ough
to make them dangerous; and when they assume a hurtful position, pain
soon warns them to change it.

We have not yet brought ourselves to the point of swaddling puppies or
kittens; do we see that any inconvenience results to them from this
negligence? Children are heavier, indeed; but in proportion they are
weaker. They can scarcely move themselves at all; how can they lame
themselves? If laid upon the back they would die in that position,
like the tortoise, without being able ever to turn themselves again.

[This want of intelligence In the care bestowed upon young children is
seen particularly in those mothers who give themselves no concern about
their own, do not themselves nurse them, intrust them to hireling
nurses. This custom is fatal to all; first to the children and finally
to families, where barrenness becomes the rule, where woman sacrifices
to her own convenience the joys and the duties of motherhood.]

Would you recall every one to his highest duties? Begin with the
mothers; you will be astonished at the changes you will effect. From
this first depravity all others come in succession. The entire moral
order is changed; natural feeling is extinguished in all hearts.
Within our homes there is less cheerfulness; the touching sight of a
growing family no longer attaches the husband or attracts the attention
of strangers. The mother whose children are not seen is less
respected. There is no such thing as a family living together; habit
no longer strengthens the ties of blood. There are no longer fathers
and mothers and children and brothers and sisters. They all scarcely
know one another; how then should they love one another? Each one
thinks only of himself. When home is a melancholy, lonely place, we
must indeed go elsewhere to enjoy ourselves.

But let mothers only vouchsafe to nourish their children,[2] and our
manners will reform themselves; the feelings of nature will re-awaken
in all hearts. The State will be repeopled; this chief thing, this one
thing will bring all the rest into order again. The attractions of
home life present the best antidote to bad morals. The bustling life
of little children, considered so tiresome, becomes pleasant; it makes
the father and the mother more necessary to one another, more dear to
one another; it draws closer between them the conjugal tie. When the
family is sprightly and animated, domestic cares form the dearest
occupation of the wife an