reminded of the meeting of the immortal Washington with his mother, just before his inaugeration as President of the United States. The great man met her as a son. He bowed his head upon her shoulders and wept. He addressed her in the language of grateful emotion. His words were full of tenderness and affection. Yet he made no compromise of his dignity and greatness. He was none the less a man. He was Washington still. Posterity have not pronounced it a weakness. It is recorded upon the historic page as an additional evidence of the great man's greatness. It ensures a tribute to his memory in the hearts of the virtuous free as enduring as the monumental pile which is rising in unsurpassed magnificence to transmit his name to remote posterity.

Often the providence of God elevates a child above the lowly condition of his parents. God gives him wealth and honorable position. He is intelligent and educated. And now, because of the large gifts of a kind Providence, he becomes ashamed of his humble parentage. The poor, unlettered pair who cared for him in infancy, and to whom he is yet dear as life itself, are well nigh forsaken. Possibly he may occasionally visit their retired residence, but he would carefully exclude them from the circle in which he moves.

The writer has been in company with a young man of winning appearance. The graces of refinement adorned his speech and person, and the heart was well nigh captivated with so fine a specimen of the gentleman. But, on learning that although the only son of his mother, and she a widow, his demeanor towards her was cold and heartless, all appearance of the true gentleman suddenly vanished. God once prostrated him upon a bed of suffering, and, when tossing from side to side with feverish excitement, he was glad to admit his humble, unrefined, but excellent mother to his room. But when an accomplished companion paid him a

* See the same more in detail in Chapter on Era for Mothers.

visit, his pride overcame what natural affection he had, and - he passed her off for a nurse. Unfeeling wretch! We almost wonder that a bolt of divine vengeance did not send him instantly into eternity to meet an angry God. We wonder that conscience did not drive him to despair as he reflected upon his cruel deed. If such bondage to fashionable society, and such fear of refined associates, is not consummate weakness, then humanity is never weak. I often meet that young man, but my soul shrinks from him as from a loathsome viper. All his graces have dwindled away in my eyes, and he walks the streets a specimen of hypocrisy. It will not surprise me if some terrible calamity befalls him. It will be a merited judgment. And if he tosses at last upon the burning billows of wo for nothing else, he will, if unrepentant, for breaking the Fifth Commandment.

Contrast with the above the filial regard of Archbishop Tillotson. His father was a poor, plain man; and on paying him his first visit after he was inducted into his high office, he inquired of the servant if "John Tillotson was at home." The servant supposing him a poor, unmannerly traveller, ordered him from the door; but the dean, recognizing the voice of his father, instead of ushering him into his house privately, ran out exclaiming to the surprise of his servants, "it is my beloved father;' and falling down before him craved his benediction. Noble example of filial attachment! We We are constrained to feel in reading it that such a man is fitted for so high an office in the church. Had he treated his aged parent with the unfilial spirit of the young man named above, the title of Arch-sinner would have become him better than Archbishop.

It has been already intimated that a lack of filial regard betokens an evil heart. The truth deserves a careful consideration. The severe penalty may have been attached to the Fifth Commandment, under the Jewish dispensation, because of the great sins which unfilial acts prognosticate.

Disobedience to parents is often the beginning of a criminal, career. It is the seed of future and blacker vices. Insubordination in the family grows into insubordination in the state. He, who does not respect his parents, will not be likely to respect a ruler. He, who wilfully tramples upon the commandment, "HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER," will not hesitate, eventually, to disregard the whole ten.

