y duly repaid by a similar want in the neglected
parties; and, though stern authority may command and enforce obedience
for a while, the time soon comes when it will be set at defiance; and
when such a father, having no example, no proofs of love, to plead,
complains of _filial ingratitude_, the silent indifference of his
neighbours, and which is more poignant, his own heart, will tell him
that his complaint is unjust.

254. Thus far with regard to _working_ people; but much more necessary
is it to inculcate these principles in the minds of young men in the
middle rank of life, and to be more particular, in their case, with
regard to the care due to very young children, for here _servants_ come
in; and many are but too prone to think, that when they have handed
their children over to well-paid and able servants, they have _done
their duty by them_, than which there can hardly be a more mischievous
error. The children of the poorer people are, in general, much fonder of
their parents than those of the rich are of theirs: this fondness is
reciprocal; and the cause is, that the children of the former have, from
their very birth, had a greater share than those of the latter--of the
_personal_ attention, and of the never-ceasing endearments of their
parents.

255. I have before urged upon young married men, in the middle walks of
life, to _keep the servants out of the house as long as possible_; and
when they must come at last, when they must be had even to assist in
taking care of children, let them be _assistants_ in the most strict
sense of the word; let them not be _confided in_; let children never be
_left to them alone_; and the younger the child, the more necessary a
rigid adherence to this rule. I shall be told, perhaps, by some careless
father, or some play-haunting mother, that female servants are _women_,
and have the tender feelings of women. Very true; and, in general, as
good and kind in their _nature_ as the mother herself. But they are not
the _mothers_ of your children, and it is not in nature that they should
have the care and anxiety adequate to the necessity of the case. Out of
the immediate care and personal superintendence of one or the other of
the parents, or of some trusty _relation_, no young child ought to be
suffered to be, if there be, at whatever sacrifice of ease or of
property, any possibility of preventing it: because, to insure, if
possible, the perfect form, the straight limbs, the sound b