Behold the coral island, fresh from the floor of the At

lantic,

It is dinted by every ripple, and a soft wave can smooth its surface;

But soon its substance hardeneth in the winds and tropic

sun,

And weakly the foaming billows break against its adamantine wall;

Even thus, though sin and care dash upon the firmness of manhood,

The timid child is wasted most by his petty troubles; And seldom, when life is mature, and the strength proportioned to the burden,

Will the feeling mind, that can remember, acknowledge to deeper anguish,

Than when, as a stranger and a little one, the heart first ached with anxiety,

And the spouting buds of sensibility were bruised by the harshness of a school.

My soul, look well around thee, ere thou give thine infant unto sorrows.

Yet there be boisterous tempers, stout nerves, and ́stubborn hearts,

And there is a riper season, when the mind is well disciplined in good,

And a time, when youth may be bettered by the wholesome occasions of knowledge,

Which rarely will it meet with so well, as among the congregation of his fellows.

Only for infancy, fond mother, rend not those first affec

tions;

Only for the sensitive and timorous, consign not thy darling unto misery.

A man looketh on his little one, as a being of better hope;

In himself ambition is dead, but it hath a resurrection in his son; •

That vein is yet untried, - and who can tell if it be not golden?

While his, well nigh worked out, never yielded aught but lead;

And thus is he hurt more sorely, if his wishes are defeated there,

He has staked his all upon a throw and lo! the dice have foiled him.

All ways, and at all times, men follow on in flocks, And the rife epidemic of the day shall tincture the stream of education;

Fashion is a foolish watcher posted at the tree of knowledge,

Who plucketh its unripe fruit to pelt away the birds: But, for its golden apples, - they dry upon the boughs, And few have the courage or the wisdom to eat in spite of fashion :

One while, the fever is to learn, what none will be wiser for knowing,

Exploded errors in extinct tongues, and occasions for their use are small;

And the bright morning of life, for years of misspent

time,

Wasted in following sounds, hath tracked up little

sense,

Till at noon a man is thrown upon the world, with a mind expert in trifles,

Having yet everything to learn, that can make him good or useful:

The curious spirit of youth is crammed with unwholesome garbage,

While starving for the mother's milk the breasts of nature yield;

And high-colored fables of depravity lure with their classic varnish,

While truth is holding out in vain her mirror much des

pised.

Of olden time, the fashion was for arms, to make an accomplished slayer,

And set gregarious man a-tilting with his fellows; Thereafter, occult sciences, and mystic arts, and symbols,

How to exorcise a wizzard, and how to lay a ghost; Anon, all for gallantry and presence, the minuet, the palfrey, and the foil,

And the grand aim of Education was to produce a coxcomb;

Soon come scholastical dispute with hydra-headed argu

ment,

And the true philosophy of mind confounded in a labyrinth of words:

Then the Pantheon, and its orgies, initiating docile childhood,

While diligent youth strove hard to render his all unto Cæsar;

And now is seen the passion for utility, when all things are accounted by their price,

And the wisdom of the wise is busied in hatching golden

eggs:

Perchance, not many moons to come, and all will again be for abstrusity,

Unravelling the figured veil that hideth Egypt's gods; Or in those strange Avatars seeking benignant Vishnu, Kali, and Kamala the fair, and much-invoked Ganesa.

The mines of knowledge are oft laid bare through the forked hazelwand of chance.

And in a mountain of quartz we find a grain of gold. Of a truth, it were well to know all things, and to learn them all at once,

And what, though mortal insufficiency attain to small knowledge of any?

Man loveth exclusions, delighting in the sterile trodden path,

While the broad green meadow is jewelled with wild flowers:

And whether is it better with the many to follow a beaten

track,

Or by eccentic wanderings to cull unheeded sweets?

When his reason yieldeth fruit, make thy child thy friend;

For a filial friend is a double gain, a diamond set in gold.

As an infant, thy mandate was enough, but now let him see thy reasons;

Confide in him, but with discretion: and bend a willing ear to his questions.

More to thee than all beside, let him owe good counsel and good guidance:

Let him feel his pursuits have an interest, more to thee than all beside.

Watch his native capacities; nourish that which suiteth him the readiest;

And cultivate early those good inclinations wherein thou fearest he is most lacking:

Is he phlegmatic and desponding? let small successes comfort his hope:

Is he obstinate and sanguine? let petty crosses accustom him to life:

Showeth he a sordid spirit? be quick, and teach him generosity;

Inclineth he to liberal excess? prove to him how hard it is to earn.

Gather to thy heart such friends as are worthy of honor and attention;

For the company a man chooseth is a visible index of his heart:

But let not the pastor whom thou hearest be too much a familiar in thy house,

For thy children may see his infirmities, and learn to cavil at his teaching.

It is well to take hold on occasions, and render indirect instruction;

It is better to teach upon a system, and reap the wisdom of books:

The history of nations yieldeth grand outlines: of persons, minute details:

Poetry is polish to the mind, and high abstractions cleanse it.

Consider the station of thy son, and breed him to his fortune with judgment:

The rich may profit in much which would bring small advantage to the poor.

But with all thy care for thy son, with all thy strivings for his welfare,

Expect disappointment, and look for pain: for he is of an evil stock, and will grieve thee.

of Colerance.

A wise man in a crowded street winneth his way with gentleness,

Nor rudely pusheth aside the stranger that standeth in his path;

He knoweth that blind hurry will but hinder, stirring up contention against him,

Yet holdeth he steadily right on, with his face to the scope of his pursuit:

Even so, in the congress of opinions, the bustling highway of intelligence,

Each man should ask of his neighbor, and yield to him again concession.

Terms ill-defined, and forms misunderstood, and customs, where their reasons are unknown, Have stirred up many zealous souls to fight against imaginary giants: