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opinion.
"It makes me truly happy," said Mrs. S., "that you have come to me in
this free and open manner; and I am very glad that my dear Clara has
reflected so much upon the text. In itself, there is not much harm in
taking a walk with William Johnson and George Field, and yet it is not
proper for you to do so, without the knowledge and consent of your
parents. William and George are not bad boys, and perhaps would be
called by people generally, good ones; still, I have remarked a certain
levity in their manner, which if only occasional, might be called good
humor, but which, recurring as it does at all times and on all occasions,
the Sabbath not excepted, makes me fear that their training at home is
not what I should desire to have it. For this reason, Mary, I am not
willing that Clara should be often in their company, nor do I think your
mother would differ from me, should you ask her."
"I wonder," said Mary, "how Clara came to think of this slight
circumstance of a walk, in connection with the commandment, 'Honor
thy father and thy mother.'"
"I thought she had sufficiently explained that, herself," replied Mrs.
Spaulding. "I wish both of you, and not only you, but all young persons,
would think a good deal more on this subject. I remember when I was
of your age, that many things occurred which I omitted to mention to
my mother, but which it would have been much better for me, if I had
told her. Sometimes these concerned my bodily health, and I am sure
that if I had informed her of them at the time, I should now have a
much better constitution than I possess. At other times, I neglected to
ask her advice about what I thought were small matters; but the result
proved that I should have been saved much trouble had I consulted
her."

"In fact," continued Mrs. S., "the command to honor thy father and thy
mother, is far more comprehensive, and exacts many more duties, than
the young, and, I am sorry to say, the old too, are willing to recognize.
The young are too apt to think, when they get into their teens, that there
are a great many things about which there is no need of asking their
parents' advice and counsel; that they know, then, about as well as their
parents what they ought to do; and, by the time they get to be eighteen
or nineteen years of age, a good deal better. But, my dear children, it is
not so. And the young who reason and act thus, will soon cease to
honor their father and mother. No! The Almighty Father, in giving this
as one of the ten commandments to the children of Israel, knew the
vanity of our nature. He knew how unwilling the young are to learn
from the experience of the old, and he therefore proclaimed this
command, that they might have it constantly before their eyes.
"I have said, this is a comprehensive command. To honor thy father and
thy mother is not merely to show them outward respect. It embraces
numberless duties, and among them this; the duty, while you are young,
of doing nothing without their knowledge and consent, when you are in
a situation to ask it.
"Be assured of one thing. If you are about to go anywhere, or do
anything, and a doubt arises in your mind whether it is necessary to ask
your mother's permission, be certain that you ought to ask it. The very
doubt in your own mind is sufficient evidence of the fact.
"Get into the habit of talking with your mother upon every subject;
your diversions, your studies, your health. Never conceal anything from
her. Is she not your mother? Did she not give you being? Who then
shall you look up to, if not to her?"
"O," interrupted Mary, "I have sometimes begun to talk to my mother
about many things which I did not exactly understand, but somehow or
other she was not willing to answer my questions."
"Perhaps," said Mrs. Spaulding, "you did not take a proper occasion, or
she may have been very busy about something else. You ought always
to endeavor to take a proper time for everything. At the same time," she

continued, "I am sorry to say that there are some mothers who think
children cannot be talked to, and reasoned with, till they are of age.
This is a mistaken idea. Children have reasoning faculties, and the
sooner we begin to converse with them accordingly, the sooner will
those faculties be developed. With this view, we ought always to
encourage them to give us