TWELVE GOLDEN MAXIMS FOR FAMILIES.

I. Health must be regarded. This demands the first attention, and unceasing regard. The laws of health must be observed, and those wise and efficient means must be uniformly employed, by which, in connection with the divine blessing, the health of the various members of the family may be secured. It is deeply to be regretted that so many families disregard the laws of health we cannot wonder that illness so often prevails-that death so prematurely ensues.

II. Education must be earnestly attended to.-The mind must be early cultivated; acquisitions, varied and important, must be continually gained. The faculties must be wisely and vigorously disciplined, not only from the consideration of the happiness which will be secured, and the respectability which will be attained, but from the conviction that, at the present period, a good, sound education will be essential to the members of our households in future life-that they will be worth comparatively nothing without it.

III. Amiable tempers must be cherished.-The kindly dispositions in our families are not only desirable, but indispensable; there is no domestic happiness without them. One must be bland, courteous and amiable to another. The law of kindness must be the rule-governing, moulding, harmonizing the family. There must be nothing hard, stern or unyielding; but mutual concessions, mutual tenderness, mutual love.

IV. Industrious habits must be formed.--Nothing is more essential. Unless active habits are cultivated, and cultivated from principle, no progress can be made in anything that is valuable; no respectability, intellectual, social, or moral, can be gained; no confidence on the part of others can be realized; no blessing from Heaven can be vouchsafed. Indolent, apathetic families, habitually sluggish, and indisposed to labor, are ignorant, unhappy, immoral. This may be regarded as an indisputable fact.

V. Mutual confidence must be reposed.-There must be no shyness of each other. There must be no jealousy, no undue

caution, no distrust. If these feelings may be manifested in the family circle, there will be no comfort, there will be a cankerworm at the root of domestic happiness; and this want of confidence will increase, until everything that is petulant and malicious will be discovered.

VI.—A continual desire for domestic tranquility must be cherished. What can be more desirable than peace in our dwellings?-that peace which is the result of love, which springs from mutual respect and forbearance, which is associated with principle, which is the consequence of the fear of God, which is identified with filial and unwavering trust in Him. A tranquil, happy home is the very emblem of Heaven.

VII. The parental character must be highly respected.There will be no domestic blessing without this. There will be no true dignity in the family without this. Parents must occupy their appropriate place: they are the heads of families, and must be regarded as such. There must be no neglect; no disrespect must be shown them. There must be no contempt of

their authority, no indisposition to render obedience. Children must value and honor their parents, else, instead of having a blessing throughout life, they will be sure to have a curse.

VIII. Domestic order must be maintained.-Where there is disorder, there is no tranquility, no excellence, no advancement, no happiness. Order in families is essential to their peace, eleva tion and progress. In our households, everything should be done at the best time, as well as in the best manner. There should be rules to direct and govern, from which there should be no deviation, unless necessity compels. Disorderly habits, a constant nothing but loss and misery;

want of arrangement, will entail and, as the children grow up, these habits will be rendered fixed and permanent, so that they will become men and women, fathers and mothers, without any love of rule or order.

IX. The love of home must be fostered.-There is no affection, when it is cherished from an early period and from principle, which is stronger and sure we are, that there is no feeling which is more valuable and important. It is connected with a

thousand endearments; it preserves from a thousand temptations; it is identified with the cultivation of the noblest principles and purest emotions; and it is inseparable from peace and happiness. In such a world as ours, home should be the refuge from every danger; the spot where freedom is found from every care; the haven where tranquil waters are met with after the fiercest storm. X. Sympathy under domestic trials must be expressed.There must be no cold, no unfeeling heart displayed. Family difficulties will occur; family changes will be experienced; family sorrows will be endured; family bereavements will be undergone; and in these situations there must be sympathetic and tender emotions cherished. The parents must feel for the children. and the children for the parents; brothers must be kind and compassionate towards their sisters in affliction, and sisters must endeavor to alleviate the sorrows and burdens of their brothers. Thus will support be administered under the heaviest pressure: consolation be afforded during painful illness and protracted calamities; and the benediction of Heaven be graciously imparted.

