Some of the reasons, why females should qualify themselves to conduct the whole education of their sex, are peculiar to our country. Here, the roads to wealth and distinction are thrown open equally to all. Men are continually solicited by strong motives, to gain or glory. Competition in some form or other, stimulates every individual of every rank. So restless, almost sabbathless are their struggles, that foreigners call our country a great work-shop, and say that our men look care-worn from their youth. Moved thus by the incentives to wealth or power, will the most energetic, and the best endowed, stoop to the drudgery of teaching ignorant children? Will they endure it sufficiently long, to become versed in its countless details? Will the mind which is ambitious to amass millions, be content with its petty gains? Here then, is a sphere for the patience and quietness of woman to enter, and win a reward which earth can never give.

It is true, that here and there, men of erudition and benevolence may devote themselves to the work of education, as to a permanent profession. But what proportion can these be expected to bear, to the wants of our rapidly increasing and broadly emigrating population? Will the pioneer of the unplanted wild, or the colonist on the western prairie, gather around him the children of an infant settlement, and instil into them

the simple rudiments of science, or watch the growth of the moral stamina of principle, and of character? Will the man of enterprize turn from his schemes, the rail-road, the canal, or the landspeculation, to submit to the tedious processes, or study the nameless refinements of female culture? The wealthy may indeed secure the aid of men of talents, in the education of their daughters. But these will be only exceptions. To borrow the fine simile of the philosophick Douglas, they bear no more comparison to the great mass who need instruction, than "the surface of ocean which is stirred by the breeze, or radiant in the sunbeam, bears to the depth of waters that lie dark and unmoved beneath."

LETTER XIII.

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.

NOTWITHSTANDING every argument that can be adduced, there will undoubtedly be many mothers, who decline taking an active part in the intellectual culture of their children. Yet let them not, with equal supineness, venture to neglect their religious instruction. For if "religion is the ritual of a tender and lowly mind, looking through the beauty and majesty of Nature, to its God," willing to believe what He has revealed, and docile to do what He has commanded, there surely exists, in the simplicity of childhood, a preparation for its spirit, which the lapse of years may impair.

Can it be necessary to repeat the precept, that prayer should be early taught, and rendered habitual, at stated seasons, especially at those of retiring to rest, and waking in the morning? That it should be felt as a privilege, and not as a task, will require judicious maternal attention. Begin with the simplest form of words, solemnly and affectionately uttered. As by little and little, the

infant learns to lift up its heart, tell it that it has permission to bring its humble wants, thanks, and sorrows, in its own lisping language, to a Father in Heaven. Sooner than perhaps is expected, may the guileless spirit be led to intimate communion with the hearer of prayer. For there are, between that and Him, no deep descents into actual transgression; no long-continued clouds of alienated feeling, which darken His countenance, and crush in dust the heart of the way-worn pilgrim.

When you are convinced that regular seasons of retirement are observed as a duty, or regarded as a privilege, let your next lesson be, that the softest sigh, the voiceless aspiration, are audible to the ear of Duty. Wait till this advance in piety has been secured, and then reverence the secresy of devotion in your children. If you are assured that they are prepared for that precept of the Saviour, "enter into thy closet, and shut thy door," allow the breath of the soul to ascend unrestrained to Him who "giveth the Holy Spirit to them who ask Him."

Though the young suppliants may most enjoy seasons of solitary intercourse with their Maker, still they must be sedulously taught never to be ashamed of the practice of devotion, or of its appropriate posture of humility; never to omit it, at rising, or retiring, for any circumstance what

ever. "I thought my aunt was a pious woman," said a very little child, "but now she cannot be, for I see she does not kneel down and pray to God, before she goes to sleep." A distinguished divine, when quite young, was once embarrassed, while on a journey, by being obliged to lodge in the same room with a stranger. Naturally timid, he was tempted to omit his nightly prayers, or to disguise their performance. But he reflected, and conscience prevailed. "Should not those who lodge together, pray together?" said he, as he knelt by his bed-side. The traveller, though not religious, and much older than himself, respected the piety of the boy, and sought his friendship.

While the mother earnestly enforces the duty of devotion, at stated seasons, she must not restrict it to those seasons. She should lead her young pupils, step by step, to mingle their requests for divine guidance, their praises for continued mercy, not only with every unforeseen exigence, but with the common circumstances of their daily course. Ejaculatory prayer, the silent lifting up of the heart, by the fireside, at the table, in the midst of companions, studies, or the occupations of industry, may make the whole of life an intercourse with its Giver. This mode of devotion must have been contemplated by the Apostle, in his injunction, "I will, that men pray every-where."