Development of the Child. I

IMPROVEMENT ERA. Vol. VIII. MARCH, 1905. No. 5. DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING OF THE CHILD.* BY MOS1AH HALL, b. s., d. b, ph. m., PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, BRIGHAM YOUNG COLLEGE, LOGAN, UTAH. Deep within the chambers of his heart, the parent reserves an abiding place for his child. For the child, he toils,and spins, and in "the sweat of his face," he earns its bread. With a patient backache, he bears the little one's burdens, and he sheds tears with it in its sorrow. No expense is too great for the child, and nothing is too good for it, if its comfort and happiness are thereby increased. How the hopes of the parent follow its every footstep! How joy chases away sorrow when it overcomes temptation, or turns failure into success! The parent lives again in his child. It is his joy and strength, his hope and inspiration. He would not exchange it for all the world, for it is all the world to him. No one doubts that the parent loves his child and is solicitous for its welfare; but too often this affection seems doomed, like the flower in the wilderness, "to waste its sweetness on the desert air." Why so much energy is wasted or misdirected in the rear- • Copyright, 1905, by Uosiah Hall.

322 IMPROVEMENT ERA. ing of the child, and why so many failures are chronicled, are questions of grave concern demanding the mo3t careful investigation. To understand the trus relationship of parent and child, and to know how best to transform childish instinct into robust manhood, are not simple matters that will solve themselves. The parent is apt to rely upon instinct in rearing his child, while the process demands the highest reason and the keenest sympathy of which he is capable. That there are fundamental principles and laws to be followed in the developing and training of the child, is a fact which is rarely considered. That a parent should be specially fitted for the task of rearing his child is seldom thought of; and that a careful preparation is needed by the parent before undertaking the responsibility of fatherhood or motherhood, is something scarcely dreamed of, yet what other subject can be named that is weighed with weightier consequences to the human race? ANCESTRY AND HEREDITY. Whenever superior results are desired in the plant or animal world, the best specimens are selected and cultivated for the purpose of propagating and breeding, but not since the time of Plato has anyone been bold enough to suggest that similar care should be exercised in the selection and training of parents. Consider what cultivation and selection have accomplished among plants. The rose which is so much admired in our garden was once like its namesake of the stream and hedge. The scientists tell us that all varieties of apples have been evolved from a single variety—a kind of sour crab. The seedless orange and the luscious grape are both the results of cultivation. And the thought comes irresistibly, that if in the plant world such wonderful results can be obtained, what marvelous things might come to the human race, if the same care were used in preparing parents for their duties. But in the human garden there are yet many wild flowers, and the sour crab still propagates abundantly of its kind. If a fine driving horse, or a good milch cow is wanted, careful inquiry is made concerning the pedigree of the animal. If a draft horse or a trotter is desired, the first question is concerning the breed of the horse. Careful selection and breeding have achieved what was once declared to be impossible—a horse has

DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING OF THE CHILD. 323 been trained to trot a mile in two minutes. When a herd of cattle or a Hock of sheep is to be improved, the choicest blooded animals are imported for breeding purposes. The farmer and the stockman have learned long since that it doesn't pay to raise scrubs. Humanity, on the contrary, has not yet learned this lesson. A ten thousand dollar horse is not too good to be the progenitor of a line of racers, but a ten cent man is good enough to father a brood of children. Ancestry, likewise, counts for much in the rearing of children. Since the child sums up in its instincts the history of the past, what its ancestors were is a questi. n of prime importance. Parents then should be blooded—the descendants of a royal line. Not necessarily the offspring of the rich and wellborn, but the descendants nevertheless of a nobility whose rich, red blood replaces the fabled blue of the aristocracy, and where strength and beauty of body accompany health and vigor of mind. In rearing a child the object is not as in breeding horses to produce a racer or a draft animal—no trait or characteristic should be developed at the expense of another—for we have the automobile to run our races and the steam engine to lift our loads, but the object is to bring forth a harmonious, well-proportioned being —strong of body and beautiful of form, with keen intellect and untiring action, and with a heart beating with sympathy and love. To produce and develop such a being requires a highly cultured parentage. "Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" ADAPTABILITY OF PARENTS. Parents should also be adapted to each other in disposition and temperament, and in physical and spirirual characteristics. The many unhappy marriages, the numerous divorces, the sorrow and heartaches, and multitude of blighted children resulting from improper unions, are ever-pressing arguments for the necessity of adaptation. If both parents are so slow that the earth grows weary under their tread, how could they expect their child to strike a fire whose light would shine around the world? Might they look to see their loved one win a race in the Suburban of life? If a thin streak of a man with a little head perched on seven feet of altitude, insists on marrying a woman constructed after the pattern of a knitting needle, should they complain if their darling

