SYMPATHY:--1.

THE CHILD WITH THE PARENT.
The subject of sympathy between children and parents is to be considered in two aspects: first, that of the child with the parent; and secondly, that of the parent with the child.

That is to say, an emotion may be awakened in the child by its existence and manifestation in the parent, and secondly, it may be awakened in the parent by its existence in the child.
We are all ready to acknowledge in words the great power and influence of sympathy, but very few are aware how very vast this power is, and how inconceivably great is the function which this principle fulfills in the formation of the human character, and in regulating the conduct of men.
_Mysterious Action of the Principle of Sympathy_.
There is a great mystery in the nature of it, and in the manner of its action.

This we see very clearly in the simplest and most striking material form of it--the act of gaping.

Why and how does the witnessing of the act of gaping in one person, or even the thought of it, produce a tendency to the same action in the nerves and muscles of another person?
When we attempt to trace the chain of connection through the eye, the brain, and the thoughts--through which line of agencies the chain of cause and effect must necessarily run--we are lost and bewildered.
Other states and conditions in which the mental element is more apparent are communicated from one to another in the same or, at least, in some analogous way.