HKB
60 passages · search this phrase →
Often appears with: marriage and betrothal · justice as a virtue · education and the training of the young · duty, conscience, and obligation · crime and punishment · the position of women · slavery and bondage · religious persecution and toleration · rank, class, and social order · poverty and wealth · monastic and ascetic life · sexuality and desire
Usually: detachment (58) · narrative (50) · argument (45) · injustice endured (33) · indignation (25) · grief and loss (21) · praise (18) · coming of age (17) · the test or trial (17) · exhortation (17)
“Many such sorrows has fortune visited me with all my life long. To pass by my other afflictions, I have lost five children under the most pitiful conditions possible: for the five I lost one by one when each was my only child, suffering these blows of bereavement in such a manner that each child was born to one already bereaved. Thus I ever lost my children without solace, and got them amidst fresh grief.....” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations · vivid
“We have summer heat here still,' writes Marcus, 'but since my little girls are pretty well, if I may say so, it is like the bracing climate of spring to us.” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations · observation
“So that, however it may be mistaken, the end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom: for in all the states of created beings capable of laws, where there is no law, there is no freedom: for liberty is, to be free from restraint and violence from others; which cannot be, where there is no law.” John Locke, Second Treatise of Government · insight
“Whoever therefore, from thenceforth, by inheritance, purchase, permission, or otherways, enjoys any part of the land, so annexed to, and under the government of that commonwealth, must take it with the condition it is under.” John Locke, Second Treatise of Government · precept
“Humble *me*! Was I not already in the dust? But his threat lacerated my heart.” Harriet Ann Jacobs (Linda Brent), Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by He · vivid
“Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, *they* have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own.” Harriet Ann Jacobs (Linda Brent), Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by He · insight
“Your boy shall be put to work, and he shall soon be sold; and your girl shall be raised for the purpose of selling well.” Harriet Ann Jacobs (Linda Brent), Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by He · observation
“But, my child, I want you to know about your father.” “I know all about it, mother,” she replied; “I am nothing to my father, and he is nothing to me. All my love is for you.” Harriet Ann Jacobs (Linda Brent), Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by He · observation
“Reader, my story ends with freedom; not in the usual way, with marriage. I and my children are now free!” Harriet Ann Jacobs (Linda Brent), Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by He · insight
“Be encouraged to diligence in thy calling, And distrust not Providence.” Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin · precept
“Democracy loosens social ties, but it draws the ties of nature more tight; it brings kindred more closely together, whilst it places the various members of the community more widely apart.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 2 · insight
“for which reason the proper time for a woman to marry is eighteen, for a man thirty-seven, a little more or less;” Aristotle, Politics: A Treatise on Government · observation
Joseph’s brothers return to Jacob, confess their distress, seek Benjamin, and later Joseph reveals himself, sends his shirt to restore Jacob’s sight, and frames the story as a divinely guided lesson.
"What," said the Egyptians, "shall be the recompense of him who hath stolen it, if ye be found liars?" They said, "That he in whose camel-pack it shall be found be given up to you in satisfaction for it. Thus recompense we the unjust." And Joseph began with their sacks, before the sack of his brother, and then from the sack of his brother he drew it out. This stratagem did we suggest to Joseph. By the King's law he…
The text argues against those who deny God’s signs, speaks of Muhammad as a warner, questions knowledge of the Hour, affirms God’s control, describes human creation and parental duty, then recounts Ad’s destruction by a storm and djinn listening to the Qur’an.
But as for those who treat our signs as lies, we will gradually bring them down by means of which they know not: And though I lengthen their days, verily, my stratagem shall prove effectual. Will they not bethink them that their companion Muhammad is not djinn- possessed? Yes, his office is only that of plain warner. Will they not look forth on the realms of the Heaven and of the Earth, and on all things which God…
Continuing Sura XLVI, it argues that God’s book was known as Moses’ law in Arabic and brings mercy, teaches obedience and gratitude to God and parents, rejects the “old lying legend” charge, and threatens non-believers with fire.
ever obtain for me from God! He best knoweth what ye utter in its regard! Witness enough is He between me and you! And He is the Gracious, the Merciful. SAY: I am no apostle of new doctrines: neither know I what will be done with me or you. Only what is revealed to me do I follow, and I am only charged to warn openly. SAY: What think ye? If this Book be from God, and ye believe it not, and a witness of the children…
Pepys records that Commons voted Chief Justice Keeling’s conduct illegal but, out of deference and mediation, resolved not to proceed further against him.
