Charlotte Home And Democrat

What Shall we Teach our Daughter.

On a quiet, restful evening, not a thousand weeks ago, a husband and wife sat in their cozy parlor reading the current number of the Christian Advocate,' which had arrived a few hours before.
A brief article in the Home Department suggested the topic of the conversation, the substance of which is given below:

Wife, "what say you to a little chat about the kind of teaching we should give our daughter?"
Husband. "Home teaching by ourselves, do you mean?"
W. "Yes; the kind of instruction we should give her in our every-day life at home. I don't mean the school teaching she gets outside of home."
H. "Agreed; the idea is excellent. Suppose you call in—, (the only daughter, to hear the conversation, and write down the items?"
W. "Better and better. Why not have her help us? Let all contribute to the list. I'll call her."
The daughter was called, and cheerfully consented to be the scribe of the hour. It was pleasantly agreed that no item should be written down until all three approved it. Then followed a most practical, conscientious, and yet delightful conversation, which will not soon be forgotten, the whole resulting in the following list:

Teach her to be pious.
Teach her to be self-reliant.
Teach her constant neatness.
Teach her sweetness of temper.
Teach her to be kind to servants.
Teach her kindness of manner.
Teach her industry and usefulness.
Teach her strict and loving obedience.
Teach her to be scrupulously conscientious.
Teach her the best rules of social etiquette.
Teach her that poverty, however inconvenient is not degrading.
Teach her how to make bread.
Teach her how to make shirts.
Teach her how to drive a horse.
Teach her how to "set the table."
Teach her to avoid a fop or a flirt.
Teach her to wear easy-worn shoes.
Teach her every-day practical sense.
Teach her not to "paint and powder."
Teach her how to be helpful and useful.
Teach her how to wash and iron clothes.
Teach her how to make her own dresses.
Teach her how to do the family marketing.
Teach her how to cook a meal of victuals.
Teach her that one hundred cents make a dollar.
Teach her how to arrange the parlor and the library.
Teach her to say "No," and mean it, or "Yes," and stick to it.
Teach her how to wear a calico dress. and do it like a queen.
Teach her how to sew on buttons, darn stockings and mend gloves.
Teach her to dress for comfort and health as well as for appearance.
Teach her to cultivate flowers, and make and keep the kitchen garden.
Teach her to make the sleeping room the neatest room in the house.
Teach her to have nothing to do with intemperate or dissolute young men.
Teach her that tight lacing is uncomely as well as very injurious to health.
Teach her to regard the morals and habits, and not money, in selecting her associates.
Teach her to observe the old rule:
"A
place for everything, and everything in its place."
Teach her that music drawing, and painting are real accomplishments in the home, and are not to be neglected if there be time and money for their use.
Teach her that important truism:
That
the more she lives within her income the more she will save, and the farther she will get away from the poor-house.
Teach her that a good, steady, church-going mechanic, farmer, clerk, or teacher, without a cent, is worth more than forty loafers or non-producers in broadcloth.
Teach her to embrace every opportunity for reading, and to select such books as will give her the most information, and that in order to make the best progress she must economize her moments in her earlier as well as later home and school life.—Christian Advocate.