watch for the morning." At her feet a whole generation sit, as pupils. Let her learn her own value, as the first educator, that, in proportion to the measure of her influence, she may acquit herself of her immense responsibilities.

Her debt to the community must be paid through her children, or through others whom she may rear up to dignify and adorn it. Aristotle said, "the fate of empires depended on education." But that in woman dwelt any particle of that conservative power, escaped the scrutinizing eye of the philosopher of Greece. The farsighted statesmen of our own times have discovered it.

A Prussian legislator, at the beginning of the present century, promulgated the principle, that "to the safety and regeneration of a people, a correct state of religious opinion and practice was essential, which could only be effected by proper attention to the early nurture of the mind." He foresaw the influence of the training of infancy upon the welfare of a nation.

Let our country go still further, and recognize in the nursery, and at the fireside, that hallowed agency, which, more than the pomp of armies, shall guard her welfare, and preserve her liberty. Trying, as she is, in her own isolated sphere, the mighty experiment, whether a Republic can ever be permanent; standing in need, as she does, of

all the checks which she can command to curb

faction, cupidity, and reckless competition; rich in resources, and therefore in danger from her own power; in danger from the very excess of her own happiness, from that knowledge which is the birth-right of her people, unless there go forth with it a moral purity, guarding the unsheathed weapon; let this our dear country not slight the humblest instrument that may advance her safety, nor forget that the mother, kneeling by the cradle-bed, hath her hand upon the ark of a nation.

LETTER XV.

READING AND THINKING.

THIS is emphatically the age of book-making, and miscellaneous reading. Profound thought is becoming somewhat obsolete. The rapidity with which space is traversed, and wealth accumulated, the many exciting objects which arrest attention in our new, and wide country, indispose the mind to the old habits of patient investigation, and solitary study.

That class of books, which enforce meditation, hence acquire additional value. They operate as an equipoise, or a sedative to the too excited intellect. In proportion to the depth of thought, which they require, is their healthful action, by calling home the mind, which is in danger of becoming discursive and desultory.

Among the evils of a distaste for reading, are the worldly and common trains of thought, which usurp dominion over us. Those every-day employments, which the hands might discharge, and leave the mind in some measure at liberty, cast off the yoke of vassalage, and seat themselves on

the throne. They take us captive, and cover us with dust. Then the jar of life's machinery deafens us, and our ear becomes untuned to the "deep-inwoven melodies" of contemplation.

Subjects of discourse are prone to become trifling or personal, unless elevated and replenished from the world of books. Such a result would be hazardous to our sex, who are proverbially gregarious and sociable. Mothers should guard against it, for their temptations are great, to make the cares and mysteries of housekeeping the too general theme of conversation, till egotism or selfishness, disguised in amiable forms, steal over them unawares.

Though books are invaluable adjuncts both to our respectability and comfort, yet unless we select those which suggest profitable subjects for thought or conversation, it might be better for many of us, if we read less. The numerous periodical publications of the day, act as a stimulant to the mental appetite, provoking it beyond its capacity of digestion. "Nothing," says Dugald Stewart, "has such a tendency to weaken, not only the powers of invention, but the intellectual powers in general, as extensive reading, without reflection. Mere reading books, oppresses, enfeebles, and is, with many, a substitute for thinking."

That we read too much, and reflect too little,

will scarcely be doubted. The flood of desultory literature sweeps on like a deluge, and the mind, like the bird of Noah, spreads a weary wing over the shoreless ocean, yet finds no resting-place. The disposition to seek out the "chief seats at synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts," which flourishes under our free government, leads some to become authors, and teachers, who have need to learn.

It would be well if more attention were bestowed by parents, on the character of books which are put into the hands of children. Even their style of execution, the character of the type, paper and embellishments, are important; for the taste is earlier formed, than we are apt to imagine. As the education of the eye is among the first efforts of instruction, it is a pity to vitiate it by evil models. A fair book is a beautiful object to a child, and will be more fully preserved, and generally more. attentively perused, than if its exterior were repulsive.

care

Parents should always inform themselves what books their children are reading. They should, if possible, first peruse them, and see whether they are calculated to impart wholesome nutriment, or stupifying anodyne, or deadly aconite. We cannot take it for granted, that because they have a book in their hand, their souls are safe. I was acquainted with a father and mother, who