himself governed only by a blind and merciless chance, gives up all care about the future. He secures his pleasures by stealth, and, acquiring a feeling of stupid indifference as to the consequences of his actions, remains ignorant alike of morality and of common prudence.

But, suppose a child to have acquired a feeling of duty, and then to find himself deceived, what a revolution, what a complete overturn of his moral existence, must take place! His father has deceived him! His own father! What a terrible and disheartening conviction! And if he dare not venture to condemn a parent, if he can persuade himself to consider the deception as lawful or necessary, still what confusion must arise in his mind! One thing alone is quite clear to him, that he can no longer believe any thing. Motives, above his comprehension, will, it seems, justify any conduct of which he is the object. Men, just and honourable with each other, do not think themselves bound to keep faith with such a little wretch as he, either in their words or dealings. An inward sense of degradation is the result of such a persuasion. We may, however, be sure that his moral conduct towards others will be guided by his seeing clearly what theirs is to him.

We cannot render the idea of duty too simple to a child; we cannot too soon raise the dignity of his soul, by showing that we respect it, and

with contempt.

that we would never treat his proper feelings There may, perhaps, be some danger in exciting by education too strong a feeling of self-esteem; there may even be some disadvantage in too much exalting the consciousness of moral strength; but the esteem, the respect, which men, with all their imperfections, may deserve, and which is the natural right of all who have not yet forfeited it, must be fully and entirely granted to children. They are ignorant, weak, and, by the laws of nature, necessarily subjected to our authority; but they are not the less our equals, our brethren, perhaps even our superiors nearer than we are to their high origin; more fresh from the hands of their Maker, more allied to the angelic nature. Feeling themselves innocent, strangers alike to suspicion and to fear, their eyes sparkle with joy, security, and confidence, as long as the purity of their hearts remains unsullied by melancholy experience.

The observation of the most scrupulous truth on the part of the teacher will never fail to produce the same attention to it in the pupil; and the consequence of this will be his perfect docility. Only a strictly open and truthful system of education can, at the same time, be a gentle one, for there are things which must be insisted on; and if our words have lost all effect, we have no resource but in violent measures.

This will soon be perceived by a sensible mother, and will be strongly enforced by her on any of whom she may make use as assistants. Nurses, especially, should be most carefully instructed on this point; though this is by no means easily accomplished; for perfect truthfulness, owing perhaps to their defective education and dependent situation, is very rarely to be met with in this class of people. As the means of obviating such a difficulty ought to be taken into consideration, I shall conclude this chapter by expressing my hope that the present age, so fruitful in new institutions, will see the desirableness of founding schools for nurses capable of managing children under six years old. Establishments where persons of this description, sensible, gentle, and strictly true, might be met with, would be a benefit of which all mothers would deeply feel the value.

CHAPTER V.

THE IMAGINATION AT THREE YEARS OLD.

PRECOCIOUS in its developement, and simple in its modes of action, though powerful in its effect, the imagination of children animates, embellishes, and at times disturbs the morning of their life. Preponderating at first over every other faculty, it diminishes by degrees, till at last it bears only that proportion amongst them which seems natural to the inhabitants of our climate.

Two different kinds of intellectual progress may be remarked in children; the developement of the mind itself, and the acquisition of knowledge. These alternately assist each other; the faculties, becoming every day more comprehensive, accumulate facts, which in their turn furnish matter for the exercise of the faculties. The spirit of examination is strengthened by multiplied observations: the memory becomes more faithful as more combinations of ideas are formed; the judgment more decided as it compares together a greater variety of -objects; but the imagination differs in this

respect from all the other faculties,-its growth and decay are equally rapid and astonishing.

If by the imagination we understand the inward representation of external objects, this faculty has no doubt existed and reigned in the breast of the child from his earliest infancy, and, together with sympathy, has constituted the whole of his moral existence; but whilst shrouded in the clouds of infancy, it could give few outward indications of its presence, and could not display that spirit and vigour, which is afterwards bestowed upon it by an increase of strength. The sallies of imagination are, perhaps, the most striking in children between three and four years old. But, even at that age, they have made many acquisitions; and it is not always easy to distinguish what is the simple effect of nature, from what is the result of these attainments: certain phenomena, however, may be observed, which can be attributed only to the imagination.

Their short lives have not yet enabled them to learn much from experience; their memory has collected only insulated facts, from which they have derived no general laws; nor have they as yet any clear ideas of the order established in the world.

Give a child a box containing a sugar-plum, and he will be continually opening it, to see whether the treasure is still there; hide your