this way education forms a complete whole, fulfilling the profound mission that cannot

be divided.

How should the mother carry out this moral formation?

She must, first of all, not weary herself with deep thinking, nor learn her methods of training and discipline from the works of the authorities in order to learn how to perform this mission. She must wait, brimming over with confidence, and it will be given to her to know what is required of her, and how she must do it, when the occasion comes.

Beware of lying in front of the child, for lying is the destroyer of authority, the killer of confidence, the begetter of resentment, and an invitation to imitation. This does not mean avoiding tales and beautiful stories, for these are not of the nature of lies; their purpose is the child's delight. But to give these stories their educational value, they must turn and unfold around some great truth.

Thus the child comes out of the mother's school having grown used to sacrificing with joy, and used to prayer — which is the expression of love and of the divine presence, that presence which does away with the idea of God as a person set apart, and makes Him rather the one toward whom all the day's actions are directed, the circle's pivot upon which the rays of the family ring are reflected. So the child grows, breathing deep into his lungs a refreshing fragrance in a wholesome atmosphere.

We live today in an age of difficult paths; grave dangers surround our children and lie in wait for them at every turn of their lives. Let us guard them, then, from indifference and from materialism; let us protect them from the harmful influence of selfishness; and let us teach them to profit from the spiritual and moral circumstances through which God permits them to pass. For every event, however trivial in appearance, is an occasion for the forming of the will and the heart — especially if it is an adversity or a trial.

The joy that fills good parents is beyond describing, above all when their growing son meets with great inner difficulties and comes to them and opens his heart to them, and they trace out for him the straight path and the solution required.

Here a plan must be followed that differs entirely from the standard educational plan. Yes, this stan-dard education is necessary, but it accomplishes nothing without the inner spirit that directs it; and this inner spirit alone is what the mother must create, and more perfectly every day, so that she may be able to influence the child. To attain this inner spirit there must be self-sacrifice and deep preparation. The mother must understand that the responsibility for this mission falls on her alone and on no one else; that she alone must bear this responsibility until the child becomes a man who relies on himself and flies on his own wings; and that she is never entitled to shift this responsibility onto family or relatives or friends or servants, except in a special

case. And since this mission is hers alone, she must prefer it to everything else, whatever it may be and however beautiful its appearance.

Often the mother imagines that this mission of hers brings her back to an empty, barren life without production; she imagines she is wasting her time on silly, simple, material tasks of no importance, and that she could have served better outside, where the field is wide. Such imaginings tend to hem in her generous instincts; but let her beware of falling into the trap, for family life spares her this conceited and fanciful enthusiasm

and keeps her away from all that is romantic, because it is a life turned

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