It is recorded, that five persons were executed a few years since, one in Springfield and four in Boston; all of whom declared upon the scaffold, that their wickedness began in neglect or abuse of the filial relation. The Rev. Lewis

Dwight, who is familiar with such statistics, says that "after faithful inquiry into the history of the numerous criminals confined in the prisons of the United States, in nearly all cases, their course began in disobedience to parents. The following is the language of a criminal awaiting his doom upon the scaffold. "My disobedience to parents has brought this misery upon me. My father gave me good instructions when I was a child, but I did not mind them. I would not go to school when he would have sent me. I would not go to a trade when he wished to have me. After my father died I would not obey those who had the care of me. I ran away from several masters. And now I have ran into the jaws of death." It is the thrilling language of a degenerate son's experience the outbursts of his sincere heart when he stood aghast upon the borders of eternity. Hear, then, the voice of misery itself as it reveals the cause of its own existence! Listen, ye careless youth, to warnings that come from the very mouth of the pit-made solemn by the awful realities which await a guilty soul!

Such facts, which might be greatly multiplied, show that unfilial deeds are ominous of fearful reaches in transgression. Public opinion regards this recklessness, in respect to filial duties, a sure omen of consummate future wickedness. The youth, or young man in any community, who prides himself

upon his disregard of filial duties, is an object of general suspicion. Mothers fear his contaminating influence upon their children. The manufacturer dares not commit important trusts to his keeping. The merchant fears to employ him in his traffic. The school committee receive complaints of his ill behaviour in school. Wanton depredations, committed in garden or orchard, are laid to his charge. short he is an object of universal distrust, and men are not surprised to hear of almost any iniquity perpetrated by this family disturber. The fact shows that mankind really expect this sin in the household will lead to greater sins in the state.

In

Hence, it may be laid down as well nigh a fixed fact, that when a son is heard to address his mother with disrespect, or to do or say anything in opposition to his father's counsel, he has the disposition to take upon his soul, at some future day, the guilt of enormous sins. It is a truth of fearful import, and ought to impress the minds of son and daughter, and arouse parents to avert, if possible, the evils which threaten.

cuse.

When children arrive at manhood and womanhood, having the maintainance of aged and infirm parents, a wilful disregard of their filial duties provokes the unsparing censure of all lookers-on. Our common humanity recognizes here a duty, the neglect of which can be palliated by no exNo mantle of charity is broad enough to cover a sin of such great enormity. But such examples of filial degeneracy are rare. Usually, on arriving at maturity, and becoming the heads of families, children hasten with overflowing hearts to bless the declining years of their parents. Then they begin to appreciate the kindness, love, care and solicitude, beneath whose reign their tender childhood was developed. It becomes a pleasure to solace the few-remaining days of those to whom they owe existence, to smooth their thorny pathway to the tomb, and prove faithful and

Disobedience to parents is often the beginning of a criminal, career. It is the seed of future and blacker vices. Insub

ordination in the family grows into insubordination in the state. He, who does not respect his parents, will not be likely to respect a ruler. He, who wilfully tramples upon the commandment, "HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER," will not hesitate, eventually, to disregard the whole ten.

It is recorded, that five persons were executed a few years since, one in Springfield and four in Boston; all of whom declared upon the scaffold, that their wickedness began in neglect or abuse of the filial relation. The Rev. Lewis Dwight, who is familiar with such statistics, says that "after faithful inquiry into the history of the numerous criminals confined in the prisons of the United States, in nearly all cases, their course began in disobedience to parents. The following is the language of a criminal awaiting his doom upon the scaffold. " My disobedience to parents has brought this misery upon me. My father gave me good instructions, when I was a child, but I did not mind them. I would not go to school when he would have sent me. to a trade when he wished to have me. After my father died I would not obey those who had the care of me. I ran away from several masters. And now I have ran into the jaws of death." It is the thrilling language of a degenerate son's experience the outbursts of his sincere heart when he stood aghast upon the borders of eternity. Hear, then, the voice of misery itself as it reveals the cause of its own existence! Listen, ye careless youth, to warnings that come from the very mouth of the pit-made solemn by the awful realities which await a guilty soul!

I would not go

Such facts, which might be greatly multiplied, show that unfilial deeds are ominous of fearful reaches in transgression. Public opinion regards this recklessness, in respect to filial duties, a sure omen of consummate future wickedness. The youth, or young man in any community, who prides himself