Our dwelling in appearance was not unlike one of those houses which are tenanted by farmers in the south-east of Scotland. Its dimensions, its blue slated roof, and its smooth grass plot, encircled with a gravel walk before the door, bespoke it the abode, if not of affluence, at least of competence. It had not, when planned, been intended as the abode of a servant, but as a residence for the proprietor’s mother, who having been removed by death, we were permitted to occupy it. Had the reader visited that spot in the spring of the year, when the young plantations were arrayed in bright green, the music of wild birds welcoming the morning, while the cowslip, the meadow-crocus, and the primrose studded the banks, and the butter-ball, the wild geranium, and numberless flowers besides, were shooting up amid the tangled maze of yellow whins and broom, wild rose, and scented sweet brier, which covered that little haugh; or had he sauntered down to the river, walked along the pebbles on its shore, and seen the little trout sparkling in the sunbeam as it leaped at the insects that sported upon the surface of the water, he would have called it a pleasant dwelling-place. It was indeed a sunny spot, and the gay children who used to ramble at will amid its beauties, were as happy a little band as could have been found. Yet, freely though they wandered among the surrounding pleasure grounds, they were carefully taught to avoid putting their foot in an improper place, or setting forth a hand to injure shrub or tree; and this in itself was calculated to form and strengthen in us a habit of self-restraint. Even in infancy our parents began our moral training; a prompt and cheerful submission to parental authority was the first habit they sought to form; and this once accomplished, the instruction and training of youth are comparatively easy. As soon as we became capable of understanding the reasons which influenced them in their conduct towards us, we were taught that our parents were the guardians placed over us by our Creator, in his kind care for our welfare, and that it was his will, that to them we should in all things cheerfully submit ourselves without hesitation or murmuring. I have often thought, when I have seen children allowed to demand a reason for every trifling order, numerous reasons and excuses having to be discussed, and thus a long altercation entered into between parent and child, in the shape of reasoning, before a lesson could be attended to, or the most trivial command obeyed, what an incalculable amount of evil is done to children by such treatment! Not only is time wasted, but self-will is fostered, and a habit of tardy performance of duty induced.