Lord Chief Justice Keeling's proceedings illegal; but that out of particular respect to him and the mediation of a great many, they have resolved to proceed no further against him. 16th. To Westminster, where I find the House mighty busy upon a petition against my Lord Gerard, which lays heavy things to his charge, of his abusing the King in his Guards; and very hot the House is upon it. 17th. This day I do hear …
Odysseus the stranger claims he is from a different land and tells Laertes about the years since his guest was entertained; Laertes laments that his son is dead and asks the stranger for identity and the ship’s fate.
twelve fair mantles, and an equal number of shirts. To all this I added four good looking women skilled in all useful arts, and I let him take his choice.” His father shed tears and answered, “Sir, you have indeed come to the country that you have named, but it is fallen into the hands of wicked people. All this wealth of presents has been given to no purpose. If you could have found your friend here alive in Ithaca…
Odysseus’ mother Anticleia describes Odysseus’s household during his absence—Penelope’s fidelity, Telemachus’ flourishing, and Laertes’ winter sorrow—then explains that Persephone does not deceive, since the dead lack the living’s bodily bonds.
flitted from my hands as a shadow or even as a dream, and sharp grief arose ever at my heart. And uttering my voice I spake to her winged words: “‘Mother mine, wherefore dost thou not abide me who am eager to clasp thee, that even in Hades we twain may cast our arms each about the other, and have our fill of chill lament? Is this but a phantom that the high goddess Persephone hath sent me, to the end that I may groa…
The narrative of Odysseus’s youth continues through the origin of the scar: Autolycus and his sons host Odysseus at Parnassus, where Odysseus is injured during a boar chase and later returns to Ithaca with the wound.
to the great house of his mother’s kin at Parnassus, whereby are my possessions, I will give him a gift out of these and send him on his way rejoicing.” Therefore it was that Odysseus went to receive the splendid gifts. And Autolycus and the sons of Autolycus grasped his hands and greeted him with gentle words, and Amphithea, his mother’s mother, clasped him in her arms and kissed his face and both his fair eyes. Th…
Madison argues in Federalist No. 48 that separation must be “so far” connected that each department has constitutional control over the others, since mere parchment boundaries fail and the legislative branch tends to expand.
give to each a constitutional control over the others, the degree of separation which the maxim requires, as essential to a free government, can never in practice be duly maintained. It is agreed on all sides, that the powers properly belonging to one of the departments ought not to be directly and completely administered by either of the other departments. It is equally evident, that none of them ought to possess, …
Venus brings healing dittany, cures the wound miraculously, and the recovered Aeneas arms and recites moral instruction to his son Ascanius before rushing back into the battle.
fill’d with terror and affright: The hissing shafts within the trench alight; An undistinguish’d noise ascends the sky, The shouts of those who kill, and groans of those who die. But now the goddess mother, mov’d with grief, And pierc’d with pity, hastens her relief. A branch of healing dittany she brought, Which in the Cretan fields with care she sought: Rough is the stem, which woolly leafs…
He recounts his 1885 marriage to Olivia Davidson, her work for the school and death in 1889, their two sons, and how his public speaking began after meeting Thomas W. Bicknell in the North.
Christian, and the spiritual training of the students is not neglected. Our preaching service, prayer-meetings, Sunday-school, Christian Endeavour Society, Young Men’s Christian Association, and various missionary organizations, testify to this. In 1885, Miss Olivia Davidson, to whom I have already referred as being largely responsible for the success of the school during its early history, and I were married. Durin…
He details cramped quarters, shortened nights, and the system of whipping for oversleeping, then describes a schedule allowing mothers an hour to nurse before returning to field labor, alongside the overseer’s cowskin whip.
