The Young Man's GuideAlcott, William A. (William Andrus)
General
The Young Man's Guide
Alcott, William A. (William Andrus)
Conduct of life; Young men
[13] It is worthy of remark, as a well established fact, that the
Chinese have an _Isan-mon_ or _mother_, to their silkworms! Her
duty is, not to attend to the eggs and the hatching, for nature
has made provision for that; but to take possession of the
chamber where the young are deposited; to see that it be free
from 'noisome smells, and all noises;' to attend to its
temperature, and to 'avoid making a smoke, or raising a dust.'
She must not enter the room till she is perfectly clean in person
and dress, and must be clothed in a very plain habit; and in
order to be more sensible to the temperature of the place, her
dress must contain no lining.
Now although every mother of children does not have the care
of silkworms, yet she has the care of beings who are in some
respects equally susceptible. And I trust no person who knows the
importance of temperature, ventilation, &c. especially to the
tender infant, will be ashamed to derive an important lesson from
the foregoing.
5. LOVE OF DOMESTIC CONCERNS.
Without the knowledge and the love of domestic concerns, even the wife
of a peer, is but a poor affair. It was the fashion, in former times,
for ladies to understand a great deal about these things, and it would
be very hard to make me believe that it did not tend to promote the
interests and honor of their husbands.
The concerns of a great family never can be _well_ managed, if left
_wholly_ to hirelings; and there are many parts of these affairs in
which it would be unseemly for husbands to meddle. Surely, no lady can
be too high in rank to make it proper for her to be well acquainted
with the character and general demeanor of all the female servants. To
receive and give character is too much to be left to a servant, however
good, whose service has been ever so long, or acceptable.
Much of the ease and happiness of the great and rich must depend on the
character of those by whom they are assisted. They live under the same
roof with them; they are frequently the children of their tenants, or
poorer neighbors; the conduct of their whole lives must be influenced
by the examples and precepts which they here imbibe; and when ladies
consider how much more weight there must be in one word from them, than
in ten thousand words from a person who, call her what you like, is
still a _fellow servant_, it does appear strange that they should
forego the performance of this at once important and pleasing part of
their duty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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