ody, and the
sane mind of your children, is the very first of all your duties. To
provide fortunes for them; to make provision for their future fame; to
give them the learning necessary to the calling for which you destine
them: all these may be duties, and the last is a duty; but a duty far
greater than, and prior to, all these, is the duty of neglecting nothing
within your power to insure them a _sane mind in a sound and undeformed
body_. And, good God! how many are the instances of deformed bodies, of
crooked limbs, of idiocy, or of deplorable imbecility, proceeding solely
from young children being left to the care of servants! One would
imagine, that one single sight of this kind to be seen, or heard of, in
a whole nation, would be sufficient to deter parents from the practice.
And what, then, must those parents feel, who have brought this life-long
sorrowing on themselves! When once the thing is _done_, to repent is
unavailing. And what is now the worth of all the ease and all the
pleasures, to enjoy which the poor sufferer was abandoned to the care of
servants!

256. What! can I plead _example_, then, in support of this rigid
precept? Did we, who have bred up a family of children, and have had
servants during the greater part of the time, _never_ leave a young
child to the care of servants? Never; no, not for _one single hour_.
Were we, then, tied constantly to the house with them? No; for we
sometimes took them out; but one or the other of us _was always with
them_, until, in succession, they were able to take good care of
themselves; or until the elder ones were able to take care of the
younger, and then _they_ sometimes stood sentinel in our stead. How
could we _visit_ then? Why, if both went, we bargained beforehand to
take the children with us; and if this were a thing not to be proposed,
one of us went, and the other stayed at home, the latter being very
frequently my lot. From this we _never_ once deviated. We cast aside all
consideration of convenience; all calculations of expense; all thoughts
of pleasure of every sort. And, what could have equalled the reward that
we have received for our care and for our unshaken resolution in this
respect?

257. In the rearing of children, there is _resolution_ wanting as well
as _tenderness_. That parent is not _truly_ affectionate who wants the
_courage_ to do that which is sure to give the child temporary pain. A
great deal, in providing for the _health_ and _stre