Excerpt from Philo-Socrates: A Series of Papers Wherein Subjects Are Investigated Which, There Is Reason to Believe, Would Have Interested Socrates, and in a Manner That He Would Not Disapprove, Were He Among Us Now, Gifted With the Knowledge, and Familiar With the Habits and Doings

P. You may be reckoned among the fortunate boys of this world; and I will tell you why I say so. Your appearance bespeaks that you are taken care of at home. Unhappily, there are many children of your age who are ill provided with the food, clothing and shelter essential to a healthy and cheerful existence. Your coming here bespeaks, that the elders under whom. You are placed have Obtained your confidence. It is sad to think how many children there are who have neither confidence in their elders nor capacity to guide themselves.

How happens it that you are thus fortunate among children You have parents who love you, and who are able to provide you with suitable food, warmth, and protection. This, as you know, is not the case with all children. Some' are orphans, so'me neglected and abandoned by their parents. While there are others, whose parents plead inability to supply their children' s wants.

Your parents have been thinking, from the very day of your birth, and perhaps long before, Of what they ought to do for your good, besides supplying your daily wants, and sur rounding you with protection. They have been continually turning this over in their thoughts - In a few years our chil dren will have to provide for themselves. We shall be taken away from them, or, if our lives be preserved, the feebleness Of advancing years would; make it dangerous for them, and disgraceful to us both, if they should be driven to rely upon us.

There are parents who give little heed to the future which awaits their children. They wish them well, but scarcely seem to feel that the welfare of the man must partly, at least, be provided for him by those who guide his childhood. NO surprise can be felt, if many of the children of such parents grow up into men almost unconscious how much Of their future happiness depends upon their own conduct, even from their very childhood.

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