these have a tendency to increase the very vice which they are intended to check. This indeed might be true if they were too indulgent and too pliable, but they are not so. They aim at becoming bona fide "Penitentiaries," and they adopt the rigid yet wholesome discipline which enables them best to effect their great object, a lasting reformation of morals. F. B. MOST EFFECTUAL MEANS OF GUARDING THE MORALS OF THE RISING GENERATION. MY DEAR SIR,—In answer to the question, "By what means may the morals of the rising generation be most effectually preserved from contamination?" I would reply, "By the formation and judicious management of MATERNAL SOCIETIES." It is true that much good may be effected by literary and scientific institutions, which, by calling into vigorous exercise the higher and more ennobling faculties of the mind, prevent the lower animal propensities from gaining the uncontrollable ascendancy. Such institutions must however be regarded as remedies for an existing evil, not as preventives of early corruption. Either the morals are corrupted before young persons arrive at an age profitably to join institutions of this kind or the safeguards are firmly established. As remedies they may be invaluable, but prevention is the object of the enquiry, and to that I would direct my reply. That objections of a private and domestic nature may be urged against maternal associations, such as their interference with the immediate duties of wives, of mothers, and of mistresses of families at home, I am fully aware, but I think it will not be difficult to show that these are of little weight in comparison with the incalculable benefits which, when properly managed, they may confer upon society at large. Man as a social being necessarily stands indebted for a large share of his happiness to the well-being of the society to which he belongs. Since he derives so much from, it is manifestly his duty to contribute largely to, the common weal. In no way can he do this more effectively than, first, by encouraging and strengthening his wife-the mother of his children—in the performance of her arduous duties at home, and, secondly, by allowing her the opportunity of imparting the result of her experience to others. It is to afford this opportunity for reciprocal information upon a subject confessedly of vital importance to the well-being of society-the training of children in principles and habits of moral virtue-that maternal societies are recommended. The rules and regulations of such societies, that they may be safe and efficient, demand earnest and prayerful consideration. The utility of them is unquestionable, in leading mothers to the knowledge of the fearful extent of moral evil and its destructive tendency-destructive both to body and soul-and of the means by which this evil is to be diminished. Admitting that the calculation of eighty thousand in the metropolis as subsisting on the wages of sin may be excessive (as I think it is), one cannot walk along our public thoroughfares, and still less visit the haunts of vice and misery, without shuddering at the danger which besets the path of our youth. (Prov. ii. 16-19.) And how is this mighty evil to be corrected? The answer is, By maternal influence. The affections are called into exercise in infancy before the moral sentiments; hence the feelings of children are successfully appealed to in order to enforce obedience before the judgment of right and wrong. It is obvious that the first duty of a mother is to secure the affections of her offspring, to make it the grand concern that her child shall be more ardently attached to her than to any other person in existence. This tie once formed is not easily broken and will ever be a restraint upon the passions, so that they will not readily be drawn aside by unworthy objects. But this, although the first, is by no means the only duty of a mother it is the most pleasing; the next is the most arduous, and, in some cases, a very painful duty-constant care to check every appearance of evil in the child and constant watchfulness over the character and conduct of his companions and of those who have the charge of him in the unavoidable absence of his mother. This last is a point upon which mothers should be especially on their guard. It is impossible that virtuous females can be aware of the corrupting effects of that evil communication which flows from their own sex into the hearts of their sons, lighting up the latent sin, and fanning it into a flame before they are aware of its existence. This is the fruitful source of the evil which is universally deplored, and for the cure of which so many methods have been resorted to by the benevolent. Let mothers look to this-let them be vigilant on this point by night and by day. Never let them leave their boys, except with persons of ascertained purity, for a moment. To such an extent does one exemplary mother, whom I know, carry this principle, that three times a day she herself walks with her boy nearly a mile and back to a public school a plan which she is prepared to adopt with her three other sons in succession. The same care is necessary of girls as of boys in kind, but not in degree. They are not exposed to the same corrupting influence of their own sex, unless, which is not the case in decent society, they fall into the hands of the most abandoned. I could enlarge upon this topic, but enough has been said to show the importance of a mother's obtaining full possession of the affection and confidence of her children and of guarding them against contamination, especially by those of her own sex. It may be said that information upon this subject might be diffused through the medium of the press, as well as by the formation of maternal societies, if not better. But there are two objections to this medium :-The information is designed for mothers only, and might be highly injurious to other members of society into whose hands such publications would necessarily fall; and in all probability the greater proportion of mothers would not see them. Besides, many things occur in the daily experience of intelligent mothers which they could relate for the benefit of others, but which they have neither time nor inclination to write for the press. There are two other points to which I would advert: The one is the danger of the attempt to set before young men, as motives of restraint, the dreadful physical consequences which ensue from vicious indulgence. The hope of immunity serves to neutralize the warning, and the direct prohibition only adds force to temptation. The other point is that almost all the men I have known, either personally or by biography, who have been eminent for holiness in this respect, have been the sons of exemplary mothers, who have won and cherished their filial affection, so that no place, as it were, was left in their hearts for unworthy objects. This refined and exalted sentiment-the love of a motheris incompatible with the base and grovelling desires of animal nature. If Joseph could say, How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" a young man thus brought up, even before he experiences the power of divine grace, may still be saved from temptation by the reflection, How can I do this great wickedness and sin against my mother? J. P. SIR, A SIMPLE METHOD OF DOING GOOD. You will perhaps consider the following as not unworthy of a place in your excellent publication, as it tends to encourage us in the morning to sow our seed and in the evening not to withhold our hand, under the confident expectation that some at least of the good seed will spring up and prosper, however unpromising the soil in which it is cast. It is now rather more than a year since I was called in the course of God's providence to pass a day in the city of Worcester. On my return home, I had occasion to write to my pious and excellent friend Mr. J. V. Hall of Maidstone, and took the opportunity to mention that I spent the evening in wandering through the broad streets and purlieus of the city and presenting his "Sinner's Friend" to every fallen woman who accosted me. "In most instances," I added, they were well received, and I hope and implore that the blessing of the Lord may attend them." That this blessing has attended the humble effort, and that the bread thus cast upon the waters has indeed |