The education of mothers

Front matter

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Chap. I. — Mission of Rousseau - - - - 33 II. — Of the true governor of children - - 36

m. — On the influence of women - - - 42

IV. — Continuation of the same subject - - 46

V. — Education of girls according to Fleury and Fenelon 51

VI. — Of actual education and its insufficiency - - 56

VII. — Social scale ----- 61

VIII. — Education of the wife by the husband - - 62

IX. — Of some modification necessary in the education of

X. — Education of mothers of families — general plan of

the work - - - - - 69 XI. — The grandmother - - - - 77 XII. — Of the physical education of children and of its progress - - - - - - 82

XIII.— The father 84

XIV. — Of public education and of a mixed education - 89

^^ CONTENTS.

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Book II

EDUCATION OF THE SOUL— PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OP THE MOTHER OF A FAMILY.

Chap. I.— Study of the faculties of the soul - - 95 II-^Know thyself - . . . - 99 III. — Of instinct - . . . _ jqq I^- — Of intelligence in animals - . . 104 V- — Of philosophical physiobg-y - . . 112 VI.— Of the "Treatise on Sensations" - - - 113 ^W.— Of the true faculties of the soul - - 114 VIII.— First line of demarcation - - - - 118 IX.— Of the instinct of man and of the impossibility of defining the faculties of the soul - . 118 ^- — The moral sense— a faculty of the soul - - 119 XL— Sense of the beautiful— a faculty of the soul - 121 XII.— Sense of infinity— a faculty of the soul - - 121 XIII.— Reason— a faculty of the soul - - - 123 ^^•■— Conscience— a faculty of the soul - - . 125 XV.— Conclusions from the five preceding- chapters - 126 XVL— Of the internal antagonism of man - - 127 XVII.— The developement of the faculties of the soul leads

us to the presence of God - - . 129

XVIIL— Of physical and moral memory and will - - 130

XIX.— Union of the moral and intellectual faculties - 134

XX. — Of the true source of virtue - - . I35

XXI. — Of moral liberty - - . . I35

XXII. — Of the immortality of the soul ... 137

XXIII. — Of the source of genius and virtue - - 140

XXIV.— Developement of the great and beautiful by the

study of great models - - . . 145 XXV.— Of the harmony between the intellectual and moral

faculties - - . _ . 149

XXVI.— What constitutes intellect separated from the soul 152

XXVII.— Of the danger of separating the faculties of the soul 154

XXVIII. — Of the soul of nations - . _ . 155

XXIX. — Progress - - - _ . 157

XXX. — Of the education of the soul - - . 159

XXXI.— Of the deviations of the sentiment of infinity - 163

XXXII. — Developement of reason on earth - - - 166

CONTENTS. Vll

BOOK III. IeDUCATION of the soul — MORAL AND POLITICAL STUDIES OF MOTHERS

OP FAMILIES.

Chap. I. — Of a great duty imposed upon mothers - 170

11, — Of error and truth ----- 173

III. — Search after truth in logical reasonings - 176

IV. — Search after truth on the authority of the doctors - 179

V. — Search after truth on the authority of the human

VI, — Of divine reason ----- 188

VII.— Of the Unity of God - - - - 189

VIII. — Influence of a single truth upon the world - 190

IX. — Of some attributes of the Divinity - - 194

X. — Study of God in the works of nature - - 200

XI. — Search after truth in the laws of nature - 208

XII. — Of the sentiment of the Divinity - - - 211

XIII. — Of the sociability of the human race - - 216

XIV. — Of the love of country and of humanity - - 220

XV.— Of the love of humanity - - - 222

XVI.— Of love - 224

XVII.— Of maternal love - - - - 229

XVIII. — Of some other laws of nature - - - 232 XIX. — No object contains within itself the first cause of

its existence _ > - - 233 XX. — Of the division of earthly duties between man and

XXI. — Of the civilization of countries by women - 237

XXII. — Reaction equal to action - - - - 247

XXIII. — Man always inclines to the great and beautifiil 252 XXIV.— Of the perfectibility of the human race - 257 XXV. — First appearance of political liberty on the earth - 262 XXVI. — First prevalence of the idea of unity - - 264 XXVII. — Of labour— a law which establishes the right of property ----- 265

XXVIII.— Of life and death - - - - - 268

XXIX. — Death not a punishment - - - 272

XXX. — Application of the laws of nature to the laws of man 278

^^^^ CONTENTS.