324 IMPROVEMENT ERA. is built after a plan that involves but one mathematical dimension? Why two soft, blue-eyed, dumpling-dolly people should fall in love with each other is inexplicable, isn't it? Two nervous, hottempered parents must expect to have a fitful, fretful child who keeps the thermometer of the home at the boiling point. That two people with short altitudes and long diameters should allow fate to unite them for life, is a geometric problem that would stun a Newton. And why in the world an ungainly, raw-boned, illformed, ugly man should select from the ocean of womanhood a specimen like unto himself, passes understanding, particularly when it is remembered that any one of a score of good-looking women might be found who would be glad to call him her darling. Examples without number, both humorous and pathetic, might be cited to show the absurdity if not the insanity displayed by young people in making matches. A youth or maiden just out of the chrysalis of the adolescent period, is notoriously soft and impressionable concerning the opposite sex. At this time a lock of hair or a rounded chin may cause palpitation of the heart; a flash of the eye may intoxicate, or a smile lead captive. This is the period of life when the young believe in predestination. A young man meets a maiden by accident; she smiles at him, he is charmed with her. A match is made. There is no thought of the future, and no regard is had for adaptation or personality. The probability is that a mistake is made, and another couple is launched on a stormy sea without hope of reaching the haven of happiness. This is the period when the sex instinct clamors for expression, when judgment is submerged by the hot blood of passion, and reason is not yet seated on her throne. How unfortunate that at this critical time the average parent is either incapable of giving advice, or is deterred from doing so through false delicacy! In choosing a companion for life, much interference would be unwise, but parents should at least teach the young the important facts of preparation and adaptation, and make it plain to them that a wise choice means happiness, and a wrong choice, untold misery. Young people should be taught that predestination has nothing to do with the subject, and that there is no such thing as fate. The necessity of adaptation, both physical and spiritual, of compatibility of temper, harmony of personality, and considerable similarity of

/'E \ 'EL OPMEXT AND TB A L\L\G OF THE CHILD. 325 taste in social standing, should be impressed most solemnly upon the candidates for marriage. If a serious violation of the above is contemplated, or if the parties are unbalanced or abnormal in the same particulars, the parents would be justified in using the strongest means to prevent the union. Nature, it is known, delights in balance. Everywhere is seen a beautiful equilibrium. The push equals the pull, the pressure the resistance, and the energy employed conditions the work accomplished. If a person, therefore is unbalanced or abnormal, he should see to it that his children do not emphasize this one-sidedness. If the man is unusually tall and thin, his wife should be short and stout. If he is slow and plodding, she should be quick and active. If he is black-eyed and violent, she should be blue-eyed and mild. Who has not smiled to see a big, loose-jointed man swinging along with a sweet, little, moon-faced woman waddling at his side? But when the beautiful, well-balanced children are seen who call these people parents, it is discovered that nature, too, has smiled at them, but with a smile of approbation. It is dangerous, however, to be too explicit, and to give rules to follow on such subjects. Each case will differ from every other, and will require particular consideration. The following generalizations, nevertheless, may be ventured: A normal person in marrying should choose from among normal people one well adapted to his personality. An unbalanced person is restricted in choice and should select one strong in those characteristics in which he is weak. INFANT DEVELOPMENT. A human being develops from a single impregnated cell. This cell possesses sensibility, activity, and rudimentary intelligence. It shrinks from cold, and moves away from injurious substances. It expands in warmth, reaches for and assimilates appropriate food, but rejects the inappropriate. This cell soon divides into two cells each of which appears to possess as much vitality as the first. The two cells divide into four, the four into eight, the eight into sixteen, and this processs is continued indefinitely. The life of each cell, however, is limited, it dies and passes away, and is replaced by another similar in kind. After a time the cells form

