"Mamma, some of the boys are going down to the Gardens to-night after school, and may I go with them?" "What is there to see and enjoy, son?" "Oh I hardly know, but the boys say there's lots of fun." The mother gave her consent, all the while knowing she would not have chosen the Gardens as a suitable place for her boy to find amusement. When he came home from school to leave his books, he found his mother all ready to go out. "Where are you going, mamma ?” asked the boy. "I thought I would go with you, son, I have never been there and I thought I would like to enjoy it with you.'

know as it is a good

"Oh, don't trouble

"But mamma, I don't place for you to go to." about that, son, any place that you care to visit is suitable for your mother."

She was dressed in her prettiest and most girlish dress, and outdid herself to be entertaining to her boy. She said nothing in criticism of the place, and went from one thing to another as the boy's fancy dictated. In a covert glance she could see the disgust growing in her son's face, as a coarse jest or a profane word came to them from the frequenters of the place, but never a word of fault-finding escaped her lips. Finally, thoroughly disgusted, her boy said, "Let's go

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home, mamma, I'm tired of this sort of stuff." "Very well, son, if you wish," said the little mother, but not one word of comment or criticism of the place or surroundings, for she saw that the lesson was learned. On the following day she had her reward. Her son with several of his companions were in the yard under the window where she sat in hearing. "Who was that girl you had with you at the Gardens yesterday?" said one of the boys. "It was my mother," said her son. 'Whew," said the boy, "catch my mother to go to such a place! Then the brave answer came from her boy, that brought tears of gladness to the mother's eyes. "Well, I want to tell you right here, boys, you'll never catch me going anywhere again where I can't take my mother. course she knew what kind of a place it was and wanted me to see that it was no place for me if it were not for her, and I learned the lesson." Oh the wisdom of such a mother: and the tactfulness.

Of

When the children are young they should never be allowed away from home over night, and should have no visitors to spend the night with them. This cannot be too carefully guarded. Neither should they be allowed to play alone with companions

whom you do not know, or are not perfectly sure you can have full confidence in.

No playing out of doors after nightfall. More evil is learned in evening hours than is dreamed of. Have toys and amusements, and allow companions in the home, and your children will not care to leave it for the streets.

Be one with your children in their sports and games, and make yourself so companionable that they will choose you before all others.

All the way along know what your boys and girls are reading. It lies with you to form their tastes, and direct their choice.

Oh mothers, forbear to neglect this great and blessed responsibility, with which you are invested. No work in all the world can equal it in importance, none in the rich harvest which is the result of painstaking sowing. No cast-iron rules can be laid down, for no two children are alike. It is sufficient to say, "Mothers, be true to yourselves, and esteem the trust committed to you as sacred beyond measure; study to show yourselves approved workmen that need not to be ashamed,'" and you will have reason to rejoice at the results of your labors. "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth."

CHAPTER XXIII.

BODY-BUILDING.

Our Duty to Nourish, Strengthen and Build up Strong Bodies.-Eradicating Inherited Infirmi. ties. Children Inherit the Permanent States of Their Parents.-The Parents' Duty to Those Who are not Well Born.-What has Been Accomplished Along These Lines.-The Relation of Babies' Clothing and Food to Physical Growth.— Unwise Feeding.-The Laws of Nutrition.-The Relation of Food to National Greatness.-The Danger of Overdressing.-Value of Sunshine and Air.-A list of Good Foods.-The Relation of Exercise to Appetite.-Comparative Value of Meat and Vegetables.-Importance of Rest and Sleep.Regular Sleeping Hours.-Schools and Nervousness in Children.-Many Children are not Properly Nourished.-Food Poorly Prepared and Poorly Served.-The Importance of Hygienic Cooking. The Cause of Weak Eyes in Children. -Children and Bare Feet.-The Dosing of Children With Nostrums.-The Use of Brandy and Wine in Cooking.

I THINK it was Dr. J. G. Holland who said, "We derive our best lessons, not from what people say to us, but from what their words make us say to ourselves." In the wide subject which the heading of this chap

ter opens, I can only hope to illustrate this truth. Perhaps by starting new lines of thought with some persons, and in others intensifying and making broader lines of thought already entered upon.

Said good George Müller, "My soul I commit to the care of God, following His laws; but my body He has given into my hands, to care for, nourish, and strengthen, that I may build it up into His image." Could we remember oftener that it was meant to be after His likeness, and the temple for His indwelling, we should be less careless of the trust committed to us.. And again, were we the only sufferers from the lack of care and neglect of our bodies, it would matter less, but we are sowing seed that will spring up and bear fruit, "some thirty, some sixty and some an hundredfold," in the generations to come; and what also of the incalculable harm from our influence upon those about us?

Could we return to the old Spartan time when only the symmetrical, healthy and vigorous were allowed to marry and bear children, our task in body-building for the future would be less difficult; but we have the rubbish accumulated by the mistakes of the body-builders behind us, through the past