Though unseen of the world, it
makes many people happy. It works upon individuals; and by elevating
them, it elevates society itself. It is in fact a receipt of infallible
efficacy, for conferring the greatest possible happiness upon the
greatest possible number. Without it legislation, benevolence, and
philanthropy are mere palliatives, sometimes worse than useless, because
they hold out hopes which are for the most part disappointed.
How happy does a man go forth to his labour or his business, and how
doubly happy does he return from it, when he knows that his means are
carefully husbanded and wisely applied by a judicious and well-managing
wife. Such a woman is not only a power in her own house, but her example
goes forth amongst her neighbours, and she stands before them as a model
and a pattern. The habits of her children are formed after her habits:
her actual life becomes the model after which they unconsciously mould
themselves; for example always speaks more eloquently than words: it is
instruction in action--wisdom at work.
First amongst woman's qualities is the intelligent use of her hands and
fingers. Every one knows how useful, how indispensable to the comfort of
a household, is the tidy, managing, handy woman. Pestalozzi, with his
usual sagacity, has observed, that half the education of a woman comes
through her fingers.
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