Requiring them
to help others first, and to offer the best to others, has a similar
influence.
In forming the moral habits of children, it is wise to take into account
the peculiar temptations to which they are to be exposed. The people
of this nation are eminently a trafficking people; and the present
standard of honesty, as to trade and debts, is very low, and every
year seems sinking still lower. It is, therefore, preeminently
important, that children should be trained to strict _honesty_,
both in word and deed. It is not merely teaching children to avoid
absolute lying, which is needed: _all kinds of deceit_ should be
guarded against; and all kinds of little dishonest practices be
strenuously opposed. A child should be brought up with the determined
principle, never to _run in debt_, but to be content to live in
a humbler way, in order to secure that true independence, which should
be the noblest distinction of an American citizen.
There is no more important duty devolving upon a mother, than the
cultivation of habits of modesty and propriety in young children. All
indecorous words or deportment should be carefully restrained; and
delicacy and reserve studiously cherished.
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