We have been pleased with a plain, simple rule for all inexperienced travellers at a railway station, which would be a useful maxim for women in many of the important matters of life: 66 Keep cool, and do what you see other

people are doing."

There is another mode of travelling, peculiar to London and large towns, in which we too often see people deviate from the laws of common sense. We allude to travelling in omnibuses, a cheap and convenient method of transit for short distances for those who wish to save time, or who are averse to the exercise of walking.

The first advice we would give to omnibus travellers is, you should not walk forward on the track of an omnibus when you wish to take it, but turn back to meet it, by which you may spare time, secure a better place, have no more to pay, and be at the end of your journey as soon. If you are not far from the starting-place of the omnibus you wish to take, it is best to go there at once, to avoid disappointment, and have your choice of seats. If you have to go some distance, choose a back place, where you will be least disturbed by passengers getting in or out. If you only want to go a short distance, choose a seat two or three from the door; but avoid the seat next the door, where you are subject to continual inconvenience from passengers getting in or out, and often have your dress torn or injured by their feet.

Know what you shall have to pay before you enter an omnibus; have the exact money ready in your hand when it stops for you to get out; but do not deliver up the money to the conductor until you have alighted.

All young ladies travelling alone should be cautious in entering into conversation with strange fellow-travellers. Civilities should be politely acknowledged; but, as a general rule, a book is the safest resource for tected female."

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CHAPTER XII.

Home education for various stations of life-The home education of a governess-Duty of a governess-Perseverance and forbearance-Lessons in religion-Natural objects-Reading and spelling-Elementary books-Useful knowledge-Juvenile parties-Reading for the young-Scripture reading-Letter writing -Money affairs.

ONE of the most important duties of the mother of a family, and for which she must always arrange to have time, is the home education of her children. By this education we do not mean a routine of lessons from books, but that beneficial oral instruction, those practical lessons on the duties of life, which should pervade entirely the mother's intercourse with her children.

It is by the mother that lessons of love, forbearance, truth, and generosity, are deeply impressed on the ductile mind, and the seeds of true piety are scattered carefully over the prepared soil.

The first care of a mother is to distinguish between the different dispositions which Nature has given to her children; she will then be able to strengthen the weak and vacillating, to soften the obdurate, to encourage the timid, and to repress the forward-to eradicate the weeds, and to sow the good seed.

Another consideration should be the probable future destination of each child, depending greatly on the circumstances of the parents. The education which is considered necessary and becoming for a girl who will be introduced into high society would be unfitting and prejudicial to one in a humbler station of life. The heir to a large estate should not be taught scrupulously to save, but judiciously and beneficially to spend his

money.

DUTIES OF A MOTHER.

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Thus, while even yet under the mother's eye, such books might be read and studies pointed out as would be useful in the future course of life. The intended merchant should learn the products of the different countries of the world, and be habituated to a nice accuracy in accounts. The soldier should read the history of all nations; the sailor should study mathematics and astronomy; and the youth devoted to the sacred profession should be early encouraged to read the lives of pious men, or travels in the holy lands of Scripture associations.

In humbler stations of life, the mother whose boys must become mechanics and whose, girls must go to service, should educate them with such aims before them. The boys must be rendered hardy, truthful, and honest, with such useful learning as may suit their prospects. The girls must early take a share in the duties of the house, each undertaking the part fitting to the sort of place she wishes to obtain. Above all, the mother should train them in the practice of piety, in scrupulous truth, in habits of order, cleanliness, and neatness, and in sobriety of dress. Every mother, of good principle and common sense, may, by God's help, accomplish this duty. And in the present day, every young woman that is able to read may acquire the theory of her business from the cheap and useful manuals to be obtained on every class of service.

But it is to the mother of a family in the middle class of life that we would chiefly address our observations and advice. The wife of the tradesman or professional man usually has her income depending wholly on the life of her husband. She is able, in his lifetime, to procure for her children a liberal education, but she is aware that one day her daughters may be called upon to earn their own living.

We would counsel mothers, in this position, to impress this prospect early on the young mind, and by incul cating self-respect, by the arguments of reason and

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GOVERNESS TRAINING.

religion, endeavour to habituate them to their duty, and to remove that bitter feeling of degradation which the present state of society inflicts on the woman who is compelled to maintain herself.

The morbid sensitiveness, which so frequently renders the useful and honourable occupation of a governess perfectly miserable, usually originates in an error of education. When a girl has fairly placed before her eyes the station in life she is called on to occupy, she should enure herself to it. She should be taught to set a high value on the privilege of communicating knowledge; she should be prepared to fulfil the duty religiously, looking on the petty evils attending her lot, not as trials, not as mortifications, but as simply the natural consequences of her dependent position. The governess has no more right to revolt at a small neglect or a fancied interference, than the kitchen-maid who receives a slight reproof; the tradesman in his shop, who must submit to tedious customers; or the prime minister, who is reproached in the public papers for some public misfortune.

It should be the aim and care of the mother to impress on the minds of children, who will have to earn their own living, the mutual obligation, the honesty of giving service and submission for maintenance and protection; the duty of cheerful endurance and firm resolution, in whatever situation they may be placed, to make the best of it.

Wisely educated, and strengthened by such a resolution, the young governess will be enabled to find pleasure in the performance of her duty. If the children be wayward and cross, she must try to win their affection; if they are disobedient and obstinate, she must subdue them by firmness. If the parents are capricious, exacting, or arrogant, she must labour, endure, and pray. Then, after all, if she should fail to give satisfaction, she will have strengthened her own power of controlling her temper, and will have done her duty in that state of life

to which it has pleased God to call her. This conviction will bestow on her an inward satisfaction, and enable her to contend with the future difficulties of life.

It is a proof of great weakness and imprudence for any governess, who is really competent to fulfil the task she has undertaken, to weep, despond, and finally to relinquish a situation that is not quite so comfortable as she expected. So long as her employers wish to retain her, and her duties are not of a nature to be offensive to her moral feelings or injurious to her health, she should by all means persevere in quiet and strenuous endeavours to overcome the difficulties that discourage her. In the end such perseverance is usually crowned with success, and she should also remember, few people like to engage a discontented governess.

If such an employment does not interfere with the more important duties of the wife, the mother is the best governess of her children, but there are circumstances of life which make such an undertaking difficult, unfitting, or impossible. If her means will permit it, she should in such case provide for them a governess in whom she can place implicit confidence, and then go hand in hand with her in every plan of instruction and discipline.

The first lesson taught to a young child should be obedience without question; when this is once accomplished, the course of government will go on with much ease. But to obtain this power, it is necessary that no command should be issued without due consideration, for if once given, it must be fulfilled.

There can be no greater mistake than to be careless and inaccurate in the words and phrases used to children. However simple the subject may be, the words should be well chosen, correct, and even elegant. Children will acquire the habit of expressing their thoughts in proper language as readily as in vulgar or trivial words.

It is the mother alone that can implant the first impressions of religion in the heart of her children. It is the mother that must point out to them God's goodness