American Woman's Home: Or, Principles of Domestic Science;: Being a Guide to the Formation and Maintenance of Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian HomesStowe, Harriet Beecher
Religion
American Woman's Home: Or, Principles of Domestic Science;: Being a Guide to the Formation and Maintenance of Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian Homes
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Home economics
When a little girl begins to sew, her mother can promise her a small
bed and pillow, as soon as she has sewed a patch quilt for them; and
then a bedstead, as soon as she has sewed the sheets and cases for
pillows; and then a large doll to dress, as soon as she has made the
undergarments; and thus go on till the whole contents of the baby-house
are earned by the needle and skill of its little owner. Thus the task
of learning to sew will become a pleasure; and every new toy will be
earned by useful exertion. A little girl can be taught, by the aid of
patterns prepared for the purpose, to cut and fit all articles necessary
for her doll. She can also be provided with a little wash-tub and irons
and thus keep in proper order a complete miniature domestic
establishment.
Besides these recreations, there are the enjoyments secured in walking,
riding, visiting, and many other employments which need not be
recounted. Children, if trained to be healthful and industrious, will
never fail to discover resources of amusement; while their guardians
should lend their aid to guide and restrain them from excess.
There is need of a very great change of opinion and practice in this
nation in regard to the subject of social and domestic duties. Many
sensible and conscientious men spend all their time abroad in business;
except perhaps an hour or so at night, when they are so fatigued as
to be unfitted for any social or intellectual enjoyment. And some of
the most conscientious men in the country will add to their professional
business public or benevolent enterprises, which demand time, effort,
and money; and then excuse themselves for neglecting all care of their
children, and efforts for their own intellectual improvement, or for
the improvement of their families, by the plea that they have no time
for it.
All this arises from the want of correct notions of the binding
obligation of our social and domestic duties. The main object of life
is not to secure the various gratifications of appetite or taste, but
to form such a character, for ourselves and others, as will secure the
greatest amount of present and future happiness. It is of far more
consequence, then, that parents should be intelligent, social,
affectionate, and agreeable at home and to their friends, than that
they should earn money enough to live in a large house and have handsome
furniture. It is far more needful for children that a father should
attend to the formation of their character and habits, and aid in
developing their social, intellectual, and moral nature, than it is
that he should earn money to furnish them with handsome clothes and
a variety of tempting food.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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