326 IMPROVEMENT ERA. into layers, and become differentiated into the tissues and organs of the infant child. During this early period of development, the chief and almost only need is nutriment. If this be sufficient and of the right quality, the life force within the organism will do the rest. And what a wonderful process it is, and how marvelous are the changis through which the organism passes! While the process goes on, there is impressed upon the growing being not only the characteristics of the parents and immediate ancestors, but something of the entire history of the past. So the child is born not only with the tendencies and physical endowments that cause it to resemble its parents, but with instincts which embody the accumulated life experience of the race. The child of today, therefore, should begin life with much greater capacity than the child born a thousand years ago. What life really is, we do not know. There is nothing else like it in the world. It is the one great wonder of the universe! But, nevertheless, since we are able to feel, to know, and to act, we can interpret life in terms of these processes—knowing, feeling, and action. It is generally believed that the spirit is that which knows, and feels and acts; but it can do so only because of the body which is the medium of relationship between the spirit and the so-called physical world of objects. Now unless this medium, the body, is perfect, the spirit will be hampered in its development. A person born blind can have no idea of light and shade and color; if born deaf, he can know nothing of the world of sound and music. If any organ is weak, or any part of the body diseased, a limit is thereby set to the possibilities of development. The body is more important than is commonly believed. Although it is nothing without the spirit, the spirit can make no progress without the body; but when the two are organically united, the possibility of development is unlimited. The body, therefore, must be given every care and consideration. If nutriment is the chief requirement before birth, it is still preeminently the first requisite for a year or two after birth. Unless an abundance of nourishment is provided, neither the vital organs nor the senses can develop properly. A child born in a normal condition should be quiet and contented, and should sleep most of the time for several weeks. If it is cross and peevish, the strong probability is that its food supply is vitiated. When the infant is

DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING OF THE CHILD. 327 fretful, instead of attributing this to a bad disposition or to sickness, and following the pernicious custom of dosing it with soothing syrup or other nostrums, if the nourishment furnished were investigated, the cause of the trouble would usually be found. Immediately after birth two great factors unite to carry on the work of development. One is the instinctive activity of the child which is forever reaching out to receive stimuli from the outside; and the other is the environment, which on its part is ever ready to stimulate and direct the activity. The environment must be understood to include all the outside agencies which stimulate and direct activity. This is both physical and social. The physical environment furnishes those stimulations which act upon the eye, the ear, and other sense organs. The social, includes the influences of mother, home, companions, community, school, church and state. All growth, development, and progress are conditioned by this interaction of the spiritual life force within and the environments from without. After birth the essential nature of the spirit cannot be changed—its character is already determined; but as to how far its capabilities shall be evolved—how nearly perfect t shall become as a particular personality, depends largely upon environment. To be sure the spirit within is always striving to express itself. It has a purpose which it is ever trying to realize, otherwise the environment could do nothing; but for the spirit to have so strong a native endowment that it makes and controls its environment, is the exception. The rule is that the circumstances and condition of environment control the development of spirit. This inner life force is under the necessity of acting; it is commanded never to rest or lie idle; but it could not select its parents, neither can it say where it will be born, or what will be its surroundings. It must act and react upon the environment in which it finds itself, and woe be unto it if this is vicious. It is a question whether the choicest spirit could develop nobly, if brought up by a negro tribe in Africa, or if raised in the slums of London. In their ability to furnish and control largely the environment of the child, the opportunities of the parents lie. In this respect the parents have the making of the child; they hold its future within their grasp. This power makes training and educati. n, possible.

328 IMPRO VEMENT ERA. HARMONY OF KNOWING, FEELING AND ACTION. In developing and educating the child, the two factors mentioned are intrinsic—one is essential to the other, each loses its distinctive character when separated—hence one can not be said to be more important than the other. The result of the relationship entered into between the active spirit and its environments is consciousness. Consciousness is alwavs complex; it is composed of the related phases—knowing, feeling, and action. Each of these evolves from a simple process into one of great complexity. Knowing passes progressively through the stages of sensation, perception, imagination, judgment, conception, and reason. At the same time the feeling side of consciousness develops from vague pleasure and pain to the complicated emotions and sentiments. Activity, too, progresses from impulsive movement to the marvelous power of attention and voluntary will. It must be remembered that consciousness cannot express itself in any other form than knowing, feeling, and action, and that no mental state can exist which does not embrace all three phases. However, one phase may occupy consciousness almost to the exclusion of the other two, and it is possible to develop the strength of a giant in one while the others are left dwarfs. Consciousness should be so cultivated that an equality is maintained among these factors. There should exist strong feeling in order that sympathy and love may develop, but this should not become a tempest of passion which the judgment cannot control. Activity should be exceedingly strong, so that the world's work may be done; but at the same time, it must not absorb consciousness, or the wells of feeling will dry, and the engine of action cease to move. THE NEED OF TRAINING. The problem before the parent is how to transform the instinctive activities of the child into the most effective consciousness, and at the same time preserve a just proportion among the three phases. On the one hand, the child must be given freedom that its activity may develop naturally, and not leave it servile or timid. On the other hand, this freedom must not be allowed to degenerate into license, or the child's whim will become its law of

