INFLUENCE OF EARLY INSTRUCTIONS. 5 austere and unamiable in their piety. They associate religion in the minds of their children with moroseness and severity. They do not make due allowance for the natural disparity of tastes and feelings between children and adults. They seem to forget that they were once children themselves, or at least what were their own tastes and feelings when children. They therefore expect and exact the same conduct from their children which they prescribe for themselves. But the wise man has said, "There is a time for all things;" and among them he mentions "a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance." Now, when is the time, if not in the period of fresh, exulting, buoyant childhood, to indulge in those more free, gay, and lively recreations to which all youthfulness is so adapted? I do not here consider the question of the expediency of teaching children to dance. If this or any other recreation is so allied to vice, that, in the existing state of things, it cannot be dissevered, it is surely unwise and wrong to allow it. But even if our children become pious while yet children, we must not expect of them the same conduct as of older Christians. They are children still, and must be expected to act like children. "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." I knew a very pious but injudicious parent, who, among other austerities, forbade his children, peremptorily, on severe penalty, from ever being out of an evening after nine o'clock. This might have been a very good general rule for younger children; but he applied it indiscriminately, and without reserve, to all times and all ages. The consequence was, that his boys, as they grew up, were often deprived of visiting and returning home with their young friends, just because their father's laws were peremptory, and he would not yield even ten minutes on any occasion. They became restive, impatient, determined on liberty; and finally hit upon the expedient to return home as commanded, and, after the family had retired, to escape by a ladder from their windows, and to go and spend the whole night in dissipation, to get revenge upon their father. This they repeatedly did, till the good man utterly lost all control over his sons, and they went the downward way of dissipation. The father meant well, but he surely did not take wisdom from above in this matter. [CONCLUDED IN NEXT NUMBER.] 6 THE EMPIRE OF WOMAN. A DELIGHTFUL PICTURE. * A MOTHER'S PRAYERS. The Rev. Richard Knill, an English clergyman, was, for some length of time, a missionary in Russia. In a beautiful narrative written by him, entitled THE MISSIONARY'S WIFE, he introduces the following touching allusion to his mother, whose pious influence had so materially contributed to shape his own course in life. ED. "I have a vivid recollection of the effect of maternal influence. My honored mother was a religious woman, and she watched over and instructed me as pious mothers are accustomed to do. Alas! I often forgot her admonitions; but, in my most thoughtless days, I never lost the impressions which her holy example had made on my mind. After spending a large portion of my life in foreign lands, I returned again to visit my native village. Both my parents died while I was in Russia, and their house is now occupied by my brother. The furniture remains just the same as it was when I was a boy; and at night I was accommodated with the same bed in which I had often siept before; but my busy thoughts would not let me sleep; I was thinking how God had led me through the journey of life. At last the light of the morning darted through the little window, and then my eye caught sight of the spot where my sainted mother, forty years before, took me by the hand, and said, 'Come, my dear, kneel down with me, and I will go to prayer.' This completely overcame me. I seemed to hear the very tones of her voice; and when I recollected some of her expressions, 1 burst into tears, arose from my bed, and fell upon my knees just on the spot where my mother kneeled, and thanked God that I had once a praying mother. And O! if every parent could feel what I felt then, I am sure they would pray with their children, as well as for them." THE EMPIRE OF WOMAN.-The good government of families leads to the comfort of communities, and the welfare of the state. Of every domestic circle, home — that scene of the purest and deepest joy-home is the empire of woman. There she plans, directs, performs the acknowledged source of dignity and felicity. Where female virtue is most pure, female sense most improved, female deportment most correct, there is most propriety of social manners. The early years of childhood, those most precious years of life and opening reason, are confined to woman's superintendence; she, therefore, may be presumed to lay the foundation of all the virtues and all the wisdom that enrich the world. A DELIGHTFUL PICTURE. A family where the great Father of the universe is duly reverenced; where parents are honored and obeyed; where brothers and sisters dwell together in love and harmony; where peace and order reign; where there is no law but the law of kindness and wisdom; is surely a delightful and interesting spectacle. RESPONSIBILITY OF AUTHORS AND READERS. Written for the Mother's Assistant. RESPONSIBILITY OF AUTHORS AND READERS. BY S. G. GOODRICH. There is nothing more certain than that we are greatly affected by the company we keep. Thoughts, feelings, habits, and manners, are all infectious, and ever tend to reproduce themselves. The influence of the society of an individual upon us, is usually proportioned to the vigor of his character, the degree of ascendency which his mind may acquire over us, and the respect in which we hold him, whether from his wealth, condition, or standing among mankind. Now, a book, a newspaper, or magazine, that we read habitually, is like a person with whom we are intimate, and for whom we entertain a high respect. There is a magic in print, which gives its words a high authority. The reason of this may not be easily assigned; but certain it is, that what an editor says in the columns of his paper, has vastly more weight, than if orally spoken. Perhaps this arises from an impression that