their level by quarrelling or railing, according to the old barbarous system of "eye for eye," and "tooth for tooth." He cannot, under any circumstances, be a heathen.

This motive of self-respect for abstaining, under provocation, from the indulgence of high temper, and angry words, I have found useful, when a higher one failed, to enforce upon young people; and upon the ignorant, and therefore narrow-minded, such as constitute a large majority of servants and laboring people, and not a very small proportion of the so-called cultivated classes.

Manners, in a few instances, are the direct product of nature, perfect in kind, and needing no improvement. Generally, however, like every other high attainment, they need direct cultivation, and a child cannot be too carefully trained in this respect. I do not mean by a dancing-master, though he may be a valuable assistant in one way, viz., in making the limbs supple and skilful to obey gracefully the commands of the will. His office bears the same relation to the mother's, in this instance, as that of the tuner of the instrument, to his who draws music from it. The silent music of sweet and gentle manners requires, first of all, the cultivation of reverence-a beautiful sentiment, essential to the uplifting of man above a low, grovelling condition. Full of significance are the analogies of nature, by which almost every subject con

nected with the soul, or with life, is illustrated. I think it is Cicero who said that, whereas all other animals have their heads prone, so that their eyes look upon the ground, man is made erect so that he can see the heavens. We behold high above us the magnificent firmament, and our thoughts are carried farther still-to Him who created it. How miserable and hopeless our condition would be, if we had nothing higher than ourselves to look up to. We should end by crawling in the dust and mire of earth. Let your child, then, look up to those who are above him in years and in knowledge, and give them the respect due on that account. Especially let this respect be evinced towards his benefactors, his parents, and those who are intrusted with his education. Let him rise up in the presence of the aged, and pay respect to the hoary head. Those parents greatly wrong their children, who allow them to be guilty of any want of respect towards themselves, in word or action. The least offence of this kind should be treated in the most serious manner, and as one not easily to be overlooked. Rob your child's soul of reverence, and you rob it of a jewel-essential to its full lustre and richness. There is no need, in order to insure it, to keep him at a distance from you. Only be careful, that the nearer he approaches you, the more he discovers in you that is worthy of reverence. Those who most truly serve God,

and most nearly resemble him, live nearest to him.

Next to reverence, cultivate thoughtfulness or consideration for others. Many in whom good manners are not a spontaneous growth, would acquire them by this means alone, who, from a want of it, are perfectly unconscious how many opportunities they lose, daily, hourly, almost momently, of making themselves acceptable and agreeable to those with whom they associate-and in how many ways they give offence, and render themselves disagreeable. To be well-mannered, one must be unselfish-so that, on this account, as well as because they are a means of influence, the cultivation of good manners is a moral duty. It is a very charming mode, applicable even to a very young child, of beginning the life-long process essential to our proper growth, development, and progress, viz., living out of ourselves, and for others. This consideration must be enforced by kindness. The law of love must be inculcated"line upon line" and "precept upon precept' until it becomes written on the heart, and dwells ever upon the lips. Occasionally, instances are met with, of a great want of correspondence between the manners and the character, so that the former are not at all a proper expression of the latter. For instance, warm and kind-hearted people have sometimes what are termed cold manners, so that

you must know them intimately, in order to ascertain that they have a warm heart within. Such cases always puzzle me, but I do not think they are often met with, and they are probably resolvable into some peculiarity of physical temperament. I remember a newspaper joke, of which John Quincy Adams was the subject, many years ago, of whom it was said, that he had passed through New York, and several persons had taken cold from shaking hands with him. His coldness of manner made him unpopular, and kept people at a distance from him; and yet he was so true-hearted a patriot, and so valuable were the services he rendered his country, that in the latter years of his life, when, in consequence of going to Cincinnati to lay the corner-stone of some new edifice, he travelled through several of the States, the people thronged, as one man, to do him honour, and his progress was an ovation. This surprised and deeply moved him. I saw him at Pittsfield, when he had got back to his own State, and heard him allude, with deep feeling, to the manifestation of good-will he had everywhere received, and then to the still greater value to him, of such testimony from his own State. He applied to himself the words of the Shunamite, who, when asked what reward should be given her for healing the King's son, replied: "I dwell among mine own people”—as if that circumstance placed her above want of any sort.

ners.

This great man may have learned only in this late period of his life, the value of that sympathy which, in manner at least, he had always rejected. It is the young only who can be trained in manThe only refiners of manners in society, are those who present a worthy model of them, in themselves. I have known very ill manners exhibited in criticisms on the manners of others. I shall have written upon this subject in vain, if any of my readers remain in the belief, that good manners are needed only in polite society. They belong so essentially to him who really possesses them, are so much a part of himself, that he never lays them aside. He finds them as natural and proper in the company of his inferiors as of his equals; and so he wins the affection of each one, and establishes an influence over them which aids in making them, too, Christians and gentlemen. One sometimes sees mistress and servant together, and finds the real lady in the latter, in so far as that phrase embodies the idea of true refinement.

I feel very much the importance of my present theme, and my incompetence to do it justice. Universal kindly, courteous manners would be as cil to all the machinery of society. He who has them, diffuses throughout the whole sphere in which he moves, a refining and elevating influence. He carries with them, on the highways of life, refreshment to the weary traveller, balm to the sor