in all these respects is so great, that,
as applicable to _every_ family, it would be impossible to lay down any
set of rules, or maxims, touching _every_ matter relating to the
management and rearing up of children. In giving an account, therefore,
of _my own_ conduct, in this respect, I am not to be understood as
supposing, that _every_ father _can_, or ought, to attempt to do _the
same_; but while it will be seen, that there are _many_, and these the
most important parts of that conduct, that _all_ fathers may imitate, if
they choose, there is no part of it which thousands and thousands of
fathers might not adopt and pursue, and adhere to, to the very letter.

290. I effected every thing without scolding, and even without
_command_. My children are a family of _scholars_, each sex its
appropriate species of learning; and, I could safely take my oath, that
I never _ordered_ a child of mine, son or daughter, _to look into a
book_, in my life. My two eldest sons, when about eight years old, were,
for the sake of their health, placed for a very short time, at a
Clergyman's at MICHELDEVER, and my eldest daughter, a little older, at a
school a few miles from Botley, to avoid taking them to London in the
winter. But, with these exceptions, never had they, while children,
_teacher_ of any description; and I never, and nobody else ever, taught
any one of them to read, write, or any thing else, except in
_conversation_; and, yet, no man was ever more anxious to be the father
of a family of clever and learned persons.

291. I accomplished my purpose _indirectly_. The first thing of all was
_health_, which was secured by the deeply-interesting and never-ending
_sports of the field_ and _pleasures of the garden_. Luckily these
things were treated of in _books_ and _pictures_ of endless variety; so
that on _wet days_, in _long evenings_, these came into play. A large,
strong table, in the middle of the room, their mother sitting at her
work, used to be surrounded with them, the baby, if big enough, set up
in a high chair. Here were ink-stands, pens, pencils, India rubber, and
paper, all in abundance, and every one scrabbled about as he or she
pleased. There were prints of animals of all sorts; books treating of
them: others treating of gardening, of flowers, of husbandry, of
hunting, coursing, shooting, fishing, planting, and, in short, of every
thing, with regard to which _we had something to do_. One would be
trying to imitate