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RECIPROCAL DUTIES

OF

PARENTS AND CHILDREN.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

BEHOLD that lovely cherub in the arms of its fond mother! It has been but a few months in existence, yet it has already learned to recognise its best friend: her faithful bosom is the receptacle of all its tiny sorrows and joys; its hopes are derived from her experienced kindness; its fears are allayed by her protecting care: on this well known being it depends, for all that can soothe and delight. The utmost ingenuity of the nurse, though aided by the delicious morsel, or the glittering toy, is

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of little avail when she appears, in whom is concentrated every gratification of which its infant mind is susceptible. Soon, under her assiduous care, its bodily and mental powers begin to expand; its joys and its woes are more intelligibly expressed; it grows fertile in schemes and contrivances for its own amusement (as yet it dreams not of existing for any other purpose); in these the fond parent participates, and is consulted on all occasions without reserve. In the frolicsome gambol she renews her interest, and again enjoys the pleasures of infancy with a double

zest.

"She feels and owns an interest in their play,
Adopts each wish their wayward whims unfold,
And tells, at every call, the story ten times told."

The companion in health, the watchful, assiduous, and anxious friend in sickness, the prime of a mother's days imperceptibly glides along, bearing away her personal graces, and not unfrequently leaving her constitution a wreck.

As infancy ripens into childhood, her duties alter, but her zeal continues una

bated: she perseveres in accommodating her services to the growing necessities of her charge, till that important period arrives, when childhood emerges into youth, and a new epoch commences in the maternal feelings. Then, then it is, that the subjects of her solicitude begin to seek their gratifications from other sources; and in proportion to their success, are prone to forget whence they were once derived: confidence gradually declines; and that society which heretofore comprised all that was desirable, becomes, perhaps, irksome,-a burden and a restraint: so that the reserved and distant being we now contemplate, could scarcely be identified with the smiling cherub of former days.

The brute creatures, like the human species, attend their young progeny with anxious solicitude; and when their services are no longer necessary, the parent first breaks the tender tie, and chases them away to know them no more: but human ties can alone be dissolved by death; and whatever alienations ensue, they are not warranted by nature, or by nature's God. "Honour thy father and thy mother," is a command coeval

with the existence of our parents; and should be as deeply engraven on the human heart, as once it was on the table of stone written by the finger of God. If, unhappily, these characters have been erased, the loudest professions of religion, or the strictest pretensions to moral rectitude, are as the sounding brass, and tinkling cymbal: it is vain for those to profess love to God and their neighbour, who are remiss in affectionate duty to the individuals whom He has placed in the intermediate space, and distinguished by the peculiar honour of assuming His character, who styles Himself the universal parent.

Filial attachment is not a virtue of difficult attainment; indeed, it is not a quality to be acquired, but is inherent in our nature. It is not to be planted, but cherished; and is distinguished beyond all other virtues by promises of temporal blessings: nevertheless, there are parents who have to take up the lamentation, and say, "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me."

That the causes of such complaints may, in most instances, be traced to early indul

gence, or to a want of judicious, enlightened management on the part of the parent, forms no reasonable excuse for the conduct of an undutiful child; but let parents, who, in the bitterness of their hearts, lament the unkindness or unmanageableness of grown-up children, look back to a time to which their children's memories can scarcely extend; to the period of their childhood and infancy, when the engaging pettishness was winked at, and the amusing rebellion was half encouraged; or when, immersed in cares of very inferior importance, or in recreations which every good mother will cheerfully resign, the nursery was consigned to hirelings. Let them call up such recollections, (which, we are persuaded, the memories of most complaining parents might furnish) before they feel surprised at the result, or consider their present circumstances as unaccountable.

But, more especially, let those parents who are only commencing their task, who have yet the future peace and happiness of themselves, and of their children, in a great degree at their disposal, recollect, that there are reciprocal duties between parents and

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