XXXI.— Continuation of the same subject, and of America

and Poland - - - . . 282

XXXII. — Of war according to the laws of nature - 285 XXXIII.— Appreciation of the laws of Crete, Sparta, Athens,

and Rome, and the laws of nature - - 290

XXXIV. — Of the hopes of the future - - . 293

■^^XXV. — Of the study of God in the gospel - - - 297

XXXVI. — Recapitulation ----- 300

Preface To The American Edition

" Train up a child in the way he should go ; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." PROV.

" I think I may say that of all the men we meet with, nine parts out of ten, are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education."

Locke.

The following admirable treatise, which has justly received the highest commendations in France and England, is destined, it is hoped, to meet a still more favourable reception in this country, where, amongst the intelligent classes of society, the subject of national education constantly excites such earnest attention. Originally addressed to the French people, it is full of allusions to the habits and modes of thought peculiar to that nation. Its principles are^nevertheless of universal application, and are equally sound and true when applied to the wants of the new, as to those of the old world. A few chapters of a purely local nature have been omitted, but care has been taken that nothing should be added to the text of the author.

Enjoying as we do in this country, a happy exemption from many of the ancient prejudices, which former barbarism has entailed upon other nations, it would seem that

XVllI PREFACE.

in these free states, the great problem of human progress under free institutions is to be solved. Since these institutions have no solid basis but in the virtue and intelligence of the people, and in the cultivation of the moral sense as the guide to intellectual pov^er, there is, perhaps, no other people to whom the system proposed by our author is so well adapted as to ours.

Liberty is ever in danger of degenerating into license, where the people, at their pleasure, make or unmake their own laws ; and if, in the old world, there are obstacles in the way of moral advancement, there are others, albeit of a different nature, in this country. We are the occupants of a vast continent, where each individual has ample room for his wildest schemes of selfish ambition — forests are, even yet, to be felled — the busy hammer of the artisan is still held in constant requisition to supply the simplest wants of civilized life, experiment succeeds experiment, in order that sound principles of government, suited to the new condition of things, may be discovered and tested — and our laws, changing from day to day, insensibly assume the character, for good or for evil, of those who frame them — all is unfinished — every thing is unsettled — and each head and hand is overtasked in eager efforts after competence or aggrandizement. If, in this confusion, sound morals be forgotten, if principles of expediency be substituted for truth, how is the current of misrule to be checked? What power is there to throw back the tide of vice, in its desolating progress towards the rising generation ? We have the Scriptures, the pulpit, and sometimes the press, but a power is wanted which shall apply more closely the principles they incul-

Preface

XiX cate. In their eager struggle, the fathers of the land can scarce find time to think of the moral training of their offspring, much less to pursue any well digested system of education— consequently, by the mere force of circumstances, this sacred trust must devolve upon the mothers, who, by their fitness of constitution, must have been designed by their Creator, from the beginning, to be the educators of mankind. But ignorance, pride, and prejudice, in past times, by depriving women of the proper means of education, and by giving a false direction to their aims and pursuits, have, from age to age, produced their natural results, and it is to be feared that we have been but too wilUng imitators of a vicious example. If the mothers of our country be but faithful to themselves and to their children, we may then hope for the maintenance of our Hberties ; for they will train up good and faithful citizens, who, by the enactment of wise laws, will sustain the cause of order and of Christianity.

M. Martin has most clearly pointed out the defects of the old systems of education, and delineated, in fascinating colours, the rule of maternal duty, whilst his arguments have a force and beauty which have never before been applied to this subject. We earnestly entreat the serious attention of all to a work from which none can fail to draw an instructive and delightful lesson.

