THE YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR
By James Sawyer
Is a welcome friend to our family. My little boy, who is now six years of age, delights to have me read its pages to him. He has been telling of late that he must have the numbers sewed together, as I sew the numbers of the REVIEW for each month together. I wish to have more of an interest for the children. What could I regret more, or how could my feelings have deeper anguish, should I see my child have no desire to hear interesting narratives, or listen carelessly to Bible stories? But how can we expect our children to have a taste for such stories, unless they are tutored to it? Moral precepts, by way of stories, must often be related to them when they are at home and when they are abroad, when they lie down and when they rise up. It is repetition, day after day. It is line upon line, here a little and there a little, in order that stable habits and just motives may be inculcated in our children. These things I have neglected too much. I look back to my childhood days, and see where some of my faculties became perverted on account of a lack of interest my parents had for me. This should be a warning to me. Although my parents did well by me, yet had they been more familiar, and had a better knowledge of the evil ways of the young, they would have been better guarded. I look back upon my youthful days with bitter reflections. But God was merciful to a poor sinner, and my cries in the fields and woods entered into his ear, and I trust I became a brand plucked from the burning. Oh! let me encourage the young to cling to their parents for counsel; to go to them and tell them their weaknesses and little difficulties. Then let us like loving parents clasp these dear children to our bosom, and commend them to the safe keeping of angels.
JAMES SAWYER.