having few or none of the ordinary facilities for doing such things, very many of their sleeping hours are consumed in necessary preparations for the duties of the coming day. The sleeping apartments—if they may be called such—have little regard to comfort or decency. Old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down upon the common clay floor, each covering up with his or her blanket,—the only protectio…
It describes Aemilius Paulus’s modest conduct and household life, including his divorce from Papiria and remarriage, plus reflections on how poor-but-virtuous relatives avoid quarrels compared to wealthy ones.
lived freely and generously on what he had, which was so far from being excessive, that after his death there was but barely enough left to answer his wife's dowry. His first wife was Papiria, the daughter of Maso, who had formerly been consul. With her he lived a considerable time in wedlock, and then divorced her, though she had made him the father of noble children; being mother of the renowned Scipio, and Fabiu…
Cato’s second marriage is carried out with a servant girl, his eldest son dies in office, and Plutarch emphasizes Cato’s continued engagement in public affairs alongside farming and writing.
dream a little too much; and by the use of this kind of physic, he said, he not only made himself and those about him well, but kept them so. However, for this his presumption, he seemed not to have escaped unpunished; for he lost both his wife and his son; though he himself, being of a strong robust constitution, held out longer; so that he would often, even in his old days, address himself to women, and when he wa…
Cicero’s plans to write Roman and Greek history are disrupted by personal misfortunes, especially his divorce from Terentia, remarriage for money, the death of his daughter Tullia, and grief-driven family instability.
and were afterwards by Caesar's orders set up again: that Caesar, by this act of humanity, had indeed set up Pompey's statues, but he had fixed and established his own. He had a design, it is said, of writing the history of his country, combining with it much of that of Greece, and incorporating in it all the stories and legends of the past that he had collected. But his purposes were interfered with by various pub…
Brutus’s anxiety troubles Porcia, daughter of Cato; she proves her constancy by wounding herself, suffering fever, and telling Brutus she will share their hidden griefs and endure pain for the cause.
and held it so silently among themselves, that, though by prophecies and apparitions and signs in the sacrifices the gods gave warning of it, yet could it not be believed. Now Brutus, feeling that the noblest spirits of Rome for virtue, birth, or courage were depending upon him, and surveying with himself all the circumstances of the dangers they were to encounter, strove indeed as much as possible, when abroad, to …
He argues that calling fatherly rule “paternal power” misleads, since mothers share equal authority to educate children, and he frames parental power as temporary tuition tied to reason.
OF PATERNAL POWER. Sect. 52. IT may perhaps be censured as an impertinent criticism, in a discourse of this nature, to find fault with words and names, that have obtained in the world: and yet possibly it may not be amiss to offer new ones, when the old are apt to lead men into mistakes, as this of paternal power probably has done, which seems so to place the power of parents over their children wholly in the father…
Locke maintains that children are born weak and not yet under the law of reason in practice, so parents must nourish and guide them until age brings reason, after which law and freedom apply equally.
the weakness of their infancy: age and reason as they grow up, loosen them, till at length they drop quite off, and leave a man at his own free disposal. Sect. 56. Adam was created a perfect man, his body and mind in full possession of their strength and reason, and so was capable, from the first instant of his being to provide for his own support and preservation, and govern his actions according to the dictates of…
He defines parental power as arising from a duty of care for children’s rational immaturity, and he explains that freedom is not doing whatever one wants but acting within laws that prevent domination.
too; he must prescribe to his will, and regulate his actions; but when he comes to the estate that made his father a freeman, the son is a freeman too. Sect. 59. This holds in all the laws a man is under, whether natural or civil. Is a man under the law of nature? What made him free of that law? what gave him a free disposing of his property, according to his own will, within the compass of that law? I answer, a sta…
Locke argues that a father’s authority is limited to minority, so adults are equally subject to the same law; he notes guardianship substitutes for fathers and defends that this does not make children permanently unfree.
well as other creatures, to preserve their offspring, till they can be able to shift for themselves, and will scarce amount to an instance or proof of parents regal authority. Sect. 61. Thus we are born free, as we are born rational; not that we have actually the exercise of either: age, that brings one, brings with it the other too. And thus we see how natural freedom and subjection to parents may consist together,…
Locke claims that even though children are naturally free, they remain obliged to honour parents; he distinguishes that enduring duty from any parental right to legislate or command permanent obedience.
