daily life. Like snowflakes, they. fall unperceived; each flake
added to the pile produces no sensible change, and yet the
accumulation of snowflakes makes the avalanche. So do repeated
acts, one following another, at length become consolidated in
habit, determine the action of the human being for good or for
evil, and, in a word, form the character.

It is because the mother, far more than the father, influences the
action and conduct of the child, that her good example is of so
much greater importance in the home. It is easy to understand how
this should be so. The home is the woman's domain--her kingdom,
where she exercises entire control. Her power over the little
subjects she rules there is absolute. They look up to her for
everything. She is the example and model constantly before their
eyes, whom they unconsciously observe and imitate.

Cowley, speaking of the influence of early example, and ideas
early implanted in the mind, compares them to letters cut in the
bark of a young tree, which grow and widen with age. The
impressions then made, howsoever slight they may seem, are never
effaced. The ideas then implanted in the mind are like seeds
dropped into the ground, which lie there and germinate for a time,
afterwards springing up in acts and thoughts and habits. Thus the
mother lives again in her children. They unconsciously mould
themselves after her manner, her speech, her conduct, and her
method of life. Her habits become theirs; and her character is
visibly repeated in them.

This maternal love is the visible providence of our race. Its
influence is constant and universal. It begins with the education