only to follow the directions given to her, and to obey the wishes of the mother, than if she were left to decide everything for herself. And just in proportion to the faithfulness with which she fulfils her duties, will the parent gladly leave her to work out her own plans, and follow the bent of her own mind.

Some indeed like to take the entire direction of their children's education, even to the minutest trifles, but this is not generally the case, most persons are glad to throw off both the labour and responsibility.

A conscientious governess will desire that the mother should be fully acquainted with all that she is doing, she will converse openly with her both on the faults and excellences of her pupils, asking of her counsel and advice, always showing readiness to conform to her wishes, and thankfulness to be told when she has erred, or misunderstood the characters of her charge.

To be a good teacher it is necessary to be childlike: we must feel with, and for our pupils, and remember that we were once of their age, as wayward, and idle, and thoughtless, and tiresome as they. We must try and put our minds back into their position, in order to bear cheerfully with the innumerable minor troubles to which those who have the care of the young must be subject. "Tell me what you were when you were a child, and what you did when you were my age," is a frequent inquiry, which shows in what way their affections can be secured. They seek sympathy

from one who can thus prove to them that she knows the heart of a child, while they shrink from the formalist, who rebukes as if she had entered the world like our first parents—“excused the penalties of dull minority."

Those who esteem others according to their rank in society, or to the property they possess, may undervalue a lady, because she is engaged in tuition; but these persons would look down equally on all who were poor in this world; and their estimate is not worth considering. The purse-proud are the most disagreeable members of society; they have often risen from a low origin, and having attained their wealth with difficulty, prize it accordingly, and calculate everything by its market-price. It is a galling yoke to be in the service of such, but not so galling as to be the slave of such feelings. Rejoice in your freedom, and let it be a fresh motive for contentment with your lot. In really estimable families, governesses are not undervalued, when their own conduct merits esteem.

Many of the hardships of which they complain would be lessened if they placed themselves fairly in the position of the mother, and tried to estimate all her anxieties and difficulties. If she love her children, and desire their true welfare, she must find it almost impossible to find a lady in all respects such as she has pictured to herself. If she meets with one who is sensible, she may not be accomplished, and if the latter, not the former, or she may want tact in managing the

dispositions of children, or forbearance towards them; or she may lack steadiness of purpose, or evenness of temper, or gentleness of manner, or she may not have a good method of communicating what she knows-or she may be irregular, disorderly and inefficient; she may show favouritism, or be passionate, or sullen, or deceitful, or selfish, or proud.

Now, all this a mother cannot discover without close observation; and she ought to desire that her children's teacher should be their pattern likewise

that her lessons should be living ones-1 -that what she tells them to be, they may see that she is. She must be mentally neither shallow nor pedantic, self-opiniated, nor ignorant. She ought to be, in short, what the mother needs to supply her place.

But are there not hundreds who enter upon this work with no qualifications that can really prove satisfactory? Perfection cannot be expected; but plain good sense, high principle, sound integrity, conscientious adherence to duty, a real knowledge of what is professedly taught;these every lady has a right to expect in her teacher, and if she finds her deficient in them, it is her duty to part from her.

Again, self-esteem is apt to blind our minds, and to lead us into self-justification, rather than to the ready acknowledgment of errors and mistakes. This is sometimes displayed in resenting as an insult, what was only meant as kindly warning and advice.

To a young governess it is an inestimable blessing to be trained under the eye of a watchful parent; for who, alas! is not constantly prone to err, and to fall into mistakes for want of a judicious guide? Many would feel more content with their own lot, if they reflected that the trials which they are apt to think peculiar to themselves, do really belong to persons in all positions of life, or at least others equally hard to bear.

What anxieties can equal those of an affectionate parent? If the children are ignorant, or rude, or impertinent, the teacher has them only for a time, and can leave them when she pleases; but these things will be the source of perpetual sorrow to those closely connected with them. She complains of isolation, and loneliness of spirit, but this again is a source of grief, which is not peculiarly her own, or restricted to any situation. The more actively the mind is employed, the less likely is it to become a prey to this morbid sensibility. This is part of the discipline of life, sent to crush self in us. Let us remember that if separated from earthly friends, there is one "friend" always near, "who sticketh closer than a brother." Let us make Him our counsellor-His word our companion, and His strength will be equal to our day, and if we can spend the hours of loneliness with Him, His fellowship will more than compensate for the loss of human society. "When He took upon Him to deliver man, He thought not of the loneliness of earth, but quitted the throne of His glory to dwell amongst sinners

train it distinctly for Him, and not for the world; that whether you may be happy or otherwise with your human employer, you may always feel that to your own Master you stand or fall, and that to Him you must render a strict account of your stewardship and if all this be true, and assuredly it shall be found so at the last, what shall we say to those who thrust themselves into this work for a morsel of bread? or to those who enter voluntarily into situations where they know that they shall have neither the blessing of religious communion, nor the permission to try and win the souls of their pupils, and this merely that they may gain a higher salary than they could have obtained in a quiet Christian family? or to those who never consider the preciousness of the jewels they take into their charge, nor to whom they belong, and who go through their work for this world, and for the gain of this world?

And what shall we say to the unfaithful parents who choose such guides for their children, because they will make them shine below, but who forget that they, and their teachers, and their children too, shall meet again to render a full account above?