Select not to nurse thy darling one that may taint his innocence, For example is a constant monitor, and good seed will die among the tares. The arts of a strange servant have spoiled a gentle disposition: Mother, let him learn of thy lips, and be nourished at thy breast. Character is mainly moulded by the cast of the minds that surround it: Let then the playmates of thy little one be not other than thy judgment shall approve: For a child is in a new world, and learneth somewhat every moment, His eye is quick to observe, his memory storeth in secret, His ear is greedy of knowledge, and his mind is plastic as soft wax. Beware then that he heareth what is good, that he feedeth not on evil maxims, For the seeds of first instructions are dropped into the deepest furrows. That which immemorial use hath sanctioned, seemeth to be right and true; Therefore, let him never have to recollect the time when good things were strangers to his thought. Strive not to centre in thyself, fond mother, all his love; Nay, do not thou so selfishly, but enlarge his heart for others; Use him to sympathy betimes, that he learn to be sad with the afflicted; And check not a child in his merriment,--should not his morning be sunny? Give him not all his desire, so shalt thou strengthen him in hope; Neither stop with indulgence the fountain of his tears, so shall he fear thy firmness. Above all things graft on him subjection, yea, in the veriest trifle; Courtesy to all, reverence to some, and to thee unanswering obedience.