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Thanks to the smiles of Heaven on our widespread
land, the dissocial principles of the political
economist of the old world do not apply here,
and a large family of children is the blessing to
an American, which it was to a patriarchal father.
The Barclays had now been married fourteen
years, and their seventh child was six weeks old.
The manner in which a new-born child is welcomed
into the family group, shows, in a most
touching aspect, the beauty and worth of the affections
which spring fromthe family compact.
The Sunday morning had come, when the baby
(of course there was always a baby in the family)
was to be carried out to be christened. If there
is a sanctifying influence from the simple ordinances
of our religion, they should not be omitted
or carelessly performed. In the institution of
these external rites, a wise reference seems to
have been made to the mixed nature of man,
partly spiritual and partly corporeal. Those are
over bold, who would separate what God has
joined together.

Mrs. Barclay came from her room with the
baby in her arms, in its christening-dress; the

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children gathering round her, and exclaiming,
“O, how sweet she looks!” “O mother, do let
me kiss her!” “I won't tumble her cap, — just
let me kiss the tips of her fingers.” “See her,
see her smile!” “How pretty she breathes!”
“What a cunning little fist she makes.” “Is
not she a beauty, mother.”

They assembled in the parlour for a sort of
private dedication service. “Now,” said Mr.
Barclay, looking at the little group about the
baby with delight, “All take one kiss, and then
go to your seats. — But where is Grandmama?”
The good old lady, dressed in her Sunday-best,
and with spectacles and handkerchief in hand,
answered the inquiry by entering and taking her
seat in the rocking-chair.

“Now, father, tell us the secret,” said Mary;
“what have you decided to name her?”

“O, say Emily Norton,” cried Wallace.

“O, I hope you will not name her Emily Norton,
sir,” said Alice.

“Why not, Alice?” asked Charles; “I am
sure Emily Norton is a sweet name.”

Alice well knew the why not existing in her
mind, but there was no time to explain.

“Please call her Hepsy Anne,” asked one of
the little ones, naming a favorite schoolmate.

“I speak to have it Aunt Betsey,” said Aunt
Betsey's pet.

Mr. Barclay shook his head. “Mother says
she must be named for Grandmama.”

“Ganmama!” cried little Willie, “what a
funny name!”

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“Euphemia is Grandmama's name, my dear.”
The children looked grave. Euphemia sounded
very strange and old-fashioned to their ears.
“Or Effie,” added Mr. Barclay, “if you like
that better.”

Effie, that prettiest of diminutives, gained all
suffrages. Grandmama, who had one of the tenderest
as well as kindest hearts in the world,
looked, but could not speak, her pleasure. There
is something that addresses itself to the passion
for immortality, in the transmission of that which
is even so extraneous as a name, to one, who in
the order of nature will survive us. But it was
not this that brought the tears to old Mrs. Barclay's
eyes. The name recalled long silent voices,
which, in far-gone years, had rung it in her ears
in tones of happiness and love. She said nothing,
but took the baby in her arms and pressed it to
her bosom. It was a pretty picture of infancy
and age. As she replaced the infant in its mother's
arms, “How kind it was of you,” she said,
“to give her my name. I thought every body
had forgotten it.”

Children are most easily impressed through the
medium of their senses, and the presence of their
baby-sister served to enforce the simple exhortation
which followed from their father. He was
particularly careful, in talking to his children on
religious subjects, to avoid an artificial solemn
tone. He spoke as if the subject were, (as it
was,) cheerful, dear, and familiar to him.

On this occasion he first called the attention
of his children to the physical powers which

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God bestows on man, — the marvellous contrivance
of the eye, — the uses and blessings of all
the senses, — the construction of the little hand
they so fondly kissed, so impotent now, but
formed to be so nice and wonderful an instrument.
He made their hearts beat quicker as
he showed them the benevolence and wisdom
manifest in the arrangement of the little frame
on which their curious eyes were fixed. He
then endeavoured to enable them to form some
conception of what was meant by man being
made in the image of God, — of the sublime
intellectual and moral faculties; and when their
faces beamed with a comprehension of the worth
of the spirit, he spoke of the temptations and
trials to which it must be exposed, — of the
happiness or misery that awaited it. And the
destiny of this precious little creature, they were
told, was in some measure confided to them.
They were to lead her by their good example,
to shelter her from temptation, to feed her
affections from their own loving hearts, so that
this new member of their family might be one
of the family of heaven.

He spoke to them of the tenderness of the Saviour
in bidding little children to come to him; and
of the certainty, that, if they loved him, and kept
his commandments, they would be loved by him,—
of all which this beneficent being had done to
secure his lambs in the fold, and to bring back the
wanderers. His simple eloquence made them realize
that there was a glorious nature embodied in
the little form before them, capable, if rightly

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developed and cherished, of becoming the disciple
of Jesus, and child of God. Before he had wearied
them, and while, as he saw by their moistened
eyes and glowing cheeks, their hearts
burned within them, he asked them to kneel
with their parents and dedicate their little sister
to their heavenly Father, and ask of Him, who
was more ready to give than they to ask, grace
to perform their duty to her.

When, a few hours after, the rite of baptism
was administered in church, the children did
not look upon it as an empty or incomprehensible
form, but they understood its meaning and
felt its value.

How easy it is to interweave the religious with
the domestic affections, and how sadly do those
sin against the lights of nature, who neglect to
form this natural union!