They may be well enough for those strong souls which strengthen by
task-work, or for those mature people whose iron habit of self-denial
has made patience a cardinal virtue; but they fall (_experto crede_)
upon the unfledged faculties of the boy like a winter's rain upon spring
flowers,--like hammers of iron upon lithe timber. They may make deep
impression upon his moral nature, but there is great danger of a sad
rebound.
Is it absurd to suppose that some adaptation is desirable? And might not
the teachings of that Religion, which is the aegis of our moral being, be
inwrought with some of those finer harmonies of speech and form which
were given to wise ends,--and lure the boyish soul by something akin to
that gentleness which belonged to the Nazarene Teacher, and which
provided not only meat for men, but "milk for babes"?
VI.
_A New-England Squire._
Frank has a grandfather living in the country, a good specimen of the
old-fashioned New-England farmer. And--go where one will the world
over--I know of no race of men who, taken as a whole, possess more
integrity, more intelligence, and more of those elements of comfort
which go to make a home beloved and the social basis firm, than the
New-England farmers.
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