RECIPROCAL DUTIES OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. BEHOLD that lovely eherub in the arms of its fond mother! It has been but a few months in existence, yet it has already learned to recognise its best friend: her faithful bosom is the receptacle of all its tiny sorrows and joys; its hopes are derived from her experienced kindness; its fears are allayed by her protecting care: on this well known being it depends, for all that can soothe and delight. The utmost ingenuity of the nurse, though aided by the delicious morsel, or the glittering toy, is B of little avail when she appears, in whom is concentrated every gratification of which its infant mind is susceptible. Soon, under her assiduous care, its bodily and mental powers begin to expand; its joys and its woes are more intelligibly expressed; it grows fertile in schemes and contrivances for its own amusement (as yet it dreams not of existing for any other purpose); in these the fond parent participates, and is consulted on all occasions without reserve. In the frolicsome gambol she renews her interest, and again enjoys the pleasures of infancy with a double zest. "She feels and owns an interest in their play, The companion in health, the watchful, assiduous, and anxious friend in sickness, the prime of a mother's days imperceptibly glides along, bearing away her personal graces, and not unfrequently leaving her constitution a wreck. As infancy ripens into childhood, her duties alter, but her zeal continues una |