The cow has most to do with the calf. If a ragged colt grows
into a good horse, we know who it is that combed him. A mother is
therefore a very responsible woman, even though she may be the poorest
in the land, for the bad or the good of her boys and girls very much
depends upon her. As is the gardener such is the garden, as is the wife
such is the family. Samuel's mother made him a little coat every year,
but she had done a deal for him before that; Samuel would not have been
Samuel if Hannah had not been Hannah. We shall never see a better set of
men till the mothers are better. We must have Sarahs and Rebekahs before
we shall see Isaacs and Jacobs. Grace does not run in the blood, but we
generally find that the Timothies have mothers of a goodly sort.
Little children give their mother the headache, but if she lets them
have their own way, when they grow up to be great children they will
give her the heartache. Foolish fondness spoils many, and letting faults
alone spoils more. Gardens that are never weeded will grow very little
worth, gathering; all watering and no hoeing will make a bad crop. A
child may have too much of its mother's love, and in the long run it may
turn out that it had too little. Soft-hearted mothers rear soft-hearted
children; they hurt them for life because they are afraid of hurting
them when they are young. Coddle your children, and they will turn out
noodles. You may sugar a child till every body is sick of it.
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