***
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well."
Or the following agricultural picture:—
"Little birds sleep sweetly
In their soft round nests,
Crouching in the cover
Of their mothers' breasts.
Little lambs lie quiet,
All the summer night.
With their old ewe mothers.
Warm and soft and white.
But more sweet and quiet
Lie our little heads,
With our own dear mothers
Sitting by our beds.
***
Birds are not so merry
Singing on the trees.
Lambs are not so happy,
Mid the meadow flowers;
They have play and pleasure,
But not love like ours."
It is needless to say that obedience and truth are the moral qualities which lie at the foundation of all education of the very young; but in this as in other matters more depends on example than on precept. I cannot refrain from quoting the following testimony to English life from a very remarkable German work, recently translated, 'Christian Family Life,' by Thiersch:—
"Servants and children should know everything which they have to do as accurately as the crew of a ship. It is not by chance that the most maritime people in the world is also in domestic life a model in the distribution and ordering of all which is to be done. In England this praiseworthy peculiarity is in fact grounded alike upon a well understood interest, upon national tradition, and upon religious motives. Nelson's signal, 'England expects every man to do his duty,' is properly a quotation from the English Catechism, 'to do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me.' This principle forms the key-note of the English public and domestic life."
We in turn may learn something from Luther's Catechism.
"Let every one his duties know.
And things at home all right will go."[1]
It is an important point for the mother not to forget how entirely all her good instruction and careful training will be
- ↑ Ein jeder lern sein Lection
So wird es wohl im Hause ston."
