THE MISTRESS.
"Strength, and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to
come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of
kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household; and eateth not
the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her
husband also, and he praiseth her."--_Proverbs_, xxxi. 25-28.
I. AS WITH THE COMMANDER OF AN ARMY, or the leader of any enterprise, so
is it with the mistress of a house. Her spirit will be seen through the
whole establishment; and just in proportion as she performs her duties
intelligently and thoroughly, so will her domestics follow in her path.
Of all those acquirements, which more particularly belong to the
feminine character, there are none which take a higher rank, in our
estimation, than such as enter into a knowledge of household duties; for
on these are perpetually dependent the happiness, comfort, and
well-being of a family. In this opinion we are borne out by the author
of "The Vicar of Wakefield," who says: "The modest virgin, the prudent
wife, and the careful matron, are much more serviceable in life than
petticoated philosophers, blustering heroines, or virago queens. She who
makes her husband and her children happy, who reclaims the one from vice
and trains up the other to virtue, is a much greater character than
ladies described in romances, whose whole occupation is to murder
mankind with shafts from their quiver, or their eyes."