But, in a family of
ten, twenty, or thirty, this knowledge will exist, and this kindness
abound. Warm personal attachments will grow up in the family, and these
attachments are likely to become safeguards of virtue.
Nor let the objection prevail that the expense is to be increased. It is
not the purpose to set up an establishment and maintain it for a
specific sum of money, but to provide thorough mental and moral training
for the inmates. Make the work efficient, though it be limited to a
small number, rather than inaugurate a magnificent failure.
The state has wisely provided that the "trustees shall cause the girls
under their charge to be instructed in piety and morality, and in such
branches of useful knowledge as shall be adapted to their age and
capacity; they shall also be instructed in some regular course of labor,
either mechanical, manufacturing, or horticultural, or a combination of
these, and especially in such domestic and household labor and duties as
shall be best suited to their age and strength, disposition and
capacity; also in such other arts, trades, and employments, as may seem
to the trustees best adapted to secure their reformation, amendment, and
future benefit."
It is sometimes the bane of the poor that they do not work, and it is
often equally the bane of the rich that they have nothing to do. The
idle, both rich and poor, carry a weight of reproach that not all ought
to bear.
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