Excerpt from Oration: Delivered Before the Students of Irving College, Manchester, February 22d, 1859

Sion resigned, and he went back to be the solace and comfort of his mother. History hardly furnishes a brighter example of strong filial love - and God, that He might set His seal of ap proval, in exemplification of the precept and promise, Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee - ever after, crown ed his lifc with success, in every undertaking. Oh that the youth of our land, would lay it to heart, ponder, and profit by it, that the brightest and noblest, the most exalted trait of character, in the loftiest specimen of humanity God ever raised up, was deferential regard to the wishes of a mother. How im portant a lesson in this fast age, when the youth, almost with his first boots, puts on a disregard of a mother's admonition, and boasts within himself that he has grown to be too large to be under the control of a woman! In true greatness, as the life and soul expands, respect for parents, expands. Disobedience is the 'crying sin of this age; hence no more important lesson could be given, than that of George Washington's noble example. When a youth feels that he is too large to be under a mother's influence, let him reflect that that thought is a sign of his littleness, not his greatness: It is the small fish that escape from the net, not the large ones. A mother's influence and love, al ways lead to true greatness and glory, and when the soul is moving on that way, it feels no restraint, - it is only when way wardness and wrong would lead astray, that the fetter binds and frets. A very coarse but striking figure presents itself to my mind, to illustrate this principle, and premising that I mean no derogation to the theme by its introduction, I hope its homeliness will find excuse in its aptness. The noble watch dog, when chained to the wagon he is to guard - while he moves on voluntarily, feels no fetters; it is only when he would for sake his post of duty and go astray, that he feels that he is chained. So long as a youth is walking the path of duty, a mother's influence is no restraint; it is so felt only in the wrong road. Whenever a youth confesses restiveness under a mother's influence, it is a confession that he is treading the downward road. A noble youth feels rather warmed and.

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