DEVELOPMENT AXP 7RAINING OF THE CHILD. 329 action. Where to draw the line between freedom and restraint if a profound problem. Most parents vacillate between the two extremes; others adopt one or the other extreme. To adopt a rational policy in the training of the child, and to carry it out uniformly, is what everyone believes in, but which no one practices. Observe how the average parent fluctuates in the treatment of his child. If everything goes well and the day is bright, if the parent's health is good, there will be sunshine in the home, and the child may have anything it desires. It will be petted, fondled, and indulged, and everybody and everything must yield to its whims and fancies. If the day is cloudy, and the parent unwell, a storm will arise in the household, accompanied by bluster and thunder, and the child's tears will furnish the shower. That day there will be no indulgence, no sugar on its piece of bread, no pie to eat, no freedom, no kisses. So long as the training of children changes as the weather, so long will variable and unreliable characters be produced. The parent who has had to struggle with a hard environment, and who has been reared under a harsh regime, usually adopts a stern policy in the training of his child. This parent is likely to believe that the curiosity of his child is a species of mischief that needs checking, and that the self-activity which is struggling to realize itself is the sign of a perverse and evil nature, which must be crushed. He believes that the child has too much will, and that the will is a stubborn thing which must be broken. Some old-time maxims for the training of children have come down to us from parents of this class. "A child is made to be seen, not heard." "A child is a beautiful thing to look at, but a nuisance to live with.'' Similar to these are the old-time ideas that a child should have enough sense to keep its starched dress clean, and should know enough to fold its hands and sit quietly when company is present. As the child grows older, he is made to "toe the line;" he is not permitted "to go swimming" with the boys, and he is denied most of the joys which he craves. Time passes and the harsh discipline is increased, because the boy cannot help disobeying some commands; but the "rod and reproof" are relied upon to teach him wisdom. When he becomes a snapping youth, he is

330 IMPROVEMENT ERA. without a will of his own, because he has never been allowed freedom of choice. He has no initiative; he needs to be commanded at every step; he is timid, servile, and cowardly. Some day, if he can pluck up enough courage, he will run away from home; and he will likely bring disgrace to himself, because of bis excessive indulgence in everything denied him at home. He will get from the world just what he gives; and since he has no affection or willing service to bestow, he will receive pain and stingy reward for his labors. Unless society teaches him the lessons untaught at home, he will become a beggar or a criminal; and another soul will go to swell the list of unfortunates damned through unwise training. Another parent is opposed to the use of any harsh means. His child must never be scolded or punished. The obstacles in its path will be carefully removed; it will be helped over every fence in its pathway. It will be shielded from every storm of life, and protected from every blast of fate. He attempts to make its life one long, sweet holiday. This parent is sympathetic, but he has scarcely tasted of the sweetmeats of life, so he resolves that his child shall always have a stick of candy in its mouth. He declares that his child shall never need to pass through the hardships he endured; for, thanks be to the Giver of all blessings, he is now well to do, and can provide his child with every comfort and blessing. His child will never need to work for a living; it will never need to soil its hands. Upon it is poured the affections of an overloving heart. The child will be petted and pampered and primped until it imagines the world was made for it alone, and that people exist expressly to minister to its imaginary needs. Could one of the choicest spirits that ever graced the courts of heaven develop into a worthy child under such conditions? When the child becomes older, what could she know of sacrifice or persistence? Where would she get a backbone stiff enough to bear the burdens of life? Where would she gain the strength to carry her skirts unsoiled above the mud of life? She has never endured pain: how then can she stand sorrow? She has never practiced restraint: how then could she have a will? In her vocabulary, freedom and license are synonyms; affection and desire mean the same, and in her soul selfishness rules where love should sit as

