another year--the twentieth year of our editorial labors.

With language similar to that which the mother of Moses is supposed to
have employed when she laid her tender offspring by the margin of the
Nile:--

"Know this ark is charmed
With incantations Pharaoh ne'er employed,
With spells that impious Egypt never knew;
With invocations to the living God,
I twisted every slender reed together,
And with a prayer did every ozier weave"--

we launched our frail bark upon the tide of public opinion. Since then,
with varied success, have we pursued our course--often amid darkness,
through difficulties and dangers, and to the present time have we been
wafted in safety on our voyage, because, as he did Moses in the ark,
"the Lord hath shut us in."

Referring whatever of success has attended our efforts to His blessing,
and believing that He has given us length of days, and strengthened our
weakness, and poured consolation into our hearts when ready to sink in
despair, in answer to persevering and importunate prayer, we come to
direct our readers to this source of wisdom and aid,--to urge upon them
to engage often in this first duty and highest privilege. Let us go
forth, dear friends, to the work we have to do in the education of our
families, having invoked the Divine blessing upon our efforts, holding
on to the promises of the covenant, and pleading for their fulfillment
in reference to ourselves and our households.