braced that
opportunity of going to Heaven, when it rested altogether on my own
choice.

At my solicitation, and on account of my falling so frequently sick, I
was at length taken home. On my return, my mother having a maid in whom
she placed confidence, left me again to the care of servants. It is a
great fault, of which mothers are guilty, when under pretext of
external devotions, or other engagements, they suffer their daughters
to be absent from them. I forbear not condemning that unjust partiality
with which parents treat some of their children. It is frequently
productive of divisions in families, and even the ruin of some.
Impartiality, by uniting children's hearts together, lays the
foundation of lasting harmony and unanimity.

I would I were able to convince parents, and all who have the care of
youth, of the great attention they require, and how dangerous it is to
let them be for any length of time from under their eye, or to suffer
them to be without some kind of employment. This negligence is the ruin
of multitudes of girls.

How greatly it is to be lamented, that mothers who are inclined to
piety, should pervert even the means of salvation to their
destruction--commit the greatest irregularities while apparently
pursuing that which should produce the most regular and circumspect
conduct.

Thus, because they experience certain gains in prayer, they would be
all day long at church; meanwhile their children are running to
destruction. We glorify God most when we prevent what may offend Him.
What must be the nature of that sacrifice which is the occasion of sin!
God should be served in His own way. Let the devotion of mothers be
regulated so as to prevent their daughters from straying. Treat them as
sisters, not as slaves. Appear pleased with their little amusements.
The children will delight then in the presence of their mothers,
instead of avoiding it. If they find so much happiness with them, they
will not dream of seeking it elsewhere. Mothers frequently deny their
children any liberties. Like birds constantly confined to a cage, they
no sooner find means of escape than off they go, never to return. In
order to render them tame and docile when young, they should be
permitted sometimes to take wing, but as their flight is weak, and
closely watched, it is easy to retake them when they escape. Little
flight gives them the habit of naturally returning to their cage which
becomes an agreeable confinement.