To be a good mother -- a woman must have sense, and that
independence of mind which few women possess who are taught to
depend entirely on their husbands. Meek wives are, in general,
foolish mothers; wanting their children to love them best, and
take their part, in secret, against the father, who is held up as
a scarecrow. When chastisement is necessary, though they have
offended the mother, the father must inflict the punishment; he
must be the judge in all disputes: but I shall more fully discuss
this subject when I treat of private education, I now only mean
to insist, that unless the understanding of woman be enlarged,
and her character rendered more firm, by being allowed to govern
her own conduct, she will never have sufficient sense or command
of temper to manage her children properly. Her parental
affection, indeed, scarcely deserves the name, when it does not
lead her to suckle her children, because the discharge of this
duty is equally calculated to inspire maternal and filial
affection: and it is the indispensable duty of men and women to
fulfil the duties which give birth to affections that are the
surest preservatives against vice. Natural affection, as it is
termed, I believe to be a very faint tie, affections must grow
out of the habitual exercise of a mutual sympathy; and what
sympathy does a mother exercise who sends her babe to a nurse,
and only takes it from a nurse to send it to a school?
