upon those about him for nurture and culture. From the very first
breath that he draws, his education begins. When a mother once
asked a clergyman when she should begin the education of her
child, then four years old, he replied: "Madam, if you have not
begun already, you have lost those four years. From the first
smile that gleams upon an infant's cheek, your opportunity
begins."

But even in this case the education had already begun; for the
child learns by simple imitation, without effort, almost through
the pores of the skin. "A figtree looking on a figtree becometh
fruitful," says the Arabian proverb. And so it is with children;
their first great instructor is example.

However apparently trivial the influences which contribute to form
the character of the child, they endure through life. The child's
character is the nucleus of the man's; all after-education is but
superposition; the form of the crystal remains the same. Thus the
saying of the poet holds true in a large degree, "The child is
father of the man;" or, as Milton puts it, "The childhood shows
the man, as morning shows the day." Those impulses to conduct
which last the longest and are rooted the deepest, always have
their origin near our birth. It is then that the germs of virtues
or vices, of feelings or sentiments, are first implanted which
determine the character for life.

The child is, as it were, laid at the gate of a new world, and
opens his eyes upon things all of which are full of novelty and
wonderment. At first it is enough for him to gaze; but by-and-by
he begins to see, to observe, to compare, to learn, to store up