XI. Sincere prayer must be offered for each other.-Parents, in this way, especially, must remember their children, and children their parents. It is the best kind of remembrance-the most beautiful expression of love. There should be in the family circle the elevation of the heart to God, for his continual guidance, preservation, and blessing. Mutual prayer will cement mutual love, will alleviate mutual sorrow, will sweeten mutual mercies, will heighten and purify mutual joys. Where these elevated feelings are not cultivated, there is no happiness, no security.

XII. The family must look forward to a purer, brighter, nobler world than this:-a world where there shall be no ignorance to darken, no error to mislead, no infirmities to lament, no enemies to assail, no cares to harrass, no sickness to endure, no changes to experience; but where all will be perfect bliss, unclouded light, unspotted purity, immortal tranquility and joy.

Members of families, in passing through life, should make it apparent by their principles, by their habits, by their conversa

tion, by their spirit, by their aims, that they rise above the present transitory scene, and that they are intensely anxious to unite again in that world of peace, harmony and love, where there wil! be nothing to defile or annoy, and where the thought of separation will be unknown.

Families! make the above maxims your governing principles, and we promise you domestic bliss. Wherever you may find discomfort abroad, you will be sure to realize happiness at home.British Mothers' Journal.

PLEASURE FOR A CHILD.-Blessed be the hand that prepares a pleasure for a child, for there is no saying when and where it may bloom forth. Does not almost everybody remember some kind-hearted man who showed him a kindness in the days of his childhood? The writer of this recollects himself, at this moment, as a bare-footed lad, standing at the wooden fence of a poor little garden in his native village. With longing eyes he gazed on the flowers which were blooming there quietly, in the brightness of & Sunday morning. The possessor came forth from his little cottage. He was a woodcutter by trade, and spent the whole week at work in the woods. He had come into the garden to gather flowers to stick into his coat when he went to church. He saw the boy, and breaking off the most beautiful of his carnations, which was streaked with red and white, he gave it to him. Neither the giver nor the receiver spoke a word, and with bounding steps the boy ran home; and now, here at a distance from that home, after so many events of so many years, the feeling of gratitude which agitated the breast of that boy, expresses itself on paper. The carnation has long since withered, but it now blooms afresh.-Douglas Jerrold.

Right doing, though sometimes a little tardy in its remuneration, when it does bring forth, bears abundantly.-Henry Ward Beecher.

VERMONT STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

NINTH ANNUAL SESSION.

BURLINGTON, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 1859.

The Vermont State Teachers' Association commenced its Ninth Annual Session in the Town Hall, at 9 o'clock, A. M. The President of the Association, Rev. Calvin Pease, D. D., of Burlington, took the chair. The Scriptures were read, a hymn sung, and Rev. C. W. Cushing, of Albany, N. Y., opened the meeting with prayer. The Secretary read the minutes of last year. Appointed the following Committees:

On Business--Messrs. Winslow of Pittsfield, Conant of Royalton, Manly of Poultney, Hopkins of Northfield, and Bingham of West Rutland.

To nominate Officers-Messrs. Worcester of Burlington, Ballard of Montpelier, Herrick of Bradford.

To select a place for next Meeting-Messrs. Hyde of Castleton, Moore of Bakersfield, Fleming of Burlington.

To obtain new Members-Messrs. Elliott of Fairfax, Moore of Rutland, and Marsh of Canada East.

On motion by Rev. J. H. Worcester, voted that teachers and friends of education from other States, who may be present, be invited to sit with us and participate in our deliberations.

Voted that the hours of meeting be 9 o'clock, A. M., and 2, P. M.; of adjournment, 12 M.

Listened to an address by Rev. W. Child, D. D., of Castleton. Theme: What is the Education that should be aimed at? and How shall it be attained?

Adjourned till 2 o'clock, P. M.

AFTERNOON.

A brief time was spent in a general discussion, in which Secretary Adams, and Mr. Winslow of Pittsford, participated.

Mr. Spaulding of Barre, from the committee appointed last year, in relation to a School Journal, made a verbal report, in substance, that five numbers of the first volume had been issued -that 1500 copies had been printed-and that subscribers enough had been obtained to pay the expense of publication.

Voted to