II.

EARLY DAWN.

"THOU HAST HID THESE THINGS FROM THE WISE AND PRUDENT
AND HAST REVEALED THEM UNTO BABES." Matt. xi. 25.


What solemn interest surrounds the dawn of immortal existence,--that
precious portion of human life, the first four or five years, which
may be termed the perceptive period, too often treated as a mere
blank, in which nothing is to be attempted; when the soul is all
eye, all ear, continually storing up in an almost faultless memory,
impressions, which go far to mould the future character, and which
reason, so soon as it is able, will certainly use as part of the
material out of which it must form its conclusions! How much of the
future depends upon the kind of influence to which the infant mind is
subjected! Happily for Mary Burdsall these early years were carefully
watched and guarded. The bold and uncompromising character of
her father, and the gentle piety of her mother, secured to her a
combination of influences particularly favourable to the development
of moral and religious feeling. Lessons of truth and love, as yet
beyond the comprehension of the child, were effectively taught by
means of bright and living examples; and hence grace began to operate
with the first unfoldings of reason.