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casion the supply. We know that truth should be embraced for its own sake; but we know also that it is not so acceptable when merely covered with rags, as when clothed with a graceful and befitting garb. There is no reason why it should not be made attractive; and, instead of men of talents and taste being deterred from embracing it, in consequence of the repulsive form in which it is exhibited, (if such a case ever occurs,) that they should receive it and be employed in its service. G.

"I have often had occasion to remark the fortitude, with which women sustain the most overwhelming reverses of fortune. Those disasters, which break down the spirit of a man, and prostrate him in the dust, seem to call forth all the energies of women, and give such intrepidity and elevation to their character, that, at times, it approaches to sublimity.

"Nothing can be more touching, than to behold a female, who had been all weakness and dependence, and alive to every trivial roughness, while treading the prosperous paths of life, suddenly rising in mental force to be the comforter and supporter of her husband under misfortune, and abiding, with unshrinking firmness, the bitterest blasts of adversity.

"As the vine, which has long twined its graceful foliage about the oak, and been lifted by it into sunshine, will, when the hardy plant is rifted by the thunderbolt, cling around it with its caressing tendrils, and bind up its shattered boughs; so it is beautifully ordered by Providence, that woman, who is the mere dependent and ornament of man in his happier hours, should be his stay and solace when smitten with sudden calamity; winding herself into the rugged recesses of his nature, tenderly supporting the drooping head, and binding up the broken heart.

"I was once congratulating a friend, who had around him a blooming family, knit together in the strongest affection. 'I can wish you no better lot,' said he, with enthusiasm, 'than to have a wife and children. If you are prosperous, there they are to share your prosperity; if otherwise, there they are to comfort you.' And, indeed, I have observed that a married man, falling into misfortune, is more apt to retrieve his situation in the world, than a single one; partly because he is more stimulated to exertion by the necessities of the helpless and beloved beings who depend upon him for subsistence; but chiefly, because his spirits are soothed and relieved by domestic endearments, and his self-respect is kept alive by finding, that though all abroad is darkness and humiliation, yet there is still a little world of love at home, of which he is the monarch. Whereas a single man is apt to run to waste and self neglect; to fancy himself lonely and abandoned; and his heart to fall to ruin, like some deserted mansion, for want of an inhabitant."-Washington Irving.

VOL. I.

THE MICROCOSM.

MARCH, 1835.

No. 6.

IMPORTANCE OF OBEDIENCE.

IN commencing a system of education, or of government, we should examine into the principles which are to support it, and comparing one with another, bestow upon each the regard its relative importance demands. There is an astonishing disregard shown by many parents to the principles of true philosophy, or common sense, in the training of their families. Losing sight of the connection between cause and effect, they look for the fruits of a consistent culture, after letting their children grow up like weeds of the soil. We might infer by the conduct of such parents that they confidently expected to gather "grapes of thorns, and figs of thistles."

No conclusion is more irrational, than the one which leads parents to believe, or to hope, that what is neglected in the earliest periods of childhood, from its difficulties and trials, will become easier at some future time; and its obstacles be lessened, if not removed, by some change of circumstances. One of the most frequent errors of this kind is seen in the question of submission to parental authority. The little child is repeatedly allowed to triumph in self-will and rebellion, while the parent, if he acknowledge the error, intends by and by to establish his authority and enforce subjection. Implicit obedience is and must ever be the corner-stone of all good family government. Parents sometimes receive this doctrine as a law of severity, and even cruelty, which their tenderness prevents them from approving. We appeal to the deepest parental affection, and urge as a measure of love to the children, the establishment of perfect obedience. We do not know that submission to the will of the parent was ever established without the necessity of punishment, to a greater or less degree; but we believe an incalculable amount of punishment may be saved the child, by making the first act of rebellion the test of parental authority. The earlier parents begin the discipline, the easier will subjection be effect ed, and the children be spared a proportionate amount of sorrow and punishment. That point should never come in a parent's history, or a child's life, when the will of the child triumphed with impunity over the authority of the parent. We are speaking now of children as such, while young and under parental guidance. We know there have been cases of rebellion in after life that have broken parents' hearts, and hurried them with sorrow to the grave-calling forth that

most bitter lamentation, "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." Yet we do not believe a case ever occurred, where the lamentation was not deepened, and the bitterness enhanced by the reflection of some failure on the part of the parent in early discipline, or in judicious guidance. We never heard a charge conscientiously brought forward of the emptiness of the promise, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Every contest in which the child comes off victorious, but strengthens him in self-will. In furnishing excuses for their own remissness, parents not unfrequently furnish excuses for their children's misconduct. The poor children are too young-or they are not in good health-or they cannot discern between right and wrong, and therefore are not yet subjects of discipline. They can understand in all this who is master; and if their understandings do not enable them to keep the upper-hand, it will be an unusual failure in juvenile discernment. We have known a sick child strike the cup of medicine from its mother's hand, and forcibly get from her lap to the floor. We would not have a sick infant punished-but while the mother was stronger than the child, it should never get from her arms, or strike the cup from her hand in petulance. Ill health in a child or adult, should never be considered an excuse for the indulgence of peevishness and ill-humor. When very sick they are indisposed to such indulgence; and the lesson of patience under suffering may be inculcated as readily as any oth. er rule of action. The task of watching over the sick is in itself suffi ciently arduous, without having it made intolerable by fretfulness and irritability. The prayer of the venerable Dr. Fuller was one of wisdom and propriety: "Teach me the art of patience while I am well, and give me the use of it when I am sick."

