Knowledge of Practical Duties of Life
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her children and to direct her servants, or, if need be, to minister with
her own hands to the wants of her household.
It is her right to understand the mechanism of the human body
and the principles of hygiene, the matters of diet and dress, labor and
recreation, and countless others that intimately concern the well-being
of her household. It is her right to obtain such a knowledge of the
best methods of treating disease that she can care for her children
in sickness, instead of leaving her precious treasures in the hands of
stranger nurses and physicians.
The idea that ignorance of useful employment is an essential char-
acteristic of the true gentleman or lady is contrary to the design of God
in the creation of man. Idleness is a sin, and ignorance of common
duties is the result of folly, which afterlife will give ample occasion to
bitterly regret.—
The Signs of the Times, June 29, 1882
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Children to Share Domestic Duties—The faithful mother will
not, cannot, be a devotee of fashion, neither will she be a domestic
slave, to humor the whims of her children and excuse them from labor.
She will teach them to share with her domestic duties, that they may
have a knowledge of practical life. If the children share the labor with
their mother, they will learn to regard useful employment as essential to
happiness, ennobling rather than degrading. But if the mother educates
her daughters to be indolent while she bears the heavy burdens of
domestic life, she is teaching them to look down upon her as their
servant, to wait on them and do the things they should do. The mother
should ever retain her dignity.—
The Health Reformer, June 1, 1877
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The Value of Practical Education
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Why Work Before Play?—My mother taught me to work. I used
to ask my mother, “Why must I always do so much work before I play?”
“It is to educate and train your mind for useful labor, and another thing,
to keep you out of mischief; and when you get older, you will thank
me for it.” When one of my little girls [a granddaughter] said to me,
“Why must I knit? Grandmothers knit,” I replied, “Will you tell me
how grandmothers learned to knit?” “Why,” [she said,] “they began
when they were little girls.”—
Child Guidance, 124 (1887)
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Teach Girls to Be Independent—Many who consider it necessary
for a son to be trained with reference to his own future maintenance