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FIRESIDE EDUCATION. |
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fragrance, so the chastened heart exhihits and enjoys the purest pleasure. Parents are, therefore, by no means to sacrifice the proper education of their children, under the idea of interfering with their enjoyment.
But I wish distinctly to present to the readers attention the fact that children remain under parental guardianship for twenty-one years, and that this, with the majority, is more than half the entire period of human existence. Let parents, then, do what they can consistently, with a sound regard to controlling points of duty, to make that large portion of life happy which is subjected to their special influence. Let them not, under an idea of government, over-govern; let them not, under the notion of educating, over-educate; let them not, under the idea of training them to labor, overtask their children. Let it be understood that the child has a right to be happy so long as he remains under parental tutelage; and let it be remembered that if the parent interfere with this right, beyond what is demanded by a due regard to the child's future prosperity, he uses the power of a despot, with the spirit of a tyrant.
I will venture to make another suggestion to parents, which is the more important from the fact that selfishness sometimes puts on the |
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