ergy of character, joined with an amiable temper. As the father, in the prosecution of his trade as a carpenter, was often from home during the week, and sometimes in distant parts of the country for many months together, the care of managing the affairs of the family, and of forming the character and habits of the children, was devolved to a great extent on the mother. Though always of a sedate and perhaps rather pensive cast of mind, she did not become decidedly religious till shortly before the death of a child, a few months before the birth of Samuel. For the endurance of this severest of all trials of maternal tenderness, the Lord seems most graciously to have prepared her. This was under the preaching of the Rev. John Cleaveland, then minister of the place; with the church under whose pastoral care she soon united, and by whom her four children were then baptized. Previous to the birth of Samuel, her clear views of divine truth, her spirituality of mind, and her joy in God, are spoken of by those who then knew her, as having been striking and uncommon. A godly woman, one of her nearest neighbors, with whom she had much sweet Christian intercourse at that period, mentions that she said she did not think she could sustain more clear views of spiritual things, or higher religious enjoyment than she then had. Previous to the birth of this child, she consecrated it to the Lord as did Hannah of old, and at his baptism the name of Samuel was given him, probably, however, without any direct reference to the circumstances of the history of that handmaid of the Lord. The prayer of the Rev. Mr. Cleaveland at his christening, was spoken of at the time and since, as being peculiarly impressive, and marked with uncommon fervor, especially while praying that the child might be lent to the Lord as long as he should live, and might minister before him. He was doubtless a child of his mother's special prayers and hopes.

He himself, in the maturity of his life, used often to express his deep sense of obligation to the instructions of a pious mother, for the usefulness with which God honored him, and the spiritual consolations he enjoyed. And in this, he only recognized the same gracious Providence which has supplied to the church thousands of her most able and successful ministers, through the same humble but sweet and holy instrumentality.

The subject of this memoir, with the other children of the family, nine in all-one of them, however, having died at the age of two years-were favored with advantages for elementary instruction-not very good indeed, especially twenty-five or thirty years ago-still the best that the father's means permitted—the best which were afforded by a common district school, taught from three to six months of the year.

At home, the first lesson taught the children, and always kept in remembrance, was obedience. Their conduct at school and among their playmates, who were selected with as much care as circumstances permitted, was carefully watched and inquired after; and great pains were taken, and successfully, to guard them from immorality and vice. Many restraints were of course imposed, which seemed in the buoyancy of childhood and early youth, to be unreasonable and burdensome, occasioning many sighs for the liberties and indulgencies of what were then esteemed more favored children; but which have since been seen to be wholesome and most salutary in their influence on the heart and character. Parents who love their children most tenderly, and take most pleasure in gratifying them, may well afford to bear the pain of often crossing and grieving them by judicious restraints, in anticipation of the thanks which they will receive from these same children at a future day, when

the motives and wisdom of this parental discipline and restraint shall be better understood and appreciated.

The duty of unreserved obedience to parental authority in childhood is more frequently admitted than enforced. Children claim the right of self-government, and parents unwisely yield to the claim. Those extravagant notions of liberty, which have destroyed the foundations of some civil governments, and shaken others, have operated not less disastrously on those small domestic communities, whose love and order, when properly sustained, render them the liveliest earthly representations of the family of heaven. More is depending than even Christian parents are commonly aware of, on maintaining the principle firmly, that from parental authority there lies no appeal— that God has both kindly and wisely laid the responsibility of moulding the character of the child on those, whose strong affections will restrain them from arbitrary use of their authority, and at the same time impel them to seek the welfare of their children as their own. To withhold necessary restraints, and consent to improper indulgencies; to suspend our own judgment in subserviency to the gratification of childish humors; to yield compliance to the blind reasonings, or the fast falling tears, or the positive refusals of obedience, by which the will of the parent is resisted, is at once cruelty to the child and destruction to parental hope. Parents should carefully reflect also how certain and great will be the influence of family discipline on the good citizenship and piety of their children. How can those children be expected to obey the laws of the land, who have never been taught to obey their parents? and how hard will it be for those youth, in whom the temper and habit of insubordination were established in infancy and childhood, to yield cordial submission to the authority of God!

His early religious education was the same as that of

his brothers and sisters. All were assembled every week, on the evening of the Sabbath, and were taught the Ten Commandments, and the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, his mother always taking the lead, and being so familiar with the questions and answers as never to use a book. This exercise was closed with the repetition of the Lord's Prayer by each one-all being taught to repeat it also every night before retiring for sleep. Select portions of Scripture and hymns were occasionally committed to memory, and repeated in connection with the Catechism. These exercises the children were taught to regard as of very solemn import, and were attended upon with great order and seriousness; and without doubt, in connection with the conversation introduced at the time, made a salutary impression on the minds of all the children, in addition to the knowledge of Christian doctrines imparted.

We have reason to thank God for the introduction of Sabbath schools in these later days, and for the wide diffusion they give to those instructions which used to be confined to pious and intelligent families. But if they are allowed to supplant those domestic Sabbath schools known to our fathers, and so highly and justly valued by them, and so prolific in saving influences on their children, the fact will prove a serious and alarming drawback on the amount of their usefulness, especially if to this be added another evil, which is known to exist to some extent-the disuse of the Assembly's Catechism, and the suspension of those monthly or quarterly catechisings, in which pastors were wont familiarly to expound the system of evangelical doctrine to the lambs of their flock.

When Samuel entered school in his childhood, his fondness for books and his industry were soon developed, and he never permitted himself to fall behind his associates in any branch of his juvenile studies. In a common district school, where so large a part of the little that is

learned, is learned merely by rote, and where a knowledge of the principles lying at the foundation of the several branches, is regarded by most as being impracticable, and seldom attempted, the hard questions which he often put to his teachers, and his determined effort to understand thoroughly every step as he proceeded, attracted the attention both of his teachers and associates; and his intelligence and studious habits, as well as his orderly and manly deportment, not unfrequently secured for him a familiar intercourse with the former, which sometimes drew forth ill-natured remarks from the latter. He was peculiarly fond of arithmetic and other mathematical studies, to which and to reading, especially books relating to science and history, (perusing all the books of this character within his reach, which indeed were few,) he devoted most of his evenings. He was by no means averse to common boyish sports, or to company, and always won the affection of his playmates by the spirit with which he joined with them, and his kind behavior. He was peculiarly fond of hunting, and after the age of ten or eleven years, he seldom passed a day when the season of the year was suitable, without amusing himself to some extent in this manner: but by rising at an early hour, he was accustomed to finish his business with his gun and traps before the common hour of labor arrived.

It may not be improper to mention, that when quite a little boy, his mind received the favorable impulse leading to the developments already stated, from the circumstance of a clergyman's laying his hand on his head, and expressing a hope that he would grow up to be a good and useful man. How often has an incident, apparently as slight as this, laid the foundation in the youthful mind for a superstructure whose strength and beauty have excited the admiration of men and angels? Let no oppor