ELOPMENTAND TRAINING OF THE CHILD. 881 queen. The fires of the Inferno are kindled with such rubl she is made of. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. What can be done to remedy this faulty training? Fir^t, the parent must understand child nature and its needs, and must have a knowledge of elementary psychology and physiology. Second, he must understand the environment, and know how to use it to stimulate and direct the activity of the child. Third, he must comprehend the fundamental principles that underlie correct government and training. Fourth, he must be intelligent, loving, active, and wellbalanced himself. These requirements, except the third, have been treated briefly in the discussion above. Fundamental principles of child government and training with their practical application remain to be considered. To the student of nature, nothing else is so impressive as the universality of her laws. Every herb brings forth its kind; every animal reproduces itself in its young. The earth attracts everything towards itself by a certain force, and is itself attracted by every other body, and according to the laws of motion and gravitation, it is held to the path of its orbit. In like manner, every other body in the universe is held in equilibrium. The energy in a piece of coal may be transformed into heat ard light, but in the process nothing is created and nothing is destroyed. The energy of a waterfall may b:- utilized by the mill or dynamo, but in the exchange a perfect equality is preserved. For every cause tl is an effect, and the one exactly balances the other* Change and transformation go on forever, yet there is no loss, no destruction. Everything works, nothing is idle. is the only thing that does not change." Everything appears to be onder the necessity of acting Btrngfi fard the i d of the purpose its creation. Chance is nowhere to be found, and fate hae home in which to rear her children. Running through the above is a unifying principle which may be stated as the law of balance or proportion. Nature seems to love equivalence. She is young still, and she delights to plaj

332 IMPROVEMENT ERA. the game of seesaw. Leaving the physical world, and turning to the human, the same law is in operation; but with human beings, it is called justice. Should nature be more exacting with inanimate things than with human? Manifestly not, or her law of compensation would be violated. Consequently, nature punishes every violation, and blesses every observance of her law. If a law of health is broken, pain and suffering ensue. If the violation continues, a proportionate increase of punishment follows; but for every law obeyed, pleasure and strength are given. For every foolish act, the devil's fiddler must be paid, but for every righteous deed, the smile of heaven is bestowed. Justice. In the training of the child, justice is a fundamental principle that must be observed. The child must be taught that wrong action brings sorrow and pain, that right action brings pleasure and comfort. The sooner it learns that fire burns, the better. A few bumps and falls and cuts experienced early will protect it from serious injury later. The child must be granted plenty of freedom, so that the good and the bad effects of its actions may be quickly learned. It will then form an early judgment as to the meaning and worth of conduct, and its own experience will become its guide. At first, certainly, the parent's will and judgment must act for the child; but the shorter that period the better. Instead of shielding it from everything disagreeable, the parent should welcome the painful experiences necessary to teach the child wisdom. The overfond parent, who takes upon himself the sorrows and burdens of his child, and imagines that trouble and disappointment may be kept from its life, is not only unwise, but he cherishes a vain and foolish fantasy. No one can gain experience for another, each must learn wisdom for himself. Only by climbing the mountain of sorrow, is the summit of joy reached. The sweetest fruit grows on the topmost branches. The way to excellence is over the road of toil and hardship. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." The kingdom of heaven is reached after passing through the shadows of death. If this necessary toil and sorrow were all of justice, life would be a stern and cheerless desert. But, happily, for all the

DEVELOPMENT AND TEAMING OF THE CHILI'. 33& hardships experienced there is rich compensation; for every labor performed, sweet rest is given; for every obstacle overcome, power is attained; and for struggles and heartaches endured, peace and happiness come. The principle of justice still holds good. Laboi brings its reward of health and plenty; idleness, its punishment of want and weakness. Good done to others returns in good to the doer, and every sacrifice becomes a hidden blessing. The imps of pain and toil are but angels in disguise. Let the parent teach his child that there is absolutely no escape from the consequences of its deeds. That no cave is deep enough to hide, and no darkness black enough to conceal a culprit from the vengeance of broken law. Nature is, therefore, the great disciplinarian. The parent should be sparing in his punishments, because he i<* likely to punish in anger, and to use means that are artificial and unnatural; but nature never chastises in anger, and her punishment is the logical sequence of the offense. To withhold from a child the natural consequences of its actions, good and bad, is torob it of its birthright. What a mess of potage is served up by the average parent in the name of punishment! In one home, the child is deprived of its liberty, and is scolded and nagged at all the day. In another, it is slapped and beaten for the most trivial offenses; and in others, it is petted and wheedled and "soft-seaped" until its character is as inconstant as a weathercock. The result of such treatment is that the child grows up without any idea of the sacredness and awfulness of law. It comes to believe that in life, it can escape the results of its acts, just as it escaped merited punishment at the hands of its parents. What a multitude of promising children have lived to be damned, bacause their weakkneed, soft-hearted parents failed to teach them the meaning of justice! The fires of hell are already kindled for the fool who says, "Somehow I'll escape!" "But," the milk-and-water parent will exclaim, "surely in this day of enlightenment you wouldn't punish a dear, innocent child corporally, would you?" What will nature do the "dear innocent" if it puts its finger into the flame or sets its clothing on fire? If it breaks a law of nature, or gets in the way of danger, does nature rush out hysterically, and snatch it out of the way? Well, then, let the parent be sensible; and if corporal punishment is the natural consequence of the bad deed,.

