Is it not a strange sight, to see a Christian parent so deeply involved in business, so engrossed with the cares of this life, or so occupied with other matters, however important, that he is compelled to entrust the moral and religious training of his children to a hireling?--a preacher so much engaged in proclaiming the Gospel to sinners in the world, that he has no time to lead his own little ones to the feet of Jesus?--a father so occupied with the improvement of his neighbours, with Sabbath-schools, prayer and class meetings, or evening lectures and sermons, that he has no leisure to lead, in proper season, the devotions of his own little circle at home? Such a man substitutes his own way for the will of God; and, in so far as he does so, the consequences will be seen in the future character of his children; and even he himself will suffer loss in the health of his own soul. Parents, with the Bible in their hands, and the word of God hidden in their hearts, having the blessed hours of Sabbath rest as their birthright, however humble their circumstances or toilsome their life, can never be entirely destitute of an opportunity for training and instructing their offspring. In glancing back on the years of childhood, and tracing the influences which have surrounded me through youth, I am convinced, that, in so far as my mind has been awakened to intelligence, and my character formed to virtue, under God, I owe all to my parents, but especially to my mother: her earnest and indefatigable exertions, in the face of difficulties which would have deterred any common mind from attempting such a task, together with her ceaseless watchfulness, secured for us such an amount of knowledge, and formed in us such habits, as raised us above the temptations which usually beset youth in the humble walks of life. While the constant necessity existed, as soon as we were able to do anything--for all our exertions toward the support of the family allowed us little time to cultivate acquaintances, whether injurious or beneficial--our mother’s constant endeavour was, even through the very early years of childhood, to keep our hands and heads fully employed.