Silence should seal
your lips forever on all their shortcomings, even before those who
know them, unless that it be to ask advice in some critical
conjuncture, or bring them to receive some useful and charitable
counsel. God alone should be the depository of your sorrowful
confidence in this matter. To Him alone you should confide your
sorrows and alarms, because He alone should hold the first place in
your mind and heart, for He will be your judge as well as theirs.
If you see that a salutary effect may be obtained by a prudent and
respectful observation, be slow in making it, and never act before
having consulted some virtuous and enlightened persons; should they
advise you in the affirmative, let your observation assume the tone
of a remonstration rather than a warning. Your language, actions or
gestures should never savor of anything that betrayed a disregard for
that profound veneration with which you should honor in them the
title of God's representatives in your regard. An unfortunate custom,
the fruit of a bad education, or of an excessive tenderness on the
part of parents, has sadly vitiated the nature and form of the
relations that should exist between child and parent.
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