"the refining and purifying atmosphere of home, with the tenderness
of a mother, the grace and playfulness of sisters, the love and
loyalty of the family nurse, and lastly--scarcely to be
distinguished in its effects from these influences--the sweetness,
the simplicity, the flower-picking, the pony-patting of happy,
frolicsome younger brothers or sisters in the garden, the paddock,
or stable?"

If the boy has got out of hand, I ask, Whose fault is that? and is it
fair to the child that your fault should be remedied by sending him away
from all that is best and most purifying in child life? I would plead
earnestly that eleven or twelve is old enough for the private school,
and that a boy should not be sent to a public school before fourteen. In
this I think most of our English head-masters would agree with me. Till
this age, a day school or a tutor should be had recourse to, and when
the time comes for sending him off to school, at least we can refuse to
place the boy anywhere, either at a private or public school, where
there is not some woman to mother and look after the boys and exert a
good womanly influence over them. A head-master keenly alive to moral
dangers, with a capable wife ready to use her womanly influence in
aiding and abetting his efforts, I have found the best possible
combination.

But if it is decided that the boys are to be brought up at the day
school, your range of choice will probably be very small. You will have
to look wholly to your home influence and teaching to counteract any
evil influence they may encounter in their school life. But as your boys
will never be separated from you, what may not that home influence and
teaching, with knowledge and forewarning to direct it,--what may it not