Page:Vindication Women's Rights (Wollstonecraft).djvu/279

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RIGHTS OF WOMAN.
273

to do certain things habitually; for, from a ſteady adherence to a few ſimple principles of conduct flows that ſalutary power which a judicious parent gradually gains over a child's mind. And this power becomes ſtrong indeed, if tempered by an even diſplay of affection brought home to the child's heart. For I believe, as a general rule, it muſt be allowed that the affection which we inſpire always reſembles that we cultivate; ſo that natural affections, which have been ſuppoſed almoſt diſtinct from reaſon, may be found more nearly connected with judgment than is commonly allowed. Nay, as another proof of the neceſſity of cultivating the female underſtanding, it is but juſt to obſerve, that the affections ſeem to have a kind of animal capriciouſneſs when they merely reſide in the heart.

It is the irregular exerciſe of parental authority that firſt injures the mind, and to theſe irregularities girls are more ſubject than boys. The will of thoſe who never allow their will to be diſputed, unleſs they happen to be in a good humour, when they relax proportionally, is almoſt always unreaſonable. To elude this arbitrary authority girls very early learn the leſſons which they afterwards practiſe on their huſbands; for I have frequently ſeen a little ſharp-faced miſs rule a whole family, excepting that now and then mamma's anger will burſt out of ſome accidental cloud; either her hair was ill dreſſed[1], or ſhe had loſt more money at cards, the night before, than

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  1. I myſelf heard a little girl once ſay to a ſervant, 'My mamma has been ſcolding me finely this morning, becauſe her hair was not dreſſed to pleaſe her.' Though this remark was pert, it was juſt. And what reſpect could a girl acquire for ſuch a parent without doing violence to reaſon?