Page:The Mothers of England.djvu/144

Rh it believes that its mother will not require it to do any thing contrary to its real good; while the child at first deceived into the belief that what is offered is only current-jelly, will in all probability detect the trick, and ever afterward exhibit a tenfold strength of determination to resist.

But even where such practices are not discovered by the child, there is a moral meanness on the part of the mother, in making such a system the rule of her conduct toward her family. If she is truly beloved and esteemed, she will have influence enough to enforce a direct obedience to her wishes, and in case of resistance, she will have sufficient authority to command.

In all families there will necessarily be the occurrence of circumstances, or subjects of discussion, with which the junior members can not with propriety be made acquainted. These, however, are such as require no deception to conceal, because there is no necessity for their being talked about, or even hinted at, before children. Nothing is more common with mothers than to send their children out of the way on false pretences — to go and play in the garden, or to see what the nurse is doing, when in reality their absence is all that is desired. To a noble and generous nature, there is something revolting in this mode of treatment; and I feel assured that all children accustomed to look to a high moral standard, would be better and happier to be sent out of the room every day because their parents wished to talk about something not suitable for them to hear, than once to detect those parents of having got rid in them by a false pretence.

In these, as well as all other cases in which they could understand it, children should be admitted to know the very heart of their mother. They should not be left by chance to discover that they have been intruding upon her privacy, and that because she thought them too selfish and unreasonable to bear to know the truth, she invented a pretext for getting rid of their company without offending their vanity. Such discoveries, whether made by the young or the old, have invariably the effect of destroying confidence, and estranging affection. Everything, then,