There is no occasion to teach children to walk; when they are strong enough, they will invariably find out the proper use of their feet; let them lie on the floor, and then sit, and then crawl; and by-and-by they will stand up, and then walk along, holding by something; and then, when they appear capable of doing yet more, encourage them to venture alone, but watch carefully that they do not fall, or they may be frightened, and thrown back some weeks. After a child is a year old, it must cease to be regarded as an irrational being by those about it; a quick, lively baby is always taking notice; its intelligence is becoming daily and hourly developed; - in a word, the first rudiments of education are entering its little mind. This may sound extravagant and fanciful, but what says proverbial philosophy? "With his mother's milk the child drinketh education;" and let any one take three children of from a year-and-a-half to two years old, one of the three shall have been brought up by a quiet or. ignorant nurse, one by an affectionate and sensible mother, and the other among a family of children; the first, unless it be a prodigy, will be far behind the second in quickness, and the third will be as much before the second. We would punish any one who mispronounced words before babies, or taught them to call things or animals by ridiculous names; and we would doubly punish any one who instilled fear into the hearts of young children by threats of "bogies," "black men," and such like nursery monsters. Many a grown man and woman has found it difficult to overcome the dislike to darkness implanted in them when young children by some nursery bug-bears. Teach a child rather to believe that angels watch over it, induce it to be good from a fear of grieving its parents, but never destroy or sully that sweet confidence which is the most blessed part of childhood. Never tell a child a falsehood either; if you promise a thing, do it; if you say a thing, act up to it. Empty threats and vain promises made to quiet a child, teach it afterwards, in its turn, to disregard truth, and make it distrust those whom, next to God, it should love and honor; whereas" example is a constant monitor."

We are not advocates for " cramming " children too early with crude, dry learning; but much may be taught without effort. "Line upon line" may be instilled by such simple stories, such pleasant gossip as children love to listen to, such bright pictures as they delight to look upon and have explained to them. There is in the present age a royal road to all the fundamental instruction needed by children for the first eight or ten years of their lives; the dull, uninteresting paths we had to tread are now decked with so many flowers that they have become attractive and pleasant. Even the very toys and games are made means of improvement; and history, arithmetic, and geography may now be learned as actual amusements.

The physical wants of growing children are a sufficiency of good, plain food at regular hours, exercise in the open air, well-ventilated rooms, clothing warm enough to promote health, and sufficiently easy in fit not to impede growth or a free use of the limbs: strong shoes or boots to protect the feet from damp, and a proper allowance of sleep taken at regular hours, - no child under six years of age being suffered to sit up after eight o'clock, and all under twelve being safely in bed by nine.

Late hours, hot, crowded places, as theatres, etc, and children's parties, are all very destructive of health; irregularities of all kinds are to be avoided, such 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.

It may be thought by some that we are diverging from our subject, but "our housewife," if she be now single, may have younger sisters and brothers, and may probably one day have children of her own, when she will learn "How infinite the wealth of love and hope, Garnered in those same tiny treasure houses! And oh! what bankrupts in the world we feel, When death, like some remorseless creditor, Seizes on all we fondly thought our own."

At all events, the care of children is one of woman's most solemn responsibilities - one of the most sacred of all the trusts committed to her care; for has not a child an immortal soul?

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 study-all are not equally hardy, equally vigorous, equally beautiful. Some resemble hot-house plants, and are frail and delicate; others, like the hardy evergreen, can bear and brave change of temperature and hardship. The system which would be suitable for one of these natures would be injurious to the other - hence, judgment is needful.

Again, if we would train a vine so as to render it luxuriant and productive of fine fruit, we bestow much pains on the arrangement of each branch; we do not neglect the smallest shoot, or wantonly injure or twist the least branch; if we prune, we do so but to remove that which might militate against the health or produce of the tree. Shall we bestow less culture upon the moral education of a child? Shall we not, with equal care, endeavor to remove each evil propensity, and foster each good disposition? Is not the fruit of tenfold more importance? Pure and innocent is the mind of a child; let no care be spared to preserve it so. Those who would govern children by harshness greatly err; a child never loves the person it fears; besides, all fear is more or less slavish and degrading. Rather teach them to act rightly from a sense of what is right and what is wrong; found their obedience on affection; give them principles of action, and teach them to reason and. think, and, above all, make religion their guiding star.

A child who fears God and honors 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 favorite 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 6end 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.

Once more, then, we would beg " our housewife " to study what are her duties towards children. We would entreat mothers so to train their daughters that they may never have cause to blush and tremble for their grandchildren. It is no figure of speech to say that "the child is father to the man;" study diligently, therefore, how best

"- to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot; To pour fresh instruction o'er the mind,

To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix The generous purpose in the glowing breast."

Nor let children, who should be our blessings, become our torments

"While young our folly, and when old our fear."

Lastly, but not of the least importance in the good training of children it should be rigidly observed by parents, never to show any difference of opinion in their treatment before them. Nothing can be more pernicious to their moral culture, engendering in them habits of disobedience, for they cannot obey one parent without disobeying the other. We earnestly recommend attention to this observance; for, besides the evil of disobedience that is almost sure to follow a difference in opinion from those in authority over the child, the latter is sometimes prone to disregard the instructions and admonitions of both, and set up principles of his own, more in accordance with his inclinations, however erroneous they may be.

A chapter is devoted to cookery for children. .