10
A Solemn Appeal
was pursued thirty years ago with comparative safety, it is no evidence
that it can be now. The present cannot be judged by the past.
Mothers should take their daughters with them into the kitchen,
and give them a thorough education in the cooking department. They
should also instruct them in the art of substantial sewing. They should
teach them how to cut garments economically, and put them together
neatly. Some mothers, rather than to take this trouble, to patiently
instruct their inexperienced daughters, prefer to do all themselves. But
in so doing, they leave the essential branches of education neglected,
and commit a great wrong against their children; for in after life they
feel embarrassment, because of their lack of knowledge in these things.
Mothers should educate their daughters in regard to the laws of
life. They should understand their own frame, and the relation their
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eating, drinking, and every-day habits, have to health and a sound
constitution, without which the sciences would be of but little benefit.
The help of the daughters will often make so much difference with
the mother’s work, that kitchen help can be dispensed with, which
will prove not only a saving of expense, but a continual benefit to the
children, by making room for them to labor, and bringing them into
the society, and under the direct influence, of their mother, whose duty
it is to patiently instruct the dear ones committed to her care. Also, a
door will be closed against much evil, which a hired girl may bring
into a family. In a few days she may exert a strong influence over the
children of the family, and initiate your daughters into the practice of
deception and vice.
Children should be instructed from their early years to be helpful,
and to share the burdens of their parents. By thus doing, they can be
a great blessing in lightening the cares of the weary mother. While
children are engaged in active labor, time will not hang heavily upon
their hands, and they will have less opportunity to associate with
vain, talkative, unsuitable companions, whose evil communications
might blight the whole life of an innocent girl, by corrupting her good
manners.
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Active employment will give but little time to invite Satan’s temp-
tations. They may be often weary, but this will not injure them. Nature
will restore their vigor and strength in their sleeping hours, if her laws
are not violated. And the thoroughly-tired person has less inclination
for secret indulgence.