Page:A New System of Domestic Cookery (1824 edition).pdf/36

xxvi press on their attention considerations of the strictest economy! There ought to be a material difference in the degree of care which a person of a large and independent estate bestows on money-concerns, and that of a person in confined circumstances: yet both may very well commendably employ some portion of their time and thoughts on this subject. The custom of the times tends in some measure to abolish the distinctions of rank; and the education given to young people is nearly the same in all: but though the leisure of the higher may be well devoted to different accomplishments, the pursuits of those in a middle line, if less ornamental, would better secure their own happiness and that of others connected with them. We sometimes bring up children in a manner calculated rather to fit them for the station we wish, than that which it is likely they will actually possess; and it is in all cases worth the while of parents to consider whether the expectation or hope of raising their offspring above their own situation be well founded.

The cultivation of the understanding and disposition, however, is not here alluded to; for a judicious improvement of both, united to firm and early-taught religious principles, would enable the happy possessor of these advantages to act well on all occasion; nor would young ladies find domestic knowledge a burthen, or inconsistent with higher attainments, if the rudiments of it were inculcated at a tender age, when activity is so pleasing. If employment be tiresome to a healthy child, the fault must be traced to habits which, from manu causes, are not at present favourable to future condition of women. It frequently happens, that before