Philadelphia, Oct. 30th, 1843.

INTRODUCTION^

Some years since, I conceived the design of studying France, of making myself acquainted with her soil, her monuments, her cities, her hamlets, and that vast cincture of rivers, seas, and mountains, which extends from the Pyrenees to the Alps, and from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. I anticipated much pleasure from this pursuit, nor were my hopes disappointed. Under the mildest climates, I found intelligent populations, and a singular abundance of every earthly good. I saw with admiration, innumerable vessels enter our ports, and deposit therein the riches of every quarter of the globe; these riches requiring many thousands of carriages for their transportation and distribution throughout the country, in which they maintained an ever active prosperity. Here, the iron of Norway grows hot and soft under the forger's hammer ; there are displayed the fleecy tissues of the wools of Spain and Cachemire ; further on, the manufacturers spin, weave, and impress with the liveliest colours, the cotton of the Indies. Every where I found ancient cloisters and abbeys converted into workshops, their deep vaults re-echoing to the songs of the artisans, and the unceasing din of the steam engine. It was delightful to witness such unbounded prosperity ; but that which excited my most lively surprise, was the immense impulsion communicated to the whole country by the training of an insect. From the south to the north, from the frontiers of Italy, to the volcanic mountains of the Vivarais,

XXll 1^^^ INTRODUCTION.

a worm every where excites activity. At Avignon, at Lisle, at Vaucluse, its cocoons are reeled. In Normandy, the skilful fingers of the women attach these threads to light spindles, and throw a thousand graceful designs over the aerial meshes of our blondes. At St. Etienne, the same threads woven into ribands, are spread over the whole of Europe. At Nismes, stuffs are fabricated, which rustle and glitter like metals. At Lyons, my own beautiful country, they are spread out in heavy velvets, in gauzes, transparent as the air, in satins, in damask, in lampas. Finally, in Paris, silk rivals the pencil, and reproduces on sumptuous tapestries, the pictures of the greatest masters. But what are these master-pieces of art, these prodigies of industry, in comparison with the blessings which have been so bounteously bestowed by nature ? Here is to be found every variety of cUmate, every species of cuhure; in the south, the olive, the citron, the orange ; in the north, the larch and fir, the two extremities of the botanic chain. The trees of Persia and the two Americas interweave their branches with the feudal elm and the oak of ancient Gaul ; the perfumed fruits of Asia, with the indigenous apple; the entire Flora of the East, with the humble violet, with our wreaths of blue bottles, our rustic bouquets of Easter daisies, and the mysterious vervaine. Thus, France is covered with the productions of the new world, and the treasures of the old. From the heights of its vine clad hills, rivers of wine incessantly flow into the cup of every nation, whilst over her vast plains harvests wave, like the billows of the ocean, under the winds which bend them, under the sun which ripens them. My heart bounded for joy at the sight of such prosperity. Beloved country! happy land! I exclaimed, thou hast all: wealth, intelligence, liberty. Is there upon the globe a spectacle comparable to that of thy glory 1 Thou hast cast off thy vices and superstitions as vile rags; no more useless monks, nor feudal rights, nor forced service, nor bondage.

INTRODUCTION. XXlll nor castes, which despise each other, nor rival and jealous provinces ; within thy bosom I see but one people, and in this people but one family ! And in thus speaking, I seemed to hear every where, the hymn of gratitude, which was chaunted from the depths of my own heart.

Alas ! I scarcely dare to write it ; in this land of promise, in the midst of families loaded with every blessing which can make life easy and happy, on a close examination, none were to be found, except little children, those gay creatures, careless as the birds of heaven, who were really happy. With this exception, the population, young and old, citizens and villagers, seemed to labour under an internal malady which left them no repose. From the midst of his fields, the peasant casts upon the towns an eye of contempt and envy ; from the depth of his parks and gardens, the rich man utters a cry of wretchedness and desolation ; the shopkeeper complains of the state of trade, the artisan of his wages, the banker of politics — all, of their social condition. The higher the position, the more bitter the complaints, the louder the murmurs ; the scepticism which had been hitherto confined to things of heaven, now extends itself to the things of earth ; the physician no longer has faith in medicine, the judge in laws, the priest in religion, the soldier in glory, the youth in love ; even kings have ceased to believe in royalty ; and the disgust which preys upon all, precipitates them into desperate schemes of ambition.

