grows with the growth, and strengthens with the strength; it will be very difficult for her, in mature years, though aided by reason and conscience, to acquire a command over her temper.

How many persons do we hear lament the want of government over their passions, and attribute it to a defect in their early education! It is, indeed, a great misfortune, not to have been early taught this important lesson. But when this is the case, greater caution and vigilance should be used, against falling into temptation.

The forms of anger are various in some cases, it exhibits itself in a sullen obstinacy, in others, by peevishness or revenge; but, in whatever way it appears, it is always unamiable to others, and distressing to the individual who indulges in it. A virtuous indignation against vice and personal injury is consistent with purity, and consistency of character.

Selfishness is love directed towards ourselves. This feeling may become so strong, as to absorb all the better emotions of the heart. No child, properly educated, would be excessively selfish. A mother, who observed in her child a strong propensity to selfishness, without giving her any long lessons upon the meanness of the quality, endeavored to make her comprehend the pleasure of imparting to others. At nine years of age, this little girl was heroically generous. Said she, one day, "Mamma, you know when I WAS YOUNG, I was very selfish. I remember the first time I enjoyed giving any thing away. You had given me some fruit, and said, I must share it with my sister. I did not like at all to do it, but feared to disobey you. While my sister and I sat together, eating the fruit, I thought, how pleasant it was to see others happy; and after that, I did not want things all to myself."

Jealousy is a painful, degrading, emotion. It often appears in very young children; even the babe will appear troubled, at seeing its mother caress an older child. Inconsiderate people laugh at this, and perhaps increase the uneasiness of the infant, by affected fondness for other children. We cannot, too early, endeavor to clear our

bosoms from this tormenting feeling. Do you look, with unhappiness, upon the beauty, talents, or accomplishments, of a companion? This is jealousy, from which you should flee, with horror, as from a serpent, seeking to entwine you in its fatal folds.

A jealous disposition transforms light into darkness, beauty into deformity, and kindness into insults. The more amiable, lovely, and elevated, the beings who surround the jealous person, the more food does the bitter feeling, within, find to subsist upon; the more generous and forgiving his companions, the more he sees their superiority to himself, and the stronger is his hatred.

Jealousy, in the young, rises not, in many cases, to such a pitch, as to manifest itself in deadly hostility; yet, when we hear the whisper of detraction, see the frown of discontent, because another has been successful, or witness a sullen and unsocial withdrawal from the company of young associates, we start back in alarm; the serpent may be yet in embryo; but we see him in all his hateful features, and we know that he will soon acquire strength, to overcome all that is good and lovely in the character. There are always evil-ininded persons, enough, who are ready with suggestions, calculated to foster and inflame a jealous disposition. They will tell you, to see how proud such a one is, of her beauty or her acquirements; how sorry they are to perceive your merits eclipsed, by her pretensions, or to see you treated by her with such neglect. The best way, to check any risings of jealousy, is, to repel all such insinuations, and speak in commendation of the absent, not, as the poet says, to "damn with faint praise," but to bring forward their good qualities, with sincerity and earnestness. But how, you may ask, shall we feel thus, if the real tendency of our hearts is to envy and jealousy? This is truly a serious question; and, in the language of Divine inspiration, I will answer you, "If any of you lacketh wisdom," (and by wisdom is here meant a right disposition of heart,) “let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given to him."

It is very possible, that the desire of intellectual attain

ments may lead to a dangerous emulation, and degenerate into jealousy of a successful rival; you will do well to watch over yourselves in this; and, whenever you feel the unworthy emotion, crush it in its beginning, and resolve that, if you cannot be first in talents, you will not be wanting in moral worth.

It is in contending with the evil propensities of our nature, that virtue gains its triumph. Why, then, should we complain, that our Creator has suffered these propensities to spring up in our souls, since he has also armed us with powers capable of overcoming them? What propensities of our nature are to be checked, and what are to be encouraged? This question is the foundation of all moral education, whether of ourselves, or others. You, to whom I address myself, are now of an age to be seriously engaged in self-education. After all that may have been done for your improvement, by others, you may be able to detect, in your own hearts, the germs of evil passions, which may have been overlooked by them; or you may perceive, that the better affections of your nature are languishing and feeble. Search, then, your own hearts; try your own spirits; and resolve, that, by God's help, you will not follow, or be led by, your evil passions, but will endeavor to cultivate all your good affections, and to become as elevated, in the scale of moral perfection, as your nature will admit.

The emotions of love, the moral sense, and the desire of excellence, are those feelings of the human soul, on which the moral and religious character is founded. From these feelings, all our duties result; because, if we possessed them not, we should not be accountable beings, and, in that case, duty would be out of the question.

The Scripture says, "love is the fulfilling of the law;" the domestic and social relations, all presuppose this affection, which, radiating from the circle of our own private attachments, embraces our country, and the whole human race. The moral sense, or, as I prefer to call it, the moral emotion, is the foundation of human justice, requiring us to "do to others, as we would they should do to us."

Religious education is founded in our moral emotions. The child soon learns that his parents, powerful as he imagines them to be, did not create the world, in which he lives, and the glorious canopy above; he is taught, that every good and perfect thing is the gift of God, and that himself is the workmanship of His hand. Thus he learns to fear God, as all-powerful; and, when he realizes that all his blessings are from Him, he loves Him, for His benevolence. He desires to make God the supreme object of his affection, and offers unto Him the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit. The desire of moral excellence, which is early developed in the heart of the virtuous, waxes stronger and stronger, as the religious emotions gain strength and permanency; until feeling that, in this world, he can never attain to that standard of perfection at which he aims, he rejoices in the prospect of that change, which is to usher him into a new and sinless existence.

APPENDIX.

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

CONTINUED.

[NOTE. For the ideas contained in the following pages, the author is chiefly indebted to the second volume of Madame de SAUSSURE'S 'Progressive Education,' which she designs translating, as soon as other engagements will permit. She hopes the learned and excellent author will excuse the free use she has made of her valuable work, in thus incorporating its sentiments with her own.]

CHAPTER I.

COMMUNICATION OF KNOWLEDGE.-NATURE, CONSIDERED IN ITSELF, AND IN ITS RELATIONS WITH GOD.

" Religion is the aromatic principle which preserves science from corruption."- BACON.

THE instructer should be sensible of the sacred nature of his vocation, and inspired with elevated views of duty. In his relations with his pupil, he should be careful to maintain the most perfect simplicity. He should watch the moral condition of the mind he is to influence, so that he may readily judge, what sentiments and ideas it is capable of imbibing. A tender sympathy, and an ardent desire to exercise a salutary influence, easily give access to a soul, susceptible of being affected by kindness.

But the teacher, having descended to the level of the child, needs also to rise towards Heaven, that he may refresh himself at the fountain of knowledge and goodness;