of tenderness and concern to temper this power, to apply it, as his wisdom designed it, to the children’s good, as long as they should need to be under it. Sect. 64. But what reason can hence advance this care of the parents due to their off-spring into an absolute arbitrary dominion of the father, whose power reaches no farther, than by such a discipline, as he finds most effectual, to give such strength and health…
He separates education (a duty that can be transferred and ends) from the perpetual duty of honour and support; parental command ends with nonage and does not extend to children’s property or liberty.
be far from an absolute or perpetual jurisdiction, from which a man may withdraw himself, having license from divine authority to leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife. Sect. 66. But though there be a time when a child comes to be as free from subjection to the will and command of his father, as the father himself is free from subjection to the will of any body else, and they are each under no other restra…
Locke concludes that owing honour, defence, relief, and gratitude to parents does not grant authority to make laws or exercise dominion, and these duties vary with each child’s care, expense, and benefit.
less kindness to have slackened. This is that power to which children are commanded obedience, that the pains and care of their parents may not be increased, or ill rewarded. Sect. 68. On the other side, honour and support, all that which gratitude requires to return for the benefits received by and from them, is the indispensable duty of the child, and the proper privilege of the parents. This is intended for the p…
Locke argues that parental power in societies is not merely the prince’s paternal power, because political and paternal authority are distinct and equally binding in different respects.
the degrees of what is required of children, may be varied by the different care and kindness, trouble and expence, which is often employed upon one child more than another. Sect. 71. This shews the reason how it comes to pass, that parents in societies, where they themselves are subjects, retain a power over their children, and have as much right to their subjection, as those who are in the state of nature. Which c…
Locke concludes that fathers’ commanding power is limited to minority, while lifelong honour is owed; early family “princedoms” arose from children’s consent to the father’s executive power.
he will enjoy it, he must certainly take it upon the conditions annexed to the possession of land in that country where it lies, whether it be France or England. Sect. 74. To conclude then, tho’ the father’s power of commanding extends no farther than the minority of his children, and to a degree only fit for the discipline and government of that age; and tho’ that honour and respect, and all that which the Latins c…
Locke begins his account of civil society, arguing that humans are naturally driven into societies, starting with marriage and family, though these fall short of political society’s ends and bounds.
OF POLITICAL OR CIVIL SOCIETY. Sect. 77. GOD having made man such a creature, that in his own judgment, it was not good for him to be alone, put him under strong obligations of necessity, convenience, and inclination to drive him into society, as well as fitted him with understanding and language to continue and enjoy it. The first society was between man and wife, which gave beginning to that between parents and ch…
He explains marriage as a voluntary compact aimed at procreation and lasting until children are supported, noting that longer conjugal bonds in humans reflect extended dependency of offspring.
of the young brood) whose young needing food in the nest, the cock and hen continue mates, till the young are able to use their wing, and provide for themselves. Sect. 80. And herein I think lies the chief, if not the only reason, why the male and female in mankind are tied to a longer conjunction than other creatures, viz. because the female is capable of conceiving, and de facto is commonly with child again, and b…
Locke says paternal sovereignty cannot determine children’s status, because a son, once grown, has freedom equal to the father; he argues that compact cannot bind descendants, except through land ties under shared political jurisdiction.
not in a multitude together; people take no notice of it, and thinking it not done at all, or not necessary, conclude they are naturally subjects as they are men. Sect. 118. But, it is plain, governments themselves understand it otherwise; they claim no power over the son, because of that they had over the father; nor look on children as being their subjects, by their fathers being so. If a subject of England have a…
Using examples from governmental practice, Locke argues that a child is born subject to no country or government; only upon reaching an age of discretion does the person become free to choose which government to join.
or whether it be barely travelling freely on the highway; and in effect, it reaches as far as the very being of any one within the territories of that government. Sect. 120. To understand this the better, it is fit to consider, that every man, when he at first incorporates himself into any commonwealth, he, by his uniting himself thereunto, annexed also, and submits to the community, those possessions, which he has,…
Pedro recounts Marcela’s family: Guillermo’s wife dies at childbirth, Guillermo’s grief leaves Marcela wealthy under the care of a priest-uncle, whose seclusion preserves her beauty and draws many suitors.