Thus, every where is abundance, every where discontent: a gloomy picture of our beautiful France ! This industrious people, who had appeared to me as one great family, now more resembled a miserable being, who concealed hideous wounds under rich garments, and ennui, that profound void, under the semblance of a factitious gayety. Admiration ceased, and a compassion, at once active and fervid, possessed my whole being. I sought for the cause of the evil, and thought to have discovered it in the general want of knowledge and

XXIV INTRODUCTION.

leisure. To secure this leisure, what was needful? Machines must be invented, which might be substituted for human force. And for imparting instruction ? Methods must be invented, facilities obtained for instruction, schools multiplied, books and journals distributed. Young, then, and doubting nothing, I applied myself to the work. I had pursued a course of study preparatory to entering the Polytechnique school, where Louis XVIII. afterwards called me as professor of history. I resumed these studies. I became grammarian, mechanician, chemist, and even economist. I possessed myself of all the new inventions, I improved and multiplied them ; I imagined France covered by rail-roads, and our fields cultivated without labour. I had machines for grubbing the forests, and cultivating the soil. With a little charcoal and some drops of water, I lighted the cities, I gave coursers to our carriages, wings to our vessels, fingers to our mechanics. I made them spin, weave, forge, print, sail ; they produced by turns, like sentient beings, needles, paper, cannon, clothing, furniture — and all without interruption or fatigue ; whilst the steam laboured, man was to yield himself to enjoyment and repose.

Leisure being secured, it must be employed for the improvement of the mind. Here I had only to follow the general movement; the most enlightened men were then occupied with popular instruction, and I associated myself with them. Thousands of schools were opened, and primary instruction passed rapidly from city to village. But more was necessary than to teach the people to read ; unless books were provided for them, nothing was done ; hence parish libraries were invented.

It was about this time, that exhausted by incessant toil, my failing health gave cause for disquietude, and I began to fear that I was not destined to enjoy what I had so assiduously cultivated. Must I then die, thought I, at the dawn of success, and relinquish the hope of seeing France happy

INTRODUCTION. XXV and regenerate ? I sought my physician, a man of sense and probity, and explained to him at length the cause of my malady, my projects, my hopes, my fears, and my life exhausted by labour. He listened at first with an air of resignation, then suddenly exclaimed, " And where is all this to lead you?" at the same time casting upon me an oblique glance of raillery. " To advance the well-being of France," I replied. " Ah ! I understand ; but to succeed in this, you would require place, power, money, and an elevated position in the world." " But I anticipate none of these, doctor." " What ! have you no ambition ?' " None, doctor." . " Then tranquillize yourself, the evil is not so serious ; you only need quiet and country air."

I went accordingly to establish myself at two leagues' distance from' Versailles, at the extremity of an immense plain, covered with golden harvests, of which there seemed neither limit nor shade. Here, the plain descends, and forms itself into two branches ; there, as if by enchantment, opens a succession of smiling valleys, whose green meadows are indefinitely prolonged between two banks, covered with rich culture, and crowned with chestnut trees. On the border of these woods, rises the pretty village of Chateaufort, with its rustic clock, its two tumuli, or Gaulish tombs, placed like two bastions under the picturesque ruins of the Chateau of Hugues-de-Cadavre, and in the midst of all this, is a simple dwelling, shady and rural, inhabited by a family of the good old times, where friendship offered me an asylum.

I passed there two long years, occupied with my health, and above all, with my projects, associating myself in all the labours of the societies for the diffusion of useful knowledge, and encouraging my friends in the pursuit of the great work of universal regeneration.

