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Father ! Why dost thou call me father , boy ; thou art no blood of mine ? But you love me , and you teach me , and you care for all my wants . There are many boys with fathers and mothers who are not cared for , and they are not so happy as I am . And one day , while I was drawing from the model of the steam-engine you gave me , 1 heard you say to ***** that the teacher of the child was its real parent , — that the shaper of its disposition , and not the accidental giver of its life , was the being entitled to its love . I have no father , no mother , but you have been a parent to me , and you have made me a happy child . Had I a father and a mother , I could not love them as I do you . What ! not if they were a good father and mother ? Are there any good fathers and mothers ? I have seen none , none whom I could love .
Thy knowledge of human nature is limited , boy ! I have made long long journeys with you , and seen many whom you called good people , but their children were not happy children . Circumstances are sometimes adverse . But they were not poor people . Thou hast yet to learn , boy , that there are many circumstances , besides poverty , which debase people ' s natures . And could not those circumstances be changed ?
They will change , boy , as human wisdom increases . The ill arrangement of social intercourse causes much of our unhappiness , and unhappiness amongst the elders is visited upon the children in bad training . But these are things yet difficult for thy years , and thou must think much to understand them . Are they harder than the political economy you taught me ?
They require deeper thinking . Pray teach me , I understand all you say . Not now , boy . Thou wilt learn much of them unconsciously , as jhy life advances . Thy knowledge of facts will increase , and my care will only be needed to guide thy judgment aright . How old art thou ?
Nine . To day is my birth-day . I had forgotten . I remember thy birth , boy . Some day we will visit thy birth-place . Where was it ? Far , far away , boy . It is a lovely spot in a glorious clime . My heart gushes while my memory dwells on it . Thou wert left an orphan in my charge . I watched thine opening faculties , and I now behold them bringing forth good fruit . I remember all our travels . Not all , boy . Thou didst learn to sit ere thou didst learn to stand . A horse bore thee on his back at speed ere thy limbs could sustain thee on the grassy turf . Do you remember the evening when we rested near the dried-up lake , when we were thirsty and could get no water . You had saved a
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JUVENILE LESSONS .
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No . 82 . 3 C
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1833, page 677, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2624/page/17/
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