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SIDNEY ROMILLY, the eldest of a numerous family, was a native of New Hampshire. The local situation of the little village in which he was born, offered few temptations to the speculator, and the soil promised no indulgence to the idle; but it abundantly repaid the industrious cultivator. It was therefore inhabited, almost exclusively, by husbandmen, who tilled their own farms with their own hands, laboring actively six days in the week, and on the seventh, offering, to that Being who alone could crown their labors with success, the unfeigned homage of contented minds and grateful hearts.

In short, some twenty or thirty years since, the inhabitants of this retired place displayed, in the simplicity and purity of their manners and morals, a model, which Jeremiah Belknap, when describing so admirably what

constituted a "happy society," might have quoted as an illustration of his "picture."

Among this unsophisticated people, where men are esteemed more for merit and usefulness, than rank and wealth, James Romilly, Esq., the father of our hero, was a very honorable man; yet it was not wealth which gave him consideration, for he was only what is called in middling circumstances, and the deference with which he was treated was the more gratifying as he knew it to be an unpurchasable tribute paid by freemen to his abilities and integrity.

He, like almost all the New England yeomanry, mar ried young, and lived most happily with his wife; for she was the woman of his choice, and truly and faithfully a helpmeet for him in his labors, and a tried and discreet friend, in whose sympathy and counsels he found he might always rely.

When they first came to reside on their farm, it was almost a wilderness; but unremitting industry soon altered its appearance-the thrifty orchard occupied the place of the maple forest, the garden bloomed where the wild briar had sprung, and a comfortable house quite eclipsed the log hut, which had, at first, afforded them shelter.

But the complacency with which Mr. Romilly surveyed the outside of his new habitation, was nothing to the pleasure he enjoyed while contemplating the beloved and happy faces within; and among a family of fine promising children, his dearest hope, perhaps unconsciously, rested on the eldest.

There is an emotion of the soul awakened at the birth of the first-born, which seems to place that child in a nearer connexion with the parents than any subsequent offspring; and in most civilized countries, the laws give the eldest some peculiar privileges, as the right of birth.

The wisdom or justice of such regulations, however, it is not now my intention to discuss. I would only remark, that if parental partiality was ever justifiable, the parents of young Sidney might well be excused for selecting

him as their favorite. He was very handsome, and although personal beauty is of little consequence to the man, it gives much interest to the child. In the spring, who does not like to gaze on the most beautiful flowers? But yet it is the intelligence and vivacity displayed in the countenance that create the strongest interest, as the odor of the flower is prized more than the beauty of its tints, because we know it will longer continue.

Sidney, even from infancy, exhibited uncommon aptitude for learning, and it is not strange if his parents, at least, should think his large, luminous eyes and expansive forchead gave promise of uncommon genius; he was, besides, very docile and sweet-tempered; what was considered most remarkable, his father often declared he never heard him tell an untruth, nor even attempt the least prevarication.

Falsehood may be termed the besetting sin of infancy, and the child who has the mental courage to adhere strictly to truth, even when it may expose his own faults to punishment, certainly deserves our warmest admiration, and gives the most unequivocal promise of future excellence.

Indeed, the only fault of our little hero, (which in a child would scarcely appear one) was the facility with which he yielded his own opinions and inclinations to the perseverance or persuasions of others. A boy of this facile, gencrous temper, which melts like wax, is liable to every impression, and requires more constant watchfulness, and unremitting restraint, than those sturdy, stubborn, self-willed varlets, who, by turbulent opposition to necessary regulations, perhaps often require punishment. The former is always liable to adopt the faults of others, which the latter from his very stubbornness resists.

It must not, however, be inferred from this, that a condescending temper is a misfortune; it only becomes so by mismanagement. Chiefly because parents or guardians, weary of the task of rational discipline and instruction, relax whenever they can without immediate inconvenience; and although they may be sufficiently

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