We had not long to wait for results; but they were far from answering our anticipations. In proportion as

XXVI INTRODUCTION.

knowledge was extended, disquietude increased. Science irritated, instead of soothing : and the evil, I cannot deny it, pursued me into my very solitude. In this pleasant village, which already had a school, and where I had found the establishments and improvements of the age, in this village, of which all the inhabitants could read, and whose knowledge and leisure should have multiplied their enjoyments, alas ! nothing was heard but murmurs and complaints. Some old men, few in number, regretted the seigneur, who once a year had received the farmer at his table; others, less proud, lamented the monks, who distributed soup at the convent-gate. The rich were offended to see in the valley the sumptuous parks of two or three bankers ; the poor envied the rich, and wished for a division of property, the abolition of imposts, and a republic. In fine, the youth just escaped from school, declared that science and good sense could only be dated from their own arrival in the world ; that the youth were the country, that the rest were worthy only of contempt, and this was, as it were, an epitome of all France.

This, said I to myself, this is but a sad experience, and sufficient to give cause for reflection to the advocates for progress. I had discovered that in proportion as the acquisitions of the intellect were increased, morality became impoverished, and that in empty heads sophistry and envy spring up with thought. Thus I had either ill comprehended the situation of France, or mistaken the remedy. I was overwhelmed with mortification.

In the first moments of disappointment, I could find no consolation but in violence ; I would have burned the books, destroyed the journals, annihilated industry, uprooted the fatal tree of science. I even went so far as to think that all which is called the people, that is to say, the human race, a few privileged beings excepted, is made to stagnate eternally in baseness and error ; that despots are right in terrifying this intractable animal ; that the monks are wise

INTRODUCTION. XXVll

in limiting the number of thinking beings ; that it is only by chaining him to ignorance and wretchedness that his evil passions can be subdued; that he must be subjugated Hke a brute, by hunger and fear, since he will not be happy like the angels, through light and intelligence.

I was full of these thoughts, and like another Machiavel, was converting them into a system, when a singular circumstance suddenly occurred to modify them. In the depth of the valley, on the left, stands an elegant mansion, so happily situated that the woods, the hills, the meadows and the hamlets which environ it, seem the natural accompaniments of its park and gardens. Near this house, a little above the rivulet, is the village school, well shaded, of which the model is only to be found in the romances of Auguste Lafontaine : in front is a bridge, overlooked by a mill, erected merely to please the eye ; finally, a little chapel, where reposes, under a modest marble, the lady of the place, who died in the flower of her age, but whose piety and beauty have left lasting remembrances. This group of trees, houses, and pavilions, and two Gothic turrets which rise above the woods, form an exquisite point of view in the midst of the most profound solitude ; for the road is furrowed only by the heavy carriages of the wood-cutters, and the feet of the flocks, which, towards the close of autumn, animate the valley.

Every Sunday, warned by the chapel clock, I went to attend the service. It was a charming spectacle to see the women of the villages, in their simple costume, set forth at the same hour, and from all points in the valley, to cross the meadows — I say the women, for none but women attend church. It happened, nevertheless, that I sometimes had a companion. It was a venerable old man, whose ardent and ingenuous piety I would never cease to admire. In spite of his coarse vestments, and some appearances of penury, all about his person expressed tranquillity, and by an inex-

XXVIU INTRODUCTION.

pressible charm, the calm of his spirit, was gradually, as I contemplated him, transmitted into mine. My encounter with this man excited my curiosity ; I sought for information, and soon learned that he was supported by public charity. He had, I was told, at an advanced age, lost two brave boys, who would have been his support : one fell at Beresina, the other at Waterloo, and their mother soon followed them. He is now too old to work, but the proprietor of the chateau assists the old man a little, and the parish does the rest. Encouraged by these recitals, I approached him, at the same time offering some slight succour. " You have need of a warmer coat," I said, " the winter will be severe, and we must think of it in season."

