There is a something connected with early associations which is almost
indescribable. Every one has felt it, but few, very few, have been able
to excel in a description of it! Who has not felt, as he gazes upon the
cottage,--the home of his childhood,--his youthful days flash with all
the vividness of reality before his mind; and as he stands and muses on
the bygone years, numbered with those before the flood, he is almost
spell-bound to the spot! All his childish pastimes and youthful pleasures
pass in review before his mental vision; while the little trials with
which his cup was mixed, are not without their influence in mingling a
melancholy with the pleasing reminiscences of the past. Much has been
said on this principle of association, and truly much remains unsaid on
the subject. Scarcely is there a green sod, or a purling brook, a shady
forest-tree, or a smiling flower, an enchanting and fairy landscape, or
a barren and desolate heath; scarcely an object in nature, or a work of
art, which does not awaken some gratefully pleasing, yet painful
recollections of the past!

It is to this principle I attribute much of the good which results from
Sabbath-schools. Often has the pious teacher to return from his onerous
duties in the school, and retiring to his closet, to mourn on account of
the fruitlessness of his efforts; and Satan never fails, at such seasons,
to fill his mind with discouraging thoughts, which weigh down his
spirits, and lead him almost to decide on retiring from the work. To
such, let the precept and promise of God's word,--"Cast thy bread upon
the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days,"--be a source of
never-failing encouragement. How frequently, in after life, has it been
found, that the instruction of the Sabbath-school, though it may have
lain dormant for a time, has not been annihilated; but, through some
circumstance, or by some object, it has been resuscitated in the memory,