth possess. God has implanted in the breast of average 
parents sufficient love to cause them to take care of their 
ofispring while in infancy, still a want of the first principle 
of training causes untold mischief, not only to the children 
themselves, but society at large. Let the mother see to it 
that her own system is kept in thorough good order, as it is 
through her that the child is fiist supported. Good wholesome 
food, though it may be very plain, with strict temperance in 
drink, will benefit both mother and child. If the mother is 
weak, a good vegetable tonic, with pure milk, will be found 
much better than beer, wine, porter, or whisky. It is not a 
delusion, as some characterise it, that the first appetite for 
stimulants which ruins millons is drawn from the mother’s 
breasts. Don’t let your children cry much, as they would not 
do so if they were happy. Keep them clean and give them 
fresh air when weather permits. If you can afford it get a 
perambulator, at any rate do not injure your older children 
by making them twist their sides carrying about a baby. As 
a rule no solid food should be given before eight months old, 
as the salivary glands do not secrete fully before that time. 
We cannot emphasise too much the influence of the parents’ 
example. It should be as near perfection as itis possible, for 
the foundation of the character is laid here. A humorous 
writer says ‘‘to train up a child in the way it should go, you 
must travel that way yourself,” example not only being 
better than precept, but the latter is almost void without the 
former. Time and space alone forbid us from giving numerons 
examples of the blessings brought about by a strict observance 
of the above rule and the fearful consequences of neglect. _, 
There is one principle which more than any other enables 
us to carry out the perfection of our characters—that is faith in 
God, and a realization of the purpose of our being. Not only for 
this short fleeting life are we created, but for a brighter, more 
glorious, and eternal existence inthe perfection of God. The 
Apostle Peter, in his short but inspired discourse to the conven- 
