more widely extended and important consequences. All this, however, is but seldom taken into account at the moment of action; and therefore it is the more necessary that mothers should render the exercise of moral courage on the part of their children familiar and habitual. And there is one fact connected with this subject, which makes it almost an act of mercy to do so — it is, that the most delicately sensitive characters, those who shrink from the bare apprehension of giving offence, or incurring blame — to whom a harsh word or an angry look from those whom they love and esteem, is almost like a sentence of death — that such characters, though their love of truth may be as great, or perhaps greater, than that of bolder, harder and less sensitive natures, are far more in danger of being betrayed into falsehood from the impulse of the moment. Thus, among a number of children, governed only by the general laws of school-discipline, those bold unfeeling characters who have little regard for the opinion of others, and who are under no temptation to conceal their faults from a dread of incurring blame, frequently obtain all the credit of being lovers of truth; while the characters above described may in reality love truth as well, or better, yet having been surprised into falsehood, they suffer the two-fold punishment of being self-condemned, and at the same time charged, perhaps publicly, and opprobriously, with being makers and lovers of a lie
There are many cases in which the exercise of moral courage may be so rewarded by a mother's approbation, as to make an indelible impression upon the mind of a child; and such opportunities should never be lost sight of, because it is chiefly by indirect means that the character can be strengthened to resist the momentary temptations of apparent self-interest.
We will suppose a case in which a charge of delinquency is brought against one member of a family, who is, in this instance, really innocent, but whose general conduct is such as to warrant unfavorable suspicion. Father, mother, brothers, and sisters, are all agreed that he must be the guilty person, with but one exception, and that a little sister, who knows that by taking his part she will bring upon herself the suspicion of being an accomplice in his act. The little
