ently imitate, without any idea
that imitation is displeasing; their object, as Locke observes, is to
please by affectation; they only mistake the means: we should rectify
this mistake without treating it as a crime.

A little girl of five years old stood beside her mother, observing the
distribution of a dish of strawberries, the first strawberries of the
year; and seeing a number of people busily helping, and being helped
to cream and sugar, said in a low voice, not meant to attract
attention, "I like to see people helping one another." Had the child,
at this instant, been praised for this natural expression of sympathy,
the pleasure of praise would have been immediately substituted in her
mind, instead of the feeling of benevolence, which was in itself
sufficiently agreeable; and, perhaps, from a desire to please, she
would, upon the next favourable occasion, have repeated the same
sentiment; this we should immediately call affectation; but how could
the child foresee, that the repetition of what we formerly liked,
would be offensive? We should not first extol sympathy, and then
disdain affectation; our encomiums frequently produce the faults by
which we are disgusted. Sensibility and sympathy, when they have
proper objects, and full employment, do not look for applause; they
are sufficiently happy in their own enjoyments. Those who have
attempted to teach children, must have observed, that sympathy is
immediately connected with all the imitative arts; the nature of this
connection, more especially in poetry and painting, has been pointed
out with ingenuity and eloquence by those[91] whose excellence in
these arts entitle their theories to our prudent attention. We shall
not attempt to repeat; we refer to their observations. Sufficient
occupation for sympathy, may be found by cultivating the talents of
young people.

Without repeating here what has been said in many other places, it may
be necessary to remind all who are concerned in _female_ education,
that peculiar caution is necessary to manage female sensibility: to
make, what is called the heart, a source of permanent pleasure, we
must cultivate the reasoning powers at the same time that we repress
the enthusiasm of _fine feeling_. Women, from their situation and
duties in society, are called upon rather for the daily exercise of
quiet domestic virtues, than for those splendid acts of generosity,
or those exaggerated expressions of tenderness, which are the
c