theſe Rebekah's, and for the ſake of their own children they violate the moſt ſacred duties, forgetting the common relationſhip that binds the whole family on earth together. Yet, reaſon ſeems to ſay, that they who ſuffer one duty, or affection, to ſwallow up the reſt, have not ſufficient heart or mind to fulfil that one conſcientiouſly. It then loſes the venerable aſpect of a duty, and aſſumes the fantaſtic form of a whim.
As the care of children in their infancy is one of the grand duties annexed to the female character by nature, this duty would afford many forcible arguments for ſtrengthening the female underſtanding, if it were properly conſidered.
The formation of the mind muſt be begun very early, and the temper, in particular, requires the moſt judicious attention—an attention which women cannot pay who only love their children becauſe they are their children, and ſeek no further for the foundation of their duty, than in the feelings of the moment. It is this want of reaſon in their affections which makes women ſo often run into extremes, and either be the moſt fond or moſt careleſs and unnatural mothers.
To be a good mother—a woman muſt have ſenſe, and that independence of mind which few women poſſeſs who are taught to depend entirely on their huſbands. Meek wives are, in general, fooliſh mothers; wanting their children to love them beſt, and take their part, in ſecret, againſt the father, who is held up as a ſcarecrow. If they are to be puniſhed, though they have offended the mother, the father muſt inflict the puniſhment; he muſt be the judge in all diſputes: but
