A daughter may be ever so thoroughly instructed in all womanly employments, yet if her mother retains the entire charge of every portion of the household labor,--the child simply following as she is bid,--there can be little opportunity for the development and exercise of her individual judgment. She naturally prefers to lean on one ever ready to relieve her from distasteful duties. This is, no doubt, pleasant for both,--the mother is happy in shielding, the child happy in freedom from care. But we doubt if it is wise or right, for often “in such an hour as ye think not” all this must be changed. Frequently, without a moment’s warning or time for preparation, the mother is taken from her family. Ought she not to have furnished her child, by her teachings, with that experience which, like a lamp trimmed and burning, would guide her footsteps, enabling her, when this unlooked-for trial came, to assume these responsibilities with comparative ease? We believe that even at an early age it is best that some particular duty should be committed to the care of every child, thus teaching them self-reliance from the beginning of life, and accustoming even the little ones to feel responsible for a certain amount of daily labor. Of course, the mother will quietly watch that these small duties are properly performed, but not openly, so that her child loses the sense of real accountability, by knowing that “mother will see that it is all right, even if I should neglect or make mistakes.” The mother must _point out_ mistakes, but the child should always be made to _rectify_ them. The knowledge that doing work hastily or carelessly will only be the cause of punishment by compelling her to do the work over and over again, until it is right, is a great safeguard against contracting careless habits. Lessons thus enforced do not often need repeating.