Neither stop with indulgence the fountain of his tears, so shall he fear thy firmness.
Above all things graft on him subjection, yea, in the veriest trifle;
Courtesy to all, reverence to some, and to thee unanswering obedience.
Read thou first, and well approve, the books thou givest to thy child;
But remember the weakness of his thought, and that wisdom for him must be diluted:
In the honied waters of infant tales, let him taste the strong wine of truth:
Pathetic stories soften the heart; but legends of terror breed midnight misery;
Fairy fictions cram the mind with folly, and knowledge of evil tempteth to like evil:
Be not loth to curb imagination, nor be fearful that truths will depress it;
And for evil, he will learn it soon enough; be not thou the devil's envoy.