reth. It may sometimes be difficult, when pride, obstinacy, or self-will strives to gain the upper hand. But it is all the more necessary that you should now learn to bow your head, and accustom yourself to obey; for at a later period you will find it still more difficult, perhaps even impossible.
But mark this well: your subjection to authority ought not to be the result of stern compulsion, but a Christian virtue. This obedience springs from humility; faith sanctifies it and love lightens its yoke. Only this Christian obedience, obedience for the love of God, can keep its ground under all circumstances, and throughout your whole life.
5. In an age when respect for both divine and human authority appears to be fast vanishing from the face of the earth, the example of childlike veneration for parents, which was set by a man at the time when he was in high authority, when he was the President of the French Republic, deserves to be mentioned here. I refer to M. Loubet. It is touching to read of the respect and affection with which he clung to his good, simple, old mother.
It was everywhere noticed with approbation that, on the occasion of a visit to Montelimar, he could not be induced to be present at an official reception, to be succeeded by a grand banquet. He preferred to remain at the home of his mother, surrounded by a
