Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1876-05-18
i woRD WIFE MOTHERS
BY PETER FARLEY.

by legislators, philosophers, and di,
vines, to be one Of the principal causes
which gives character to nations as
well as to individuals. This truth, so
generally allowed both through history
and experience, ought, Peter Farley
thinks, to be sufficient to induce all
whe value the interests of society Or
themselves, to inquire how this infus
ence can be made the most OF, and if
there are not ways and means TO be
made available to render mother the
first and best agent in education.
The relationship IN which the mother
stands to her child is such, that it re-
quires on her part all that intelligence
can command, all that self,discipline
can accomplish, to enable her to fulfill
the important Office with which she is
invested by nature. The introduction
OF thing of helplessness to sphere
OF activity-the development of the
unfolded germ of human existence, and
the sentiens principle, and, above all,
| the fitting OF the immortal part for the
performance of its duties here, and fo1
an eternal hereafter; this mighty work
deySlyes upon the mother.
To render the mother equal to the
sorrows, the trials, the anxieties, and
the cares incumbent upon the maternal
state, nature, or rather the divine
Author of nature, has implanted in the
mothers breast love for the offspring
dearer than life itself; but this holy,
this beautiful affection, requires to be
supported by the highest intelligence,
| and to be regulated by the most cons
prehenaive knowledge.--The mother
| must reflect that the instructive affec-
ton she feels for the offspring, she
shares in common with what are called
the lower animals; but the thinking
love, which will alone enable her to
perform her duty to her child, is the
result Of experience and is dependent
upon the reasoning powers The afec-
ton shown to child, which has not
its basis upon reason, is liable to bring
the child to shame, and the parent to
SORROW and hence we frequently OBJ
serve, in every grade Of society, that
the maternal love is not returned by
flial affection, and that disobedience
and slight is shown where the deepest
generation ought to dwell.--How often
does the fond mother exclaim to her
petted darling, "Aye, you will not
love me, when you grow a man." a
prophecy suggested by every day e1-
amples of disobedience, which are too
fearfully realized.
Why is this' Simply because it is the
fashion to lot education take its course
because it is the fashion not to study
human nature because the mother
knows little of a childs mental and
moral economy, and thinks it too much
trouble to inquire. In the earliest
periods, how often Is the child the vic
tim of his own self will how often the
plague of whole household, the cause
Of contention between parents, Of an-
xious days and sleepless nights! As
the sun of life arrives, it comes not as a
herald OF JOY, it brings forth no buds
of promise, no blossom of hope, but
stands ''all in hot and copper sky, -
scorching rather than illuminating, and
blighting rather than developing.
The mother must reflect that educa-
ton, in its true sense, is not mere
mechanical task, set Of patent pros
cesses, an accumulation of profound
dogmas, or multiplication of cut and
dried rules Nor does it consist in a
series of admonitions and corrections,
of rewards and punishments, of impre-
GATORS and directions, strung together
without unity of purpose or dignity of
execution, but should present an un-
broken chain of measures originating in
the same principles-in knowledge Of
the constant laws of our nature, prac
tisea in the same spirit, spirit of be-
nevolence and firmness, and tending to
the same end-the elevation of man 5
moral nature, not only above the SEN
sual but even over the Intellectual To
this every mother stands pledged, and
the great bond, the mind of her child,
is drawn out ready for her to sign.
Thus the mothers great endeavor
muss be to build up humanity the pas
sions, appetItes, intellectual power,
mental energy, come alike under her
attention in this work. 1t is for her to
strip the grosser husk from passion,
and to develop the germ of enthusiasm,
which lies concealed within it, to pur-
poses of good not so much to repress
the appetite, as to fix its impulses upon
pure and wholesome food, with view
to its imbibing principles Of conduct, to
Undue the intellect with the morality
of pure sympathy, and to turn those
mighty manifestations of mind, which
seem to rebound from the solid earth
as in contempt of it, into the deep