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learned at school, vainly repeating some foolish tales or stories he heard from his sisters or mother, and chaunting this merry rhyme and that. The father, engaged at this time in his preparation to go to his labour or service out of doors, has no leisure, or perhaps no ability, to attend to them. The mother is busied with the affairs of the kitchen, oppressed with her domestic cares and anxieties, and perhaps has some little infant at her breast which requires her chief attention. Feeling herself somewhat relieved from the oppressive burden of her household duties, and from the heat and smoke of the kitchen which had exhausted her, and her pots and pans being arranged in neat order, the, mother with a melodious voice of affection calls her children for breakfast, and threatens or scolds them with an angry tone, if they refuse to obey her commands. The children meet, and eat their bread. They then freely join their fellow mates, and indulge in their wild gambols without fear of being checked in their heedless career by their mother, or by any one superior to them. At the hour of attendance, the boys put on their dirty clothes, which they scarcely wash clean once a week, and trot their way to the school. There they repeat the same kind of process, with all its usual accompaniments, that was observed there in the morning, and in the evening they return home. The father and mother are then both at home, the former little eased from the toils and labour of the day-and the latter still burdened with the same anxieties, occupied with the same concerns, disturbed by the same perplexities, heated by the same fire, smothered by the same smoke, and busied, in short, with the same round of affairs. But they scarcely ever hear the lessons of their children in moral and religious truth repeated. It is because they have little or no knowledge of the branches of learning taught to their children in schools. They are, however, now and then desired to attend to their studies by their parents, who though they may be ignorant of the nature of education given to their children, and be unable to appreciate its value, yet take deep interest in their improvement from the consciousness that education, in whatever degree acquired, will enable them to raise their condition and character in the world. The children in fact have none at home, under present circumstances, to attend to their studies and direct them in their prosecution of them. The father being occupied during the whole day with his toils out of doors, the younger branches of the family must of course fall to the immediate and watching care of the mother. She has a greater authority over them than any one else in the family. They are more in the hands and under the influence of their mother than of their father, at all times and under all circumstances. But it is often the case that she is uneducated. She has received no share of the mental enlightenment which is adequate to enable her really to appreciate the blessings of knowledge, and efficiently to discharge the important duties of her station. She is incapable, from her own ignorance, to pour into their minds. wholesome lessons of piety and morality, and can therefore have no.. right conception of the manner in which their understanding might be improved, or the several powers of their mind be properly regulated and disciplined. Not being herself well grounded in the knowledge of moral and religious truths, she can hardly, beyond what common sense will dictate, be expected to recommend her children to hold fast what is

good, and reject what is evil. She must, as there is no other alternative, countenance her young offspring in the indulgence of their foolish whims, and their juvenile extravagances. Brought up within the narrow circle of her home, secluded from all intercourse with refined society, and having received no enlightenment which education alone gives, she can hardly be expected to preserve any regular discipline in her house, and to devise such methods as shall be best adapted to promote the progress of her children in learning. She is only taken up with the ideas of their worldly prosperity, and not of their religious and moral well being; under such an unqualified mother, instead of any instructions being furnished to her children in the higher truths of useful learning, their attention is wholly directed to subjects that interest her own fancy, or amuse her own imagination. The whole family partakes too much of a non-interference system, leaving the children to spend their most precious years without the slightest attempt being made to convey to their minds those truths which shall prepare them for eternity. A few good advices are indeed from time to time administered; a few of the more flagrant outbreakings of their nature are reproved, but seldom do the Hindú parents, whether high or low, resort to the systematic plan of conveying to the young minds of their children those important lessons in morality and religion, which would more effectually tend to subdue the evil tendencies of their hearts, and rear them in the knowledge of divine truth. Nor is this culpable neglect to be charged upon the ignorant and foolish parents of most of the Hindú families. Even in the households of those who are brought to appreciate the value of education, the younger branches of the family are allowed to pass several years of their childhood without any attempt being made to impress their hearts with the importance of the soul, and the awful realities of the future world. The family fireside of our homes is scarcely ever encircled by a truly enlightened and God-fearing people, or edified by pious conversation. Round our family altars are scarcely seen to assemble, father and mother, brother and sister, husband and wife, master and servant, to mingle their hearts in gratitude for common blessings, or in humble supplication for the supply of their common wants; seldom is heard a father's voice in our families tenderly instructing his beloved children in divine things; rarely are seen the mother's tears of love and affection, as the mind of her child begins to open to clearer views of God and his duty, and to give a strong evidence of the heavenward direction of his desires. It is true that the early discipline of children may be accomplished by their tuition at schools where they are sent at the earliest period of their lives. But the purpose is defeated there by the non-interference system observed at home with respect to their education, at least so far as the youthful minds themselves are concerned. Even taking it for granted that in those schools the right object and spirit of instruction are upheld, their efficiency, as great instruments in enriching the youthful minds with solid learning and sound principle, is entirely lost by the neglect and ignorance of parents at home. It is only at the family hearth that piety and duty are best taught, and if they do not receive such instructions at home from their parents, all their mental exercises in the same matters presented to their notice in school will be of little or no avail. Oct. 1844.-VOL. XLI.-NO. CLXII.

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If, instead of the communication of moral truths, and the infusion of religious sentiments, they hear or see under their parental roof, nothing but what tends to fill their minds with worldly views, with unprofitable tales, and the trifles of the kitchen, they will then become, as sad experience has shown, but idle, ignorant, and profligate members of the community, unhappy in themselves, pests to society, curses to their family, and to the parents who bare them.

Now, therefore, if we would have children to be good and pious, and to prevent all instances of profligacy from deforming their early character, it is a matter of serious importance to us as individuals, and to the community at large, that their parents, under whose care they are placed, be well grounded in the higher truths of religion and morality, before they can be expected to infuse pious sentiments into their children's minds, and to prepare them for eternity. Under their present state of ignorance and superstition, the native parents are scarcely able to feel the responsibility of their situation, as consisting wholly in the promotion of the spiritual welfare of their children, and so far to appreciate the importance of the onerous charge imposed upon them as not to resign, too soon, the care of them to strangers. The melancholy truth, as we are all well aware, is, that they often allow the younger branches of their family to pass away their early days, when their hearts are yet capable of being the most easily reached, and deeply impressed, without any attempt being made to endow their minds with the riches of useful learning, and to impress their hearts with the awful realities of the immortality of the soul, and the existence of the future world. But when they themselves are thoroughly enlightened, the result will be far different, and far more beneficial. Feelingly alive to the dearest interests of their children, and fully sensible that by their being sent away too early to schools they might necessarily be exposed to the moral contamination which reigns abroad, they would attend to their education, not with remissness or neglect, but with great care and watchfulness, and establish a system of discipline at their own houses, tending to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of their children. Schools, though open for the reception of boys throughout the different parts of this country, with the special object of communicating instruction to them in the higher branches of human learning, are, yet, ill adapted to the state and situation of young children, who can derive greater benefits from the pious instruction and example of wise parents at home, than from those of the schoolmasters themselves, whose attention is divided among a vast number of children entrusted to their care and tuition. Besides, children are there exposed to the evil example and habits of those whom they see around them, and are, themselves, naturally prone to slide into congenial habits and practices. There, the imperfect cultivation of their minds is too often accompanied by the corruption of moral feeling. The capricious and frivolous restraints, added to the example of dissipation and luxury, the selfish spirit and premature vices which discredit many of our schools, will combine with the wilfulness and pettishness acquired at home. I do not, however, mean to speak disparagingly of schools. My argument consists in suggesting, that all the exercises at school, with reference to the training up of the youthful minds, will be of little avail, unless a regular disci

pline be observed at home; for the forced mental activity which they might acquire at school, will otherwise be counteracted by the indulgence and indifference to learning observed under the parental roof. Those pious and enlightened parents, therefore, who have any regard to the interests of the rising generation, should, in preference to sending them too early to such schools, adopt a system of early discipline for their children, and follow it up in their own domestic circles. Of the results arising from such a method of procedure, their own experience would be witness. The effects would, indeed, be highly beneficial. The younger branches of our familes would not be permitted to pass the earlier years of their childhood without enjoying the benefits of real instruction under their own parental roofs. Under parents so well qualified to discharge the important duties of their station, the necessity would not be so deeply felt, as under present circumstances, of resigning the care of them to strangers, at a period when the heart is most easily reached, and most deeply and lastingly impressed. When parents were thus enlightened and impressed with the sentiments of piety, they would act in mutual harmony in all the commands and instructions they might give to their children, and strictly observe all those modes which might be well calculated to promote the best interests of the young children entrusted to their care by a gracious Providence. Seldom would recur those altercations and disputes which now so frequently take place between parents about trifling matters, and which so surely tend to subvert the very foundations of family government, to lay the seeds of many future sorrows and perplexities, and to endanger the interests of those whom they profess to hold dear. Domestic order and peace would not be overthrown, deceit and hypocrisy would not be cherished, superstitious notions would not be imbibed, filial affection would not be undermined, misrepresentation of things would not be practised, and those scoldings and punishments which now do not unfrequently occur, would be entirely prevented. Nothing would be allowed to pass under the notice of children which would only serve to nurse them up in habits of vice and intemperance. Nothing will be done in their presence that will only tend to fill their minds with mere worldly and unprofitable views. A perfect systematic discipline will be observed throughout the whole family circle. The domestic economy of the Hindus would exhibit a perfectly changed scene. All disagreeable effects would be prevented, and all positive enjoyments be introduced. Those family feuds, those jarrings of opposite interests, those violent altercations which now fill the pages of the calendar of crime, would be less frequently obtruded upon public notice.

Having got thus far, it is for us now to describe, with some minuteness, the common pursuits, amusements, and ceremonies in which the elderly females, as well as the young girls of our families, are generally engaged. The long chain of their duties and amusements, extending from the kitchen at home to their intercourse with society of their own sex abroad, carries an interest with it which I hope cannot fail to excite the attention of the general reader. But the prevailing tinge which distinguishes their pursuits and employments throughout life, is that which ignorance alone has given, and which education only can suffice to remove. Every one is well aware that the education of woman is here sys

tematically neglected. She is not brought to taste those refinements of learning which her enlightened sisters in Britain do so amply enjoy. The untutored state of her mind is discovered in the circumstances of the narrowness of her ideas, the limited sphere of her understanding, her attachment to absurd ceremonies, her exclusive devotedness to the duties of the kitchen, and her extreme bigotry to notions and prejudices, the folly of which she might easily have been brought to perceive. Access to every solid information is shut against her. She is allowed no place in enlightened society, no share in literary or scientific discussions -in fact she is incapable of both. She grows as a mere flutterer in the passing sunshine-a sordid drudge, whose plans and schemes are only confined to her present state and her domestic concerns, and never extending beyond the narrow walls of the kitchen. The history of her life presents a scene wholly diversified by domestic quarrels, superstitious fears, trifling ceremonies, &c. At the crowing of the cock does she rise up in the morning; busies herself with the affairs of the kitchen; calls her domestics to assist her in their management; disputes with them as to the prices at which articles necessary for domestic purposes are sold; sometimes furiously beating them, but often abusing and gnashing at them, if ever they should question her authority in superintending them, or fail in properly executing her little commissions; then, kindling the fire, she sits unremittingly blowing it, till she is fatigued and half smothered in smoke. During the afternoon she explains, in detail, the operations of the morning to her fellow mates, who go to her from motives of friendship, or from some special calls of duty; telling them how scrupulously, in the morning, did she attend to the business of the kitchen; what great exertion of skill and perseverance did it cost her to arrange, neatly, the articles connected with her domestic employment; how vigilantly was she engaged in detecting in her servants any degree of inattention, want of diligence, or the slightest deviation from the prescribed rules; complaining to them of the faithlessness of her servants in executing her orders, and of the frequent broils in which she was obliged, in the morning, to engage with them, and by which her sleeping lord, in his bed, was disturbed ; fondly dwelling upon the character of her husband; applauding his zeal in complying with all her favourite inclinations, and in endeavouring to contribute to gratify them; admiring his vigour and resolution in opposing difficulties and dangers; praising him for his ardour in gaining money, and his economical diligence in saving it. She does not stop here; she goes on explaining to her fellows the different ceremonies which are generally observed in her house, and the enormous expenses usually expended upon them; the peculiar taste and views which characterize her male friends in the family; the thousand ties of relationship by which she is connected with several other people of her own caste; the cares and anxieties with which her mind is engrossed as to the advancement of her own and her husband's interests, and as to the promotion of her children's welfare and prosperity; the difficulties which she has to encounter in the accomplishment of her particular objects in view; the enquiries which she has instituted into the nature and character of the families with which she has the intention of connecting her daughter or son, by way of marriage; the compliances by which

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