er of any enterprise, so
is it with the mistress of a house. Her spirit will be seen through the
whole establishment; and just in proportion as she performs her duties
intelligently and thoroughly, so will her domestics follow in her path.
Of all those acquirements, which more particularly belong to the
feminine character, there are none which take a higher rank, in our
estimation, than such as enter into a knowledge of household duties; for
on these are perpetually dependent the happiness, comfort, and
well-being of a family. In this opinion we are borne out by the author
of "The Vicar of Wakefield," who says: "The modest virgin, the prudent
wife, and the careful matron, are much more serviceable in life than
petticoated philosophers, blustering heroines, or virago queens. She who
makes her husband and her children happy, who reclaims the one from vice
and trains up the other to virtue, is a much greater character than
ladies described in romances, whose whole occupation is to murder
mankind with shafts from their quiver, or their eyes."

2. PURSUING THIS PICTURE, we may add, that to be a good housewife does
not necessarily imply an abandonment of proper pleasures or amusing
recreation; and we think it the more necessary to express this, as the
performance of the duties of a mistress may, to some minds, perhaps seem
to be incompatible with the enjoyment of life. Let us, however, now
proceed to describe some of those home qualities and virtues which are
necessary to the proper management of a Household, and then point out
the plan which may be the most profitably pursued for the daily
regulation of its affairs.

3. EARLY RISING IS ONE OF THE MOST ESSENTIAL QUALITIES which enter into
good Household Management, as it is not only the parent of health, but
of innumerable other advantages. Indeed, when a mistress is an early
riser, it is almost certain that her house will be orderly and
well-managed. On the contrary, if she remain in bed till a late hour,
then the domestics, who, as we have before observed, invariably partake
somewhat of their mistress's character, will surely become sluggards. To
self-indulgence all are more or less disposed, and it is not to be
expected that servants are freer from this fault than the heads of
houses. The great Lord Chatham thus gave his advice in reference to this
subject:--"I would have inscribed on the curtains of your bed, and the
walls of your chamber, 'If you do not rise early, you