full of aspiration for the best things, of thoughts about God and the spiritual verities.  It was not difficult to see that the new home in its reverence for truth, its loyalty to right, its reaching for reality, was providing the same good influence as the old one.  If, in the environment, truth and duty are honored, virtue reverenced, God worshipped sincerely and devoutly, manhood held to be as sacred as deity, the unseen and spiritual never spoken of unadvisedly or lightly, courage always found hand in hand with character, the soul will never long fight a losing battle.

The home should be organized to promote, as swiftly as possible, the awakening of the souls of the children; and, from the moment of this awakening, everything should be planned to help their growth.  The books on the tables should tell the life-stories of those who have bravely fought and never faltered.  Biographies of men like Wilberforce and Howard who have lived to help their fellow-men; and of women like Florence Nightingale and Lady Stanley, who have regarded their social gifts and ample wealth as calls to service; histories of charities, intellectual development and noble achievement, pictures like Sir Galahad and The Light of the World are potent forces in the formation of character.  The ideal side of life should ever be presented in its most attractive form to the awakened soul in its near environment.  Because the ideal culminates in the religious, and the feeling of moral obligation rests at last upon the conviction that God is, and that He is not far from any one, Jesus, in all the beauty and pathos of His earthly career, in all the tragic grandeur of His death and glory of His Resurrection, in all the nearness and helpfulness of His continuing ministry, should be the subject of frequent, earnest, honest, sane, and sympathetic conversation.

The awakened soul needs first of all an environment which will be favorable to its growth.  Its development then will usually be steadily and swiftly toward God and conformity to His will.  There ought to be no need of any re-awakening.  If the soul opens its eyes among those who reverence truth and righteousness, who guard virtue and revere love, to whom God is the nearest and most blessed of realities, and Jesus is Master, Saviour, and daily Friend, its growth toward the spiritual goal will be as natural and beautiful as it will also be swift and sure.

THE FIRST STEPS

    No mortal object did these eyes behold
    When first they met the placid light of thine,
    And my soul felt her destiny divine,
    And hope of endless peace in me grew bold: 
    Heaven-born, the soul a heav’nward course must hold;
    Beyond the visible world she soars to seek
    (For what delights the sense is false and weak)
    Ideal form, the universal mould. 
    The wise man, I affirm, can find no rest
    In that which perishes: