A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School. Catharine Esther Beecher
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ON ECONOMY OF TIME AND EXPENSES.
Economy of Time. Value of Time. Right Apportionment of Time. Laws appointed by God for the Jews. Proportions of Property and Time the Jews were required to devote to Intellectual, Benevolent, and Religious Purposes. The Levites. The weekly Sabbath. The Sabbatical Year. Three sevenths of the Time of the Jews devoted to God's Service. Christianity removes the Restrictions laid on the Jews, but demands all our Time to be devoted to our own best Interests and the Good of our Fellow-men. Some Practical Good to be the Ultimate End of all our Pursuits. Enjoyment connected with the Performance of every Duty. Great Mistake of Mankind. A Final Account to be given of the Apportionment of our Time. Various Modes of economizing Time. System and Order. Uniting several Objects in one Employment. Employment of Odd Intervals of Time. We are bound to aid Others in economizing Time. Economy in Expenses. Necessity of Information on this Point. Contradictory Notions. General Principles in which all agree. Knowledge of Income and Expenses. Every One bound to do as much as she can to secure System and Order. Examples. Evils of Want of System and Forethought. Young Ladies should early learn to be systematic and economical. Articles of Dress and Furniture should be in Keeping with each other, and with the Circumstances of the Family. Mistaken Economy. Education of Daughters away from Home injudicious. Nice Sewing should be done at Home. Cheap Articles not always most economical. Buying by wholesale economical only in special cases. Penurious Savings made by getting the Poor to work cheap. Relative Obligations of the Poor and the Rich in Regard to Economy. Economy of Providence in the Unequal Distribution of Property. Carelessness of Expense not a Mark of Gentility. Beating down Prices improper in Wealthy People. Inconsistency in American would-be Fashionables, 180
ON HEALTH OF MIND.
Intimate Connection between the Body and Mind. Brain excited by improper Stimulants taken into the Stomach. Mental Faculties then affected. Example of a Person having lost a Portion of his Skull. Causes of Mental Diseases. Want of Oxygenized Blood. Fresh Air absolutely necessary. Excessive Exercise of the Intellect or Feelings a Cause of Derangement. Such Attention to Religion, as prevents the Performance of other Duties, wrong. Teachers and Parents should look to this. Unusual Precocity in Children usually the Result of a Diseased Brain. Parents generally add Fuel to this Fever. Idiocy often the Result, or the Precocious Child sinks below the Average of Mankind. This Evil yet prevalent in Colleges and other Seminaries. A Medical Man necessary in every Seminary. Some Pupils always needing Restraint in Regard to Study. A Third Cause of Mental Disease, the Want of Appropriate Exercise of the Various Faculties of the Mind. Extract from Dr. Combe. Examples of Wealthy Ladies. Beneficial Results of active Intellectual Employments. Indications of a Diseased Mind, 195
ON THE CARE OF DOMESTICS.
No Subject on which American Women need more Wisdom, Patience, Principle, and Self-control. Its Difficulties. Necessary Evils. Miseries of Aristocratic Lands. Wisdom of Conforming to Actual Circumstances. How to judge correctly respecting Domestics. They should be treated as we would expect to be under similar Circumstances. When Labor is scarce, its Value is increased. Instability of Domestics; how it may be remedied. Pride and Insubordination; how remedied. Abhorrence of Servitude a National Trait of Character. Domestics easily convinced of the Appropriateness of different Degrees of Subordination. Example. Domestics may be easily induced to be respectful in their Deportment, and appropriate in their Dress. Deficiencies of Qualifications for the Performance of their Duties; how remedied. Forewarning, better than Chiding. Preventing, better than finding Fault. Faults should be pointed out in a Kind Manner. Some Employers think it their Office and Duty to find Fault. Domestics should be regarded with Sympathy and Forbearance, 204
ON THE CARE OF INFANTS.
Necessity of a Knowledge of this Subject, to every Young Lady. Examples. Extracts from Doctors Combe, Bell, and Eberle. Half the Deaths of Infants owing to Mismanagement, and Errors in Diet. Errors of Parents and Nurses. Error of administering Medicines to Children, unnecessarily. Need of Fresh Air, Attention to Food, Cleanliness, Dress, and Bathing. Cholera Infantum not cured by Nostrums. Formation of Good Habits in Children, 213
ON THE MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN.
Physical Education of Children. Remark of Dr. Clark, and Opinion of other Medical Men. Many Popular Notions relating to Animal Food for Children, erroneous. The Formation of the Human Teeth and Stomach does not indicate that Man was designed to live on Flesh. Opinions of Linnæus and Cuvier. Stimulus of Animal Food not necessary to Full Developement of the Physical and Intellectual Powers. Examples. Of Laplanders, Kamtschatkadales, Scotch Highlanders, Siberian Exiles, Africans, Arabs. Popular Notion that Animal Food is more Nourishing than Vegetable. Different Opinions on this Subject. Experiments. Opinions of Dr. Combe and others. Examples of Men who lived to a great Age. Dr. Franklin's Testimony. Sir Isaac Newton and others. Albany Orphan Asylum. Deleterious Practice of allowing Children to eat at short Intervals. Intellectual Training. Schoolrooms. Moral Character. Submission, Self-denial, and Benevolence, the three most important Habits to be formed in Early Life. Extremes to be guarded against. Medium Course. Adults sometimes forget the Value which Children set on Trifles. Example. Impossible to govern Children, properly, without appreciating the Value they attach to their Pursuits and Enjoyments. Those who govern Children should join in their Sports. This the best way to gain their Confidence and Affection. But Older Persons should never lose the Attitude of Superiors. Unsteadiness in Government. Illustrations. Punishment from unsteady Governors, does little Good. Over-Government. Want of Patience and Self-control in Parents and Governors. Example of Parents more effectual than their Precepts. Formation of Habits of Self-denial in Early Life. Denying Ourselves to promote the Happiness of Others. Habits of Honesty and Veracity. Habits of Modesty. Delicacy studiously to be cherished. Licentious and Impure Books to be banished. Bulwer a Licentious Writer, and to be discountenanced, 220
ON THE CARE OF THE SICK.
Women frequently called upon to direct in Cases of Indisposition. Extremes to be avoided. Grand Cause of most Diseases, Excess in Eating and Drinking. Fasting useful. Extracts from Doctors Burne and Combe. Necessity of a Woman's Understanding the Nature and Operation of Common Medicines. Simple Electuary. Discretion required. Useful Directions in Regard to Nursing the Sick. Fresh Air absolutely necessary. Frequent Ablutions important. Dressing a Blister. Arrangements to be made beforehand, when practicable. Importance of Cleanliness; Nothing more annoying to the Sick, than a want of it. Necessity of a proper Preparation of Food, for the Sick. Physicians' Directions to be well understood and implicitly followed. Kindness, Patience, and Sympathy, towards the Sick, important. Impositions of Apothecaries. Drugs to be locked up from the Access of Children, 234