The most important period of life is that in which we are the better
able, in making good use of the present, to repair the past and
prepare for the future; that period holds the intermediate place
between the age of infancy and the age of maturity, embracing the
advantages of both, presenting at the same time the flowers of the
one with the fruits of the other. In order to prepare for the future
we need a certain assistance from the past, for this preparation
demands a certain maturity of judgment and a force of will that
experience alone can give.
The child, devoid as it is of personal experience, can, by turning
that of others to good account, make up for the deficiencies of its
youth, and prepare for the future without having to learn in the
severe school of self-experience. But, through an unfortunate
occurrence of circumstances, and very often without any fault of
theirs, the greater part of children attain the age of manhood and
womanhood without having reaped the precious advantages offered them
by the first stage of life, when the soul is most susceptible of
receiving the impress of grace and virtue.
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