The Christian Home / As it is in the Sphere of Nature and the Church; Showing the Mission, Duties, Influences, Habits, and Responsibilities of Home, its Education, Government, and Discipline; with Hints on "Match Making," and the Relation of Parents to the Marriage Choice of their Children; together with a consideration of the Tests in the Selection of a Companion, Etc.

by Samuel Philips

Chapter IX—Infancy.

"A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of

peace and love;

A resting place for innocence on earth; a link between angels and men;

Yet it is a talent of trust to be rendered back with interest;

A delight, but redolent of care, honey sweet, but lacking not the bitter,

For character groweth day by day, and all things aid it in unfolding,

And the bent unto good or evil may be given, in the hours of infancy."

The birth of each child constitutes a new era in the Christian home, and multiplies its cares, its pleasures and its responsibilities. The first-born babe, like