destroyed by the search after these lively and piquant pleasures. All that can be done for the children under our care, is to accustom them to this simple life, to strengthen this habit in their minds as long as possible, to apprise them of the evils connected with other pleasures, and not to leave them to themselves, as is usually done, at an age in which the passions are just beginning to show their strength, and when, of course, they most imperiously demand restraint.

It must be acknowledged that, of all the difficulties that we meet with in the work of instruction, none can be compared with that of educating children who are deficient in sensibility. Young persons whose dispositions are quick and sensitive, are capable of dreadful excesses; but they have also great capacities of recovery, and they often return from wide deviations; instruction is in their breasts a latent germ that one day shoots up and bears fruit, when experience comes in aid of reason, and the passions are cool; at least, we know by what means they can be ren

dered attentive, and how their curiosity can be kept awake. There are methods of interesting them in their studies and moving them by an appeal to their sense of honor, while, on the contrary, it is impossible to obtain any hold upon sluggish and insensible dispositions. The thoughts of such are always wandering; they are never where they should be; even punishment excites no sensibility; they hear every thing, and feel nothing. This sluggishness produces negligence, and makes the child disgusted with every thing that she does; the best education is then in danger of total failure, unless the evil is encountered and resisted from the earliest infancy. Many persons of superficial views, conclude from this want of success, that nature alone is concerned in forming men of merit, and that education is powerless; while, in fact, the legitimate conclusion would be, that there are some dispositions on which, as on sterile soils, culture is bestowed in vain. The result is still more deplorable, when these educations, conducted with so great difficulty, are coun

teracted, or suffer from neglect, or take a wrong direction in their commencement.

It should likewise be observed that there are many children in whose dispositions we are much deceived. They at first appear engaging, because the early graces of infancy have a charm that invests every thing. We discover a certain tenderness and affection, that prevent us from carefully examining the particular features of the mind. Every mark of intelligence that we perceive in them, surprises us, because at their age it is entirely unexpected. All their errors in judgment are considered venial, and we praise them for their ingenuousness; a certain constitutional vivacity and sprightliness that always appear in children, are taken for quickness of genius. Hence it is that infancy appears to promise so much, and that it yields so little. It has often been the case that a child, celebrated for her genius at the age of five years, has sunk into obscurity and contempt just in proportion as she has advanced in age.

Of all the qualities that may

be discerned in the young, there is not one affording better ground of confidence, than a good judgment; if well cultivated, it grows with their growth; the charms of infancy fade, its vivacity declines; even the tender affections of the heart often disappear, because the strength of the passions, as well as intercourse with deceitful men, insensibly check the tenderness of young persons who are entering upon life. Aim, then, at discovering, in the midst of the engaging charms of infancy, if the disposition which you are to manage, fails in curiosity, and is insensible to an honest emulation. If this be the case, there is reason to fear that all who are charged with the work of education, will revolt from a labor so difficult and so unsuccessful. It is necessary then to move all the springs of action in the child's mind, in order to draw her from this state of sluggishness and torpor. If you foresee this evil, do not press upon her, at first, a continued series of instructions; carefully avoid burdening her memory, for it is in this way that the mind is

overwhelmed and exhausted; do not fatigue her with oppressive regularity and system; enliven and divert her; since she falls into the opposite extreme from presumption, do not fear to show her, in a prudent way, what she is capable of accomplishing; be content with a small degree of improvement; make her observe her slightest success; represent to her how unnecessary was her fear of not being able to succeed in some things that she understands well; call in the aid of emulation. Jealousy is stronger in children than would be readily supposed; there are some who pine away in secret languor, because others are more loved and caressed than they. It is a species of cruelty too common among mothers, to make them undergo this suffering; but in pressing emergencies this may be employed as a remedy for indolence; place before the child whom you are educating, other children who are little more promising than herself. Examples disproportionate to her weakness would only increase her discouragement.