what a man takes the pains to print, what he puts on record, and becomes responsible for before the world, will be more carefully considered, than what is spoken with the lips, only to be listened to for a moment, and then, perhaps, forgotten. But, however it may be explained, we believe it to be certain that mankind habitually attach a high degree of authority to what is printed. The old adage says, "It must be true, for I saw it in a book." A striking illustration of the authority of type is afforded in the new era that has arisen among us. A class of cheap papers have started up in the country, whose existence depends on notoriety; and finding falsehood, malignity, and defamation, the readiest means of attaining it, they habitually deal in these commodities. The true character of these publications is well known, and they are looked upon as pirates on the sea of literature, robbing whomsoever they can master. Even the people, who read these works, know that they are taking in poison, and at first feel a secret disgust at the draught, which, however, they still put to their lips. If a person were to talk such stuff, the ears of his hearers would turn from him in utter aversion. But as it is in print, they buy it, and read it, and become infected with the unwholesome contagion. If, then, books, papers, and magazines, exert over their read ers the double influence derived from companionship and the authority of type, two thoughts are suggested-first, the responsibility of the press; and second, the duty of caution in respect to what we encourage, and what we read. The responsibility of the press is a subject which all editors and authors would do well to ponder, deeply. The proper function of the press is to propagate truth; yet it may be turned to the purposes of falsehood. Thus constituted for good or ill, let us reflect a moment upon its power. By means of the press, Byron was able to stamp his genius upon the age in which he lived to such a degree as to cast the literature of the period in his own likeness. By means of the press, his mind became as a mirror broken into a thousand fragments and scattered abroad, each one reflecting his image. By means of the press, the genius of Byron will live forever; though his ashes repose in the tomb, yet his spirit is abroad, and, like the undying Hebrew, will continue, with restless activity, to walk up and down upon the earth, moulding the hearts of men into semblance with itself. This single instance is, perhaps, sufficient to suggest the immense power of the press; and it must be remarked that this power is every day increasing with the progress of the arts. The energy of Steam is now fully applied to printing, and the celerity and cheapness with which it is performed almost surpass belief. A thousand impressions of a newspaper may be thrown off in a couple of hours, and each of them may be sold for one cent! Thus a single press, in the brief space of one hundred and twenty minutes, may furnish a day's reading for a thousand persons, and produce a powerful, perhaps a lasting influence, for good or ill, upon that number of individuals. Let us consider, for a moment, the position of the person who presides over one of these engines "The editor, - a thing of thousand tongues, Impowered to speak with nature-stirring lungs, - And wit's keen sword intrusted to his hand." What immense power, for good or ill, is intrusted to such an individual! What weighty responsibility is attached to the words of a man, who speaks to some thousands of persons, and that, too, through an organ which gives them a sort of oracular authority! If such a man love the truth, if he earnestly seek to propagate MATERNAL INFLUENCE. 9 truth, if he seek to make the path of duty plain, to point out or remove error, to disclose the rocks and reefs in the voyage of life, how beneficent is his influence! But if the editor is a lover of mischief, if he seek to put up false guide-boards along the highways and byways of life, so as to delude and lead astray his fellowman, how mighty is the evil he achieves! how fearful the curse which must fall upon his head! But what can we members of society do? Discriminate between the good and bad. Remember that, if you buy a newspaper even with a penny, you encourage it; if you read it, you encourage it. The editor of a paper is, therefore, not alone in his responsibility. The people who support him, are participators in it. If a paper has neither buyers nor readers, it fails of course. The people at large, then, are bound to apply the remedy, when a piratical editor seeks to levy his contributions upon society. Every member of society who refuses to do this, is a party to the crime. This is a duty we owe to society; and duty to ourselves, enforces the same course of action. Evil communications corrupt good manners. If we read the works of a vicious writer, we take him into companionship; we breathe the atmosphere of his mind; we expose ourselves to the contagion of his spirit. If we put ourselves. within the sympathy of the corrupt, we become corrupted. And if we do this habitually, we are sure to become permanently injured. If we habitually read a paper or magazine, filled with a bad spirit, we gradually assimilate ourselves to its image and superscription. A periodical of this kind puts its thoughts, feelings, and principles, into the bosoms of those who read it habitually. It becomes the master, the oracle of their minds and souls. Common prudence, mere self-interest, therefore, would call upon us to beware of these mischievous prints. [CONCLUDED IN OUR NEXT.] MATERNAL INFLUENCE. A clergyman, at a public religious meeting, related the following anecdote, illustrative of the power of practical maternal faith:: He was at the time the seamen's chaplain, at a southern port. In the course of duty, he was called to the sick bed of a sailor, apparently at the gates of death, from the effects of his licentiousness. He addressed him affectionately upon the state of his soul. With an oath, the sick man bade him begone, and not harass his dying bed. The chaplain told him plainly that he would speak, and he must hear, for his soul was in danger of eternal death. The man, however, remained sullen and silent, and even pretended |