348 



EDUCATION. 



Should com 

 *ith 



gift of nature: to education we are indebted for their 

 direction, their exercise, and their enlargement, 

 turc implant* our affections ; education cultivates, invi- 

 gorates, and refine* them. 



The business <it" education must commence from the 

 moment when the child is capable f sensation. A 

 Uw power of skilful vigilance may, even in the earliest iH-ri<xl of 

 nation, childhood, do inurli towards the formation of the fu- 

 ture crmrarter, by rearing the tender frame in such a 

 manner, as to render it n projH'r instrument for the 

 mind ; by presenting Mii-h objects of attraction as may 

 give an agreeable and useful exercise to the infant pow- 

 er* ; by strengthening the most valuable sensations 

 with associations of-pleasure ; and by warding oil' such 

 impressions as might debase or pervert the affections. 

 All this requires much skill an-1 .".ttentioii ; and as chil- 

 dren, in this early stage, are aim i-t exclusively entrust- 

 ed to the care of our females, the future respectability 

 and happiness of their charge depends, in no small de- 

 gree, on their prudence and good sense. We account 

 ft, therefore, the indispensible duty of every mother, 

 to qualify herself, as far as her circumstances will per- 

 mit, tor the education of her family, in this most inte- 

 resting and important period of their lives. "When 

 we observe," says Miss Hamilton, " how ineffectually, 

 ' thoughout all ages, wisdom has laboured, by her in- 

 structive lessons, to restrain the passions which in in- 

 fancy might have been subdued; to awaken the affec- 

 tions, which might in infancy have been cherished ; 

 and to invigorate those intellectual energies, which 

 ought in infancy to have been exercised, it will not 

 seem hyperbolical to assert, that if mothers were uni- 

 \ ersally qualified for the performance of these import- 

 ant duties, it would do more towards the progressive 

 improvement of the human race, than all the discove- 

 ries of science, and researches of philosophy." ( Letters 

 on Education, Let. 1.) 



To none Ut> know not what apology those parents can frame 

 their own to their own minds, who can resign a charge so sacred, 

 children, the j o t ne ignorance or indifference of a hireling. Yet, 

 1 wherever luxury has made any progress, it has been 

 common for mothers, in affluent circumstances, to dis- 

 regard so far the claims of affection, as to forego the 

 pleasure of nursing their own children, or even of 

 watching over them in the helpless years of infancy. 

 To those who place all the happiness of life in the dis- 

 sipation of perpetual amusements, and who persuade 

 themselves that they were sent into this world merely 

 to pass through it in the most easy and unthinking 

 manner, it is in vain to represent the immorality of so 

 unnatural an indifference. Yet, if every spark of feel- 

 ing l>e not extinguished within them, they might, we 

 should suppose, be led to ask their own hearts, whe- 

 ther they consult their happiness in thus resigning all 

 the endearments of so tender a connection ? whether 

 all the varieties of that " toiling pleasure which sickens 

 into pain," might not be well exchanged for the delight 

 of cherishing so engaging a dependant ; of seeing its 

 cherub countenance brightening with the smile of reci- 

 procal affection, receiving the caresses of its kindness 

 and gratitude, and winding around its gentle heart 

 the cords of indissoluble love ? We might hope, that 

 even a regard to their own future comfort would make 

 them unwilling to allow their child to transfer those af- 

 fections, which cannot easily be recalled, to the person 

 whom they have engaged to perform to it the duties of 

 a mother. But if none of these considerations can re- 

 claim them from the selfishness of luxurious indul- 

 gence,, and the unfeeling dissipation of fashion, let them 



at least do their child the justice to select for it a nurse, F.du<-ii. 

 whose sound and healthy constitution may impart vi- ' >"" 

 gour to her charge ; whose calm and patient temper 

 may bear with all it" wants and its cries, and save it 

 from the I'retfulness of perpetual irritation ; whose con- 

 scientious integrity may he a substitute for m;.tcnial 

 tenderness ; and from whoM language or manners it 

 can contract no improper habits. 



We all know, from experience, how much the vigour Necessity of 

 of our mental powers depends upon the state of our attending to 

 corporeal frame, and how much our thoughts and feel- the corpo- 

 in^s may be influenced, how materially even our mo- rt 

 nil and intellectual character may IK- ailccted, by the 

 external organs of the mind, and by the firmness or 

 delicacy of our muscular and nervous system. Tin- 

 culture of our corjwreal powers, therefore, considered 

 as the instruments of our mental faculties, is entitled to 

 the anxious attention of all who have the charge of u 

 human being ; and it is in the period of infancy that 

 such attention will he most efficacious. 



It is not our design to give such detailed and explicit 

 directions for the man .igeiiu-nt of children, as some 

 writers have collected under the title of l'nv>n u. Ki'- 

 CATIOX : this would carry us far beyond the bounds 

 which we have prescribed to ourselves for this arti- 

 cle ; and would, besides, be encroaching upon the pro- 

 vince of medicine. Vet we may be allowed to sug- 

 gest, in general, with the eloquent, though whimsi- 

 cal Hoiisscau, that, in the treatment of infants, it should 

 be our endeavour to second and call forth nature, not 

 to oppose her intentions and operations. Let not the 

 infant, the moment he opens his eyes on the light, be 

 wrapped in swathing bands, which restrain the free- 

 dom of motion essential to the growth and vigour of his 

 limbs, and render even the internal parts of his frame 

 incapable of their proper functions. Let him be fre- 

 quently bathed in cold water, if he can bear it ; but if 

 he has been at first accustomed to the warm bath, let 

 it gradually be made colder, till at length he be able to 

 endure it perfectly cold. When the constitution, how- 

 ever, is weakly, or" exhibits any phthisical tendencies, the 

 cold bath cannot be employed with safety. Let the 

 food of children be nourishing, but plain : their appe- 

 tite, if neither pampered nor laid under unnatural re- 

 straint, will be the best guide as to the quantity that 

 should be given them. When the weather jMM-mits, let 

 infants be carried frequently abroad. The open air is 

 peculiarly favourable to health ; and the freshness, the 

 beauty, the variety of the scenes of nature, impart, 

 even in infancy, a serenity to the temper, and enliven 

 and invigorate the powers of the mind. Healthy chil- 

 dren, especially after they have learned to walk, will 

 exercise themselves sufficiently if they are- permitted ; 

 nor should they ever be restrained, during that period 

 when their bodily vigour is the first concern. We are 

 apt to adopt too many expedients to assist children, 

 when beginning to walk : it is enough if we guard 

 them from any dangers to which they might be expo- 

 sed by their first efforts to move about. Neither should 

 we be too anxious to preserve them from those slight 

 hurts which they may incur, from their disposition to 

 activity, before they have acquired sufficient caution or 

 strength. Our excessive attention teaches them to con- 

 fide in it, and to become careless of themselves ; and 

 while we seem to regard as a dreadful calamity every 

 trifling accident that may bet'il them, we are forming 

 habits of timidity and effeminacy, of which they may 

 find it difficult or impossible to divest themselves in fu- 

 ture life. 



