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Reciprocal duties of parents and children
Reciprocal duties of parents and children Author:Ann Taylor Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. ON SOME MISTAKES IN EDUCATION, AND THE CORRECTION OF THEM. " Whatsoever a mail soweth, that shall he alto reap." That a great proportion of... more » the ill conduct which destroys the peace of families originates in mistakes in education, there can be little doubt; it may not, therefore, be amiss, before we proceed upon other subjects, to point out a few of them; for to enumerate the whole would occupy too large a portion of these pages. Not to direct our first assault against that principle of selfishness to which in many families such costly sacrifices are made, would be like lopping the branthes of a noxious tree,and leaving the root in the ground; some parents do not discern, that in proportion as this principle is cherished, they are producing consequences directly opposite to their designs. It has never occurred to them with any salutary conviction (although their own experience might have enforced the lesson), that the majority of mankind has adopted each for himself this identical idol,—dearer, more interesting to the individual, than was " great Diana of the Ephesians" to her worshippers.—Ah! no wonder then there are such clamours without doors and'within!"— No wonder if the voice of any one in particular, however vociferous, be lost in the general din, " great is myself;" "to my honour, my pleasure, my caprice, shall be sacrificed the feelings and the interests of all around me!"— Until, however, this domineering principle is subdued, the human character cannot be contemplated with complacency; nor till we are brought to comply with the divine precepts of the Gospel, which direct us to esteem others above ourselves, can we experience true peace of mind and inward tranquillity. How would such holy principles, early implanted in the young mind, sap the foun...« less