stimate the influence which the companionship of
books exerts in youth upon the habits and tastes of their children, and
no mother who has the welfare of her children at heart will neglect the
important work of choosing the proper books for them to read, while they
are under her care. She should select for them such as will both
interest and instruct, and this should be done during the early years,
before their minds shall have imbibed the pernicious teachings of bad
books and sensational novels. The poison imbibed from bad books works so
secretly that their influence for evil is even greater than the
influence of bad associates. The mother has it in her power to make
such books the companions and friends of her children as her good
judgment may select, and to impress upon them their truths, by
conversing with them about the moral lessons or the intellectual
instructions they contain. A taste may be easily cultivated for books on
natural science and for history, as well as for those that teach
important and wholesome lessons for the young, such as are contained in
the works of Mrs. Edgeworth, Mrs. Child, Mrs. Yonge, and many other
books written for the young.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXI.

Woman's Higher Education.

It has been seen that in the rearing and training of her children, woman
has a great work to perform; that in this work she exerts an
incalculable influence upon untold numbers, and that she molds the minds
and characters of her sons and daughters. How important, then, that she
should cultivate her mental faculties to the highest extent, if for no
other reason than to fit herself the better for the performance of this
great duty of educating her children. How important it is, also, that
she should look to the higher education of her daughters, who, in turn,
will become mothers of future generations, or may, perhaps, by some
vicissitude of fortune, become dependent upon their own resources for
support. With the highest culture of the mental faculties, woman will be
best enabled to faithfully perform whatever she may undertake.

TRAIN YOUNG WOMEN TO SOME OCCUPATION.

Owing to the changes in social and industrial life which have crowded
many women from their homes into business and public life, women must
train for their branch of labor as men train for their work, if they
wish to attain any degree of success. Even where women have independent
fortunes, their lives will be all the happier if t