hat
if we are let alone we shall seldom err, at any age, respecting it.
Rules on the subject, above all, they regard as wholly misplaced.

Those who entertain such views, would do well, in order to be
consistent, to go a little farther; and as breathing and eating and
drinking--nay, even _thinking_--are natural processes, deny the utility
of all rules respecting _them_ also. Perhaps they would do well,
moreover, to deny that rules of any sort are valuable. But would not
this have the effect to bar the door perpetually against all human
improvement? Would it not be equivalent to saying, to a half-civilized,
because only half-christianized community--Go on with your barbarous
customs, and your uncleanly and unthinking habits, forever?

But I have not so learned human nature. I regard man as susceptible of
endless progression. And I know of no way in which more rapid progress
can be made, than by enlightening young mothers on subjects which
pertain to our physical nature, and the means of physical improvement.
Not for the _sake_ of that perishable part of man, the frame, but
because it is nearly in vain to attempt to improve the mind and heart,
without due attention to the frame-work, to which mind and heart, for
the present, are appended, and most intimately related.

Let it be left to fathers to study the improvement of hounds and horses
and cattle, and at the same time to think themselves above the concerns
of the nursery. We may, indeed, read of a Cato once in three thousand
years, who was in the habit of quitting all other business in order to
be present when the nurse washed and rubbed his child. But our passion
for gain, in the present age, is so much more absorbing and
soul-destroying than the passion for military glory, that we cannot
expect many Catos. Oh no. All, or nearly all, must devolve on the
mother. The father has no time to attend to his children! What belongs
to the mother, if she can be duly awakened, may be at least _half_ done;
what belongs to the father, must, I fear, be left undone.

I am accustomed to regard every day--even of the infant--as a miniature
life. I am, moreover, accustomed to consider mental and bodily vigor,
not only for each separate day, but for life's whole day, as greatly
influenced by the circumstances of sleep; the HOUR, PLACE, PURITY OF THE
AIR, THE BED, THE COVERING, DRESS, POSTURE, STATE OF THE MIND, QUALITY,
QUANTITY, AND DURATION.

SEC. 1. _Hour for Repose._

Gener