I am told that one of the little girls was scandalized in the parlour because her father talked of his _breeches_. That is a word in common usage. What refinement do they mean by this? Does the arrangement of the letters form an immodest word? Do they feel distress at the words "breed" or "breeze" or "breviary"? It is pitiable. Others only whisper under their breath that a woman is pregnant; do they wish to be more modest than our Lord who talked of pregnancy and childbirth, etc.? One of the young ladies stopped short when I asked her how many sacraments there were, not being willing to name marriage. She began to laugh and told me they were not allowed to name it in the convent from which she came. What! a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ, which he honoured with his presence, the obligations of which his Apostles explained, and which we ought to teach to our daughters, must not be named to them! These are the things that turn a convent education into ridicule. There is much more immodesty in such proceedings than there is in speaking openly of what is innocent and with which all pious books are filled. When our young ladies have passed through marriage they will know that it is not a thing to be laughed at. They ought to be accustomed to speak of it very seriously and even sadly, for I think it is the state of life in which we suffer most tribulation, even in the best marriages. They should be taught, when occasion offers, the difference between immodest words, which must never be uttered, and coarse words,--the first being sinful, the second simply against good-breeding. Adieu, my daughter, I never can finish when it is a question of our girls and the good of the establishment. _To Mme. de la Rouzière_ [a class mistress]. Monday, May 6, 1714. I think, my dear daughter, that being too much attached to one's body means fearing too much inconveniences and want of ease, being too particular about one's person, being easily disgusted with that of others, dressing with too much care, apprehending cold, heat, smoke, dust--in a word, all the little flesh mortifications--too much; it is desiring to satisfy our senses, seeking pleasure, being too much attached to our health, taking too much care of it, troubling ourselves about remedies, occupying ourselves with our own relief, being too nice about what we like and too fidgety about what we fear; it is examining ourselves on such points with too much care. Being too much attached to one's mind means to think we have one, to plume one's self upon it, to wish to increase it, to show it, to turn the conversation according to our own tastes, to seek out persons who have mind and despise others whom we think have none, to speak affectedly, and write the same.--But I am obliged to finish, my dear daughter. _To Mme. de Vandam_ [then head mistress of the Blues].