334 IMPROVEMENT ERA. let it be administered. Nature is never brutal, nor is she ever cowardly. "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." Let the parent who would be kindest to his child adopt this motto: "Mercy must not rob Justice." Love. Justice is a beautiful maiden. Standing stern and impassive, with her sword in one hand and her balances in another, ready to execute judgment, she arouses profound respect and reverence. But it is said that she is without a heart, and that the milk of human sympathy has never warmed her breasts. She has never been in love with anybody, and nobody has ever been in love with her. Her consciousness has run to intellect, and the well of her feeling has gone dry; and while her duty is to preserve a balance, she herself is unbalanced. Justice says, "And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe." While no valid reason can be offered why justice should not claim her own—she certainly has a legal right to her pound of flesh—yet, in taking her own, she must not trespass on the rights of others. Consciousness contains feeling and action as well as judgment; and conduct concerns itself with mercy and love as well as justice. Therefore, in training and governing the child, while the demands of justice must never be ignored, yet the claims of the feeling phase of consciousness, whose children are sympathy, mercy and love, must also be regarded. Justice alone is cold and harsh, but when love, the eldest child of feeling, unites with her in rearing the child, then that balance is provided which is essential to harmonious development. Love, therefore, is the second principle required in the development and training of the child. A child is a tender plant, and must be reared in a warm atmosphere. Who has not seen the buds shrink up and hide away from the cold breath of evening, but expand and reach out when the day comes to welcome the early warmth? And so, too, the petals of the rose close up from the frosty night, but open their rosy lips to kiss the morning sun. The child is just as sensible to

OPMENTAND TRAINING OF THE CIIIU>. :j:if» harshness and love. It is instinctively warm-hearted and loving, and it expands and develops under the smile of the parent, even as the flowers do in the warmth of the sun; but it shrinks and hides away from the scolding, cruel parent, as the flowers shrink from the frosty night. The affections must be appealed to and developed, or the child will become cold and unsympathetic. Why is it that many a loving child grows into a cold, selfish person? Evidently because the feeling phase of its consciousness has not developed. The instinct of affection may develop into love, or it may degenerate into selfishness. After a world of care and sacrifice in rearing a child, how sad that many a parent has to say with King Lear, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child." Selfishness is the universal sin. The instinct of self-preservation encourages this evil. All the skill and knowledge and love of the parent are needed to develop instinctive affection upwards into love while inhibiting the downward tendency towards selfishness. There are two kinds of love—one merely physical, which, like the love of Romeo and Juliet, expresses itself in a hug and a kiss. The other is a higher, spiritual love which manifests itself in service and self-sacrifice. This is typified in the love of Ruth for Naomi: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." The parent who desires to know whether or not true affection is developing in his child must make this test: How much service will my child willingly render? How much self-sacrifice will it make? By training the child to little acts of service and sacrifice when it is in the affectionate mode, it will gradually develop that beautiful spirit, which is the sign of love. Especially is it the province of the mother to nourish the instinct of love in her child. Love is the mother's secret of power. It is the magnet hidden in her soul which attracts and holds the child >afe from every evil influence. The great purpose of justice is to teach wisdom. Without the effects of his deeds falling upon his head, man could never have learned how to guide his conduct; he

336 IMPROVEMENT ERA. c©uld have made no progress, and, possibly, could not have survived in the struggle for existence. Justice must, therefore, always claim her own. She cannot be relenting and forgiving. Love, on the other hand, is sympathetic and forgiving, She takes the violator of law by the hand, and leads him back to a condition of harmony. She helps him to atone for broken law. Love reaches her consummation when she offers herself as a substitute for the one who has erred, and takes upon herself the punishment. Sacrificing herself for another, is, therefore, the highest act of love. The purpose of love, then, is to give hope and joy to others, to yield her own pleasure for the happiness of another, to teach that man does not live for himself alone; but that when one suffers, all are sad, and when one rejoices, all are happy. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your soul." (To be concluded in April number.)