The exercise of
youthful sympathies forms the moral temperature; and it is the
recollection of these first affections and pursuits, that gives
life to those that are afterwards more under the direction of
reason. In youth, the fondest friendships are formed, the genial
juices mounting at the same time, kindly mix; or, rather the heart,
tempered for the reception of friendship, is accustomed to seek for
pleasure in something more noble than the churlish gratification of
appetite.
In order then to inspire a love of home and domestic pleasures,
children ought to be educated at home, for riotous holidays only
make them fond of home for their own sakes. Yet, the vacations,
which do not foster domestic affections, continually disturb the
course of study, and render any plan of improvement abortive which
includes temperance; still, were they abolished, children would be
entirely separated from their parents, and I question whether they
would become better citizens by sacrificing the preparatory
affections, by destroying the force of relationships that render
the marriage state as necessary as respectable. But, if a private
education produce self-importance, or insulates a man in his
family, the evil is only shifted, not remedied.
This train of reasoning brings me back to a subject, on which I
mean to dwell, the necessity of establishing proper day-schools.
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