He raised his eyes towards me — his look was serene. "And why need I to think of it," said he in a tremulous voice, '* since God puts it into the hearts of good people?' Here is an example of true resignation, I thought to myself, I must inquire into his thoughts and occupations. "Can you read ?" said I. " Yes, sir— in my youth I received lessons from the curate, an excellent man, who took pleasure in teaching the children." "And have you any books?" "Oh, at my age, we do not read, we pray!" ''You pray then often ?" " It is such a happiness to pray ! In the evenincr, sitting at the door of my poor cabin, which you see down there, under the chestnuts, I see the sun set, and I say, * Our Father !' " « And is that all your prayer ?" " Is there any thing which better fills the heart? 'Our Father!' Often after having pronounced these words, I pause, and in seeing the herds which return from the pastures to give us milk, and the sun which rises and sets on the valley, I bless the warmth which causes the grass to grow on our prairies, and the fruits in our fields. Oh, then I feel that my prayer is indeed true, and then I have the whole evening to think upon these words—' Our Father.' " " But in bad weather what do you do?" "Hook towards the heavens, and obr

INTRODUCTION. XXIX serve the great clouds which traverse them, and which come, I know not where, driven by the winds, moving on without noise, and shedding rain here and there on the plains which grow green again, and give us bread, butter, and [loney, neither more nor less than if God himself had put them into our hands. Ah! 'Our Father, who art in heaven,* thou wilt live for ever. Men cannot destroy thee, as they have murdered my poor children." In thus speaking, the eyes of the old man filled with tears, his head sunk upon his breast, and I heard a low murmuring, as if he continued his prayer. " My poor Bertrand," he resumed, after a moment's silence, "he was the youngest, and died at Waterloo shoiiiing Vive rEmpereurf Ah! if he had cried, 'Our Father, who art in heaven,' he might have lived still ! And my poor wife, who is gone to rejoin him— I should not have lost her ! But it was the will of our Father, and I bless Him," added he, drying his eyes, " for he has replaced my children by good people." "You are too solitary down there in the valley you ought to come nearer to the village." "Alas !" replied he, "I cannot leave my house, I have there seen my children born, and their mother died there; besides, as our curate says, he who can speak with God is never alone." " Are you content with your lot ?" " Ought I not to be ? God has never forsaken me." " Oh ! you deserve to be far happier," I exclaimed, " excellent old man ! Take this money, and pray for me, for me, subjected to fewer trials, and yet who cannot dare to call myself so happy as you are."

" Ought we then to pray for money ?" said he, with emotion, as with a trembling hand, he put aside the gift which I wished to offer him. I felt that I had wounded him. " Pardon me," said I, "like worldly men, I have wished to make a selfish gift." In thus speaking, I seized his pious hands, which 1 pressed with a holy respect. I then withdrew, my heart filled with emotion, but as I turned away, he said to

XXX INTRODUCTION.

me, " Oh, you are a good man ! I will pray for you, and for your little children too, if you have any, who do not yet know how to pray !"

It is related of the celebrated astronomer Tycho Brahe, that one night, in descending from his observatory, he found himself suddenly surrounded by a tumultuous crowd, who filled the public place. Having inquired the cause of so great an assemblage, they showed him in the constellation of the Cygnet, a brilliant star, which he, aided by the best telescopes, had not yet perceived. These are the chances which humble the learned, but which serve science. My situation was not unlike that of the great astronomer. A simple villager had just pointed out to me the star which I had sought in vain for so many years.

Yes, I was mistaken : neither industry, nor science, nor machines, nor books, can constitute the happiness of a nation. Doubtless these are all useful in their places, and it should be the care of the legislator to propagate and multiply them ; but if, content with having developed the intellect, the earthly part of man, he neglects to develope the spiritual nature, that divine essence of humanity, instead of a happy people, he will see himself surrounded by a multitude, restless in its unbridled passions, a multitude tormented by the double necessity of self-elevation and acquirement, and whom this sublime instinct serves only to torture. You have directed it towards the earth, and there it attaches itself, in the midst of the sensualities and voluptuousness which exhaust it. Why do you not open the way to heaven ? The soul would then discover from whence it came, surprised at last to find the object of its desires, which hitherto had been mistaken, and of its ambition, which until now had been misguided. All that can give repose to the heart, all that can advance humanity, comes to us from on high.