At every step we take, we see more clearly the need of great wis dom in the parent. If he is not governed by upright principles and habitual self-control, the child becomes the victim of caprice and tyranny; more injurious probably, to his well-being than the absence of all restraint and authority whatsoever. The parent has a double task to perform-first, in fitting himself to govern, and then in administering government with equity and wisdom. Parental authority, we believe, should not degenerate into mere persuasion or advice: but should be felt to be authority-a restraining and governing influence. Under this influence, the most obedient is the happiest child. What ills, temptations, and reper.tings may be saved that child who has been early taught implicit obedience to the will of the parent; whose word is law, and whose interdict an impassable barrier.

Of such importance do we consider the establishment of the principle of obedience, that we should almost despair of seeing that child a christian, who had never learned the lesson of submission to an earthly parent. The same obstinacy which resists parental authority, will rise up in opposition to the claims of God: while he who has been ac customed to yield his heart to the dictates of duty and affection, will find the same principles forbidding a contention with his Maker. We have been struck with the connection of God's favor and blessing with

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consistent family government. Of no one else was it said, as of Abraham, that he was the "Friend of God," and admitted to a participa. tion in His counsels. Mark the connection in which this distinction is conferred--"The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord."

Looking down through the vista of time, and the ages of Eternity, we can see no end to the influence of our conduct here. The present peace of families; the happiness of parents; the temporal welfare of children and their eternal salvation, hangs upon the faithful discharge of parental obligations. We believe one of the most astounding books of God's remembrance that will be opened, on that day when the world shall be judged out of those things which are written in the books; will be the insensibility of parents and guardians to the responsibilities of their station.

[For the Microcosm.]

A WORD TO THE WISE.

MUCH is said at the present day of the spirit of enterprise that is abroad in the land, and throughout the earth. In the estimation of many, it constitutes the chief glory of the age and nation in which we live. It is considered as a sufficient proof that the world is in full march towards the high end of its existence. This universal motion, this agitation of the whole mass of society, this independence of thought, the casting off of ancient opinions and authority, the determination to know and understand for ourselves, the enlargement of mind that will not submit to jog round in the same dull circle where our fathers and grand fathers have trod before us;-all this is hailed as the harbinger of a new and glorious era in the history of man.

It

It may be so; we hope it is. But we confess ourselves somewhat skeptical on the subject. Against the spirit of enterprise, when rightly directed, and duly controlled, we have nothing to say. It is the natural activity of the mind, and ought never to be entirely suppressed. must have an object on which to exercise itself, or the soul will stagnate. But then, we must remember that there is in man a principle of permanence, as well as of progression. And that each is necessary to the other. The mind can never throw itself forward until it has obtained a stand-point from which to make the effort. We cannot leap without a foot-hold. This foot-hold, this stand-point, this principle of permanence, it is impossible to secure if we give ourselves up to the activity of our nature. Where little or no time is allowed for the mind to collect its forces and gather new strengh, serious evils must inevitably follow. We cannot live in constant motion; we need rest as well as exercise. To this end, while we are advancing in wis

dom, or wealth, or power, and in order to such advancement,-it is necessary that we should have some strong hold to which we can retreat in the hour of fatigue or disaster, and from which we can issue forth, re-invigorated for action. In other words, we need a home. But home is a quiet place, or it is no home. It is our refuge from the bustle and restless activity of the world. It must be an abiding place too. The idea of permanence enters essentially into our notion of home. There is a peculiar satisfaction diffused through the soul, when, after wandering for years, we can settle down at last in the conviction that we shall be tossed about no more. Whence comes this satisfaction, if there be not in man, a principle of permanence as well as of progression; and if it be not necessary to cultivate the one as well as the other?

If these premises are true, it follows that the spirit of enterprise, when it becomes the predominant and all-controlling influence in any community, is hostile to the stability of that community, and therefore, unfavorable to its best interests. It unbalances the mind-it removes those regulating weights without which there can be no steady action -it transfers the happiness of life to some unattained, perhaps unat tainable, point in the future. It labors not so much to keep what is in possession, as to obtain what is not. It attributes too much to time, place, circumstances; and not enough to truth and a contented mind. We have made these remarks, not only because we think them true, but because we believe they have an application to the present times. If we mistake not, the spirit of enterprise which has so long been our boast, already exhibits the symptoms of a diseased and unnatural growth. Indeed, it seems to be passing, by a rapid transition, into a mere passion for change-a morbid craving for novelty. To a greater or less extent, it pervades all classes of society; and in our opinion, is doing infinite mischief. For it is breaking up the ancient order of things, not only without giving us a better, but without giving us any at all, that is likely to be permanent. Its effect has been to divert the attention from those socia! and moral principles in man, which consti tute the true ground of his happiness, and direct it more exclusively to external circumstances, or at least, to intellectual powers-to any thing, in short, that may furnish the means of distinction among men. For several years past, a sentiment has been gaining ground,-unacknowledged perhaps, but felt nevertheless, and acted upon,-that for a young man to settle down in the same village, and on the same farm where his father and grand-father lived, argues a sluggish and ignoble mind. It is too old-fashioned, too much "behind the spirit of the age" his talents ought not to be so buried—the times demand some. thing better of him-and he makes a push for fortune and for fame. There is, indeed, a growing contempt for every thing that is old,— whether in customs or principles, and a strange thirsting for any thing that is new. To say of a town (and we are thankful that it can, with some degree of truth, be said of a few) that it has not materially changed during the last thirty years; that the inhabitants are the same staid, sober, industrious, square-toed people, that their ancestors were; is considered as a capital joke! The description of such places

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