and the endless miscellany of odd items,
constantly recurring in a large family.

Surely, it is a pernicious and mistaken idea, that the duties, which tax
a woman's mind, are petty, trivial, or unworthy of the highest grade of
intellect and moral worth. Instead of allowing this feeling, every woman
should imbibe, from early youth, the impression, that she is training
for the discharge of the most important, the most difficult, and the
most sacred and interesting duties that can possibly employ the highest
intellect. She ought to feel, that her station and responsibilities, in
the great drama of life, are second to none, either as viewed by her
Maker, or in the estimation of all minds whose judgement is most worthy
of respect.

She, who is the mother and housekeeper in a large family, is the
sovereign of an empire, demanding more varied cares, and involving more
difficult duties, than are really exacted of her, who, while she wears
the crown, and professedly regulates the interests of the greatest
nation on earth, finds abundant leisure for theatres, balls, horseraces,
and every gay pursuit.

There is no one thing, more necessary to a housekeeper, in performing
her varied duties, than _a habit of system and order_; and yet, the
peculiarly desultory nature of women's pursuits, and the embarrassments
resulting from the state of domestic service in this Country, render it
very difficult to form such a habit. But it is sometimes the case, that
women, who could and would carry forward a systematic plan of domestic
economy, do not attempt it, simply from a want of knowledge of the
various modes of introducing it. It is with reference to such, that
various modes of securing system and order, which the writer has seen
adopted, will be pointed out.

A wise economy is nowhere more conspicuous, than in the right
_apportionment of time_ to different pursuits. There are duties of a
religious, intellectual, social, and domestic, nature, each having
different relative claims on attention. Unless a person has some general
plan of apportioning these claims, some will intrench on others, and
some, it is probable, will be entirely excluded. Thus, some find
religious, social, and domestic, duties, so numerous, that no time is
given to intellectual improvement. Others, find either social, or
benevolent, or religious, interests, excluded by the extent and variety
of other engagements.

It is wise, therefore, for all persons to devise a