"Oh, no! It depends largely on training, especially on early training.
Children are like wax to receive impressions, like marble to retain
them."

"Are they constituted pretty nearly alike, so that the treatment which
is best for one is best for all?"

"By no means. Even those in the same family are often extremely
unlike. They have different temperaments, dispositions, propensities.
Some require urging, others checking. Some do better with praise,
others without; the same of blame. It requires thought and discernment
to know what words to speak, how many to speak, and when to speak
them. In fact, a child's nature is a piece of delicate, complex
machinery, and each one requires a separate study; for, as its springs
of action are concealed, the operator is liable at any time to touch
the wrong one."

"And mistakes here will affect a child through its whole lifetime?"

"They will affect it through all eternity." "But who among you dare
make these early impressions which are to be so enduring? Who are the
operators on these delicate and complex pieces of mental machinery?"

"Oh! the mothers always have the care of the children. This is their
mission,--the chief duty of their lives."

"But how judicious, how comprehensive, must be the course of education
which will fit a person for such an office!"

"Do you think so? Hem! Well, it is not generally considered that a