Enquire within upon everything

One false notion rife in the present age is the idea that women, unless compelled to it by absolute poverty, are out of place when engaged in domestic affairs. Now mothers should have a care lest their daughters get hold of this conviction as regard themselves--there is danger of it; the fashion of the day engenders it, and even the care that an affectionate family take to keep a girl, during the time of her education, free from other occupations than those of her tasks, or her recreations, may lead her to infer that the matters with which she is never asked to concern herself are, in fact, no concern to her, and that any attention she may ever bestow on them is not a matter of simple duty, but of grace, or concession, or stooping, on her part. Let mothers bring up their daughters from the first with the idea that in this world it is required to give as well as to receive, to minister as well as to enjoy; that every person is bound to be useful in his own sphere, and that a woman's first sphere is the house, and its concerns and demands. Once really imbued with this belief, a young girl will usually be anxious to learn all that her mother is disposed to teach, and will be proud and happy to aid in any domestic occupations assigned to her. These need never be made so heavy as to interfere with the peculiar duties or enjoyments of her age. If a mother wishes to see her daughter become a good, happy, and rational woman, never let there be contempt for domestic occupations, or suffer them to be deemed secondary.