But, to do the things I did, you must love _home_ yourself. To rear up children, in this manner, you must _live with them_; you must make them, too, _feel_ by your conduct, that you _prefer_ this to any other mode of passing your time. All men cannot lead this sort of life, but many may; and all much more than many do. My occupation, to be sure, was chiefly carried on _at home_; but I had always enough to do. I never spent an idle week, or even day, in my whole life. Yet I found time to talk with them, to walk, or ride, about _with them_; and, when forced to go from home, always took one or more with me. You must be good-tempered, too, with them; they must like _your_ company better than any other person's; they must not wish you away, not fear your coming back, not look upon your departure as a _holiday_.... When I went from home, all followed me to the outer gate, and looked after me, till the carriage, or horse, was out of sight. At the time appointed for my return, all were prepared to meet me; and, if it were late at night, they sat up as long as they were able to keep their eyes open. This love of parents, and this constant pleasure _at home_ made them not even think of seeking pleasure abroad; and they, thus, were kept from vicious playmates and early corruption. This is the age, too, to teach children to be _trustworthy_, and to be _merciful_ and _humane_. We lived _in a garden_ of about two acres, partly kitchen-garden with walls, partly shrubbery and trees, and partly grass. There were the _peaches_, as tempting as any that ever grew, and yet as safe from fingers as if no child were ever in the garden. It was not necessary to forbid. The blackbirds, the thrushes, the white-throats, and even that very shy bird the goldfinch had their nests and bred up their young ones in great abundance, all about this little spot, constantly the play-place of six children; and one of the latter had its nest and brought up its young ones in a _raspberry-bush_, within two yards of a walk, and at the time that we were gathering the ripe raspberries. We give _dogs, _and justly, great credit for sagacity and memory; but the following two most curious instances, which I should not venture to state, if there were not so many witnesses to the facts, in my neighbours at Botley, as well as in my own family, will show, that _birds_ are not, in this respect, inferior to the canine race. All country people know that the skylark is a very shy bird; that its abode is the open fields; that it settles on the ground only; that it seeks safety in the wideness of space; that it avoids enclosures, and is never seen in gardens. A part of our ground was a grass-plot of about _forty rods,_ or a quarter of an acre, which, one year, was left to be mowed for hay. A pair of larks, coming out of the fields into the midst of a pretty populous village, chose to make their nest in the middle of this little spot and at not more than about _thirty-five yards_ from one of