The child had found, for the first time, some of this shining and
beautiful substance; was filled with delight at her discovery; was
arranging it in parcels; planning its future use, and her pleasure in
showing it to her companions--when her mother, finding it strewed over
the carpet, hastily swept it into the fire, and that, too, with so
indifferent an air, that the child fled away, almost distracted with
grief and disappointment. The mother little realized the pain she had
inflicted, but the child felt the unkindness so severely that for
several days her mother was an object, almost of aversion. While,
therefore, the parent needs to carry on a steady course, which will
oblige the child always to give up its will, whenever its own good or
the greater claims of others require it, this should be constantly
connected with the expression of a tender sympathy for the trials and
disappointments thus inflicted.
Those, again, who will join with children and help them in their sports,
will learn by this mode to understand the feelings and interests of
childhood; while at the same time, they secure a degree of confidence
and affection which can not be gained so easily in any other way.
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