I told you of it; however, you have answered very rightly, for sarna lives longer than Sarra: so continue your story, and I will not object any more to anything.” “I say then, my dear sir,” said the goatherd, “that in our village there was a farmer even richer than the father of Chrysostom, who was named Guillermo, and upon whom God bestowed, over and above great wealth, a daughter at whose birth her mother died, th…
Teresa Panza questions why Sancho is unusually happy, and Sancho explains he will return to Don Quixote’s service, comforts her with God’s will and prayers for his safety, and hints at his hope of becoming governor of an island.
“God grant it,” said Don Quixote; “we shall see when the government comes; and I seem to see it already.” He then begged the bachelor, if he were a poet, to do him the favour of composing some verses for him conveying the farewell he meant to take of his lady Dulcinea del Toboso, and to see that a letter of her name was placed at the beginning of each line, so that, at the end of the verses, “Dulcinea del Toboso” mi…
Teresa finally agrees that, if Sancho must pursue a governorship, he should take their son and teach him how to rule, and Sancho promises to send money and dress him properly; Teresa breaks down weeping over the cost.
take your son Sancho with you, and teach him from this time on how to hold a government; for sons ought to inherit and learn the trades of their fathers.” “As soon as I have the government,” said Sancho, “I will send for him by post, and I will send thee money, of which I shall have no lack, for there is never any want of people to lend it to governors when they have not got it; and do thou dress him so as to hide w…
Freud states that later inverts pass through childhood fixation on the mother (usually), then identify with her and choose male lovers resembling themselves, repeating a mechanism driven by flight from women.
not directed against other persons but that it gratifies itself on its own body; to use the happy term invented by Havelock Ellis, we will say that it is autoerotic.[11] It is, moreover, clear that the action of the thumbsucking child is determined by the fact that it seeks a pleasure which has already been experienced and is now remembered. Through the rhythmic sucking on a portion of the skin or mucous membrane it…
Freud describes how sexual object selection occurs first in imagination during puberty, especially with incestuous parental fantasies that must be rejected; failure to break parental authority allegedly leaves women sexually anesthetic and unable to fulfill marital duties.
the child a disposition for neurotic diseases. This example at least shows that neuropathic parents have nearer ways than inheritance by which they can transfer their disturbances to their children. *Infantile Fear.*--The children themselves behave from their early childhood as if their attachment to their foster-parents were of the nature of sexual love. The fear of children is originally nothing but an expression …
Freud argues that even those who avoid incest fixation carry its echoes: early serious love is often for older, authoritative figures resembling parents, and parental quarrels or unhappy marriages are said to predispose children to disturbed sexual development.
for the production of higher social units. Society, therefore, uses every means to loosen those family ties in every individual, especially in the boy, which are authoritative in childhood only.[9] The object selection, however, is first accomplished in the imagination, and the sexual life of the maturing youth has hardly any escape except indulgence in phantasies or ideas which are not destined to be brought to exe…
Linda tells her master she will never go where he wants, because she will soon be a mother; after the news, her grandmother rejects and disowns her, taking away her mother’s wedding ring and thimble.
I replied, “I will never go there. In a few months I shall be a mother.” He stood and looked at me in dumb amazement, and left the house without a word. I thought I should be happy in my triumph over him. But now that the truth was out, and my relatives would hear of it, I felt wretched. Humble as were their circumstances, they had pride in my good character. Now, how could I look them in the face? My self-respect w…
Linda’s uncle Phillip returns and visits her as she is bedridden; after childbirth she is told the baby is premature but survives, while Dr. Flint continues to visit and reminds her her child increases his slave property.
him. I had calculated that in his rage he would sell me to a slave-trader; and I knew the father of my child was on the watch to buy me. About this time my uncle Phillip was expected to return from a voyage. The day before his departure I had officiated as bridesmaid to a young friend. My heart was then ill at ease, but my smiling countenance did not betray it. Only a year had passed; but what fearful changes it had…
Jacobs recounts escalating persecution by Dr. Flint after her childbearing, including threats to sell her child, hair-cutting violence, beatings, and the emotional weight of slavery when her children lack lawful names.
