Read thou first, and well approve, the books thou givest to thy child; But remember the weakness of his thought, and that wisdom for him must be diluted: In the honied waters of infant tales, let him taste the strong wine of truth: Pathetic stories soften the heart; but legends of terror breed midnight misery; Fairy fictions cram the mind with folly, and knowledge of evil tempteth to like evil: Be not loth to curb imagination, nor be fearful that truths will depress it; And for evil, he will learn it soon enough; be not thou the devil's envoy. Induce not precocity of intellect, for so shouldst thou nourish vanity; Neither can a plant, forced in the hot-bed, stand against the frozen breath of winter. The mind is made wealthy by ideas, but the multitude of words is a clogging weight: Therefore be understood in thy teaching, and instruct to the measure of capacity. Analogy is milk for babes, but abstract truths are strong meat; Precepts and rules are repulsive to a child, but happy illustration winneth him: In vain shalt thou preach of industry and prudence, till he learn of the bee and the ant; Dimly will he think of his soul, till the acorn and the chrysalis have taught him; He will fear God in thunder, and worship His loveliness in flowers; And parables shall charm his heart, while doctrines seem dead mystery: Faith shall he learn of the husbandman casting good corn into the soil; And if thou train him to trust thee, he will not withhold his reliance from the Lord. Fearest thou the dark, poor child? I would not have thee left to thy terrors; Darkness is the semblance of evil, and nature regardeth it with dread: Yet know thy father's God is with thee still, to guard thee: It is a simple lesson of dependence; let thy tost mind anchor upon Him. Did a sudden noise affright thee? lo, this or that hath caused it: Things undefined are full of dread, and stagger stouter nerves. The seeds of misery and madness have been sowed in the nights of infancy; Therefore be careful that ghastly fears be not the night companions of thy child.