Late hours, hot crowded places, as theatres, &c., and children’s parties, are all very destructive of health; irregularities of all kinds are to be avoided,—as, too long walks, any great excitement, or over-fatigue; for growing children require all their strength and energies for natural purposes, and, being more excitable than grown persons, exhaust themselves the sooner. Those who live much among children should carefully purify their every thought, word, and action,—for the ductile and impressionable nature of a child, chameleon-like, takes its hue from that of the characters which surround it. “The seeds of first instructions are dropped into the deepest furrows;” therefore we cannot omit this chapter of our “Thoughts and Maxims.” If we would cultivate a flower with success, we plant it in a fitting soil, we water it at proper times, we give to it its due proportion of air and sun; shall we not equally study the constitution and physical requirements of a child, in order to bestow upon it the requisite nurture? for children, like flowers, require care—all are not equally hardy, equally vigorous, equally beautiful. Some resemble hot-house plants, and are frail and delicate; others, like the evergreen, can bear and brave hardship and change of temperature. The system which would be suitable for one of these natures would be injurious to the other—hence, judgment is needful. A child who fears God and honours his parents, is armed for the world’s warfare with a breast-plate, which, if not invulnerable, at least will turn aside many an arrow. Our favourite Tupper quaintly but truly says:—“When his reason yieldeth fruit, make thy child thy friend, for a filial friend is double gain, a diamond set in gold. As an infant thy mandate was enough; as he grows in years, let him hear thy reasons.” Believe me, we wantonly trifle not only with our own happiness, but with that of those little ones committed to our charge, when we neglect to watch over the treasures we ought so dearly to prize, when we trifle with the hearts, minds, and souls of our children, ignoring their value, our responsibility, and the awful reckoning which will be required of us. We are all too apt to treat children as dolls, to dress and caress them one hour, and send them out of our way the next, not deeming that beneath the seeming thoughtless gaiety of those little ones there lurks a world of feeling and sensibility. Kindness is as necessary to them as daily food. We do not mean false indulgence, but considerate kindness. An unjust, a cold or harsh word or action, especially if undeserved, penetrates the heart of a child with as keen a sting as it does ours; and who shall say how many have grown up callous and reckless from having their first affections blunted, their feelings and wishes disregarded? Consistent practice is worth a whole world of precept, and example will influence while words or coercion are fruitless.