I answered that the Bible didn’t say so. His voice became hoarse with rage. “How dare you preach to me about your infernal Bible!” he exclaimed. “What right have you, who are my negro, to talk to me about what you would like, and what you wouldn’t like? I am your master, and you shall obey me.” No wonder the slaves sing,— “Ole Satan’s church is here below; Up to God’s free church I hope to go.” XIV. Another L…
After giving birth, Jacobs is forced by Dr. Flint to bring her newborn to him alone, is cursed and fainted over, and later keeps her children alive while describing how slavery shapes women’s suffering and control.
to palsy a man’s tongue, she could not always hold her peace. It was natural and motherlike that she should try to defend me; but it only made matters worse. When they told me my new-born babe was a girl, my heart was heavier than it had ever been before. Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, *they* have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications …
Linda Brent is ordered to the plantation by Dr. Flint, where her son will be sold and her daughter raised for sale; her grandmother tries and fails to persuade him, leaving Linda determined to fight alone.
I told him I had. “Very well. Go to the plantation, and my curse go with you,” he replied. “Your boy shall be put to work, and he shall soon be sold; and your girl shall be raised for the purpose of selling well. Go your own ways!” He left the room with curses, not to be repeated. As I stood rooted to the spot, my grandmother came and said, “Linda, child, what did you tell him?” I answered that I was going to the …
Linda’s new mistress begins managing the plantation, showing harsh discipline; afterward, plans emerge to summon Linda’s children to the plantation, prompting Linda’s resolve to flee immediately.
safety is owing to their superabundance of heart; and yet they look upon their sufferings with less pity than they would bestow on those of a horse or a dog. I stood at the door with others to receive the bridegroom and bride. She was a handsome, delicate-looking girl, and her face flushed with emotion at sight of her new home. I thought it likely that visions of a happy future were rising before her. It made me sad…
While Linda hides, Dr. Flint retaliates by imprisoning her children and relatives, threatening her grandmother never to see them until Linda is captured, and Linda receives a warning from brother William to stay away.
can blame slaves for being cunning? They are constantly compelled to resort to it. It is the only weapon of the weak and oppressed against the strength of their tyrants. I was daily hoping to hear that my master had sold my children; for I knew who was on the watch to buy them. But Dr. Flint cared even more for revenge than he did for money. My brother William, and the good aunt who had served in his family twenty y…
In Boston, Linda tells her daughter Ellen the truth about their father during Ellen’s preparation to leave for school, but Ellen already knows through a nurse and insists all her love is for her mother.
XXXIX. The Confession. For two years my daughter and I supported ourselves comfortably in Boston. At the end of that time, my brother William offered to send Ellen to a boarding school. It required a great effort for me to consent to part with her, for I had few near ties, and it was her presence that made my two little rooms seem home-like. But my judgment prevailed over my selfish feelings. I made preparations for…
A hotel inquiry and Dodge’s attempt to reclaim Linda leads her to send a trusted Black man to confront him, after which Mrs. Bruce warns Linda and Ellen’s entreaties push Linda into yet another flight amid threats to her children.
“I don’t know, sir.” “Do you know where she went?” “I do not, sir.” And the door was closed. This Mr. Dodge, who claimed me as his property, was originally a Yankee pedler in the south; then he became a merchant, and finally a slaveholder. He managed to get introduced into what was called the first society, and married Miss Emily Flint. A quarrel arose between him and her brother, and the brother cowhided him. Thi…
Linda reflects on how her father and grandmother tried to purchase her, mourns her grandmother’s death shortly after freedom, notes an obituary for her uncle Phillip calling him a “citizen,” and concludes her life story ends in freedom for herself and her children.
done just the same, if you had been going to sail for California to-morrow. I should, at least, have the satisfaction of knowing that you left me a free woman.” My heart was exceedingly full. I remembered how my poor father had tried to buy me, when I was a small child, and how he had been disappointed. I hoped his spirit was rejoicing over me now. I remembered how my good old grandmother had laid up her earnings to…
Engels continues that children of factory mothers, especially those forced to work during pregnancy, are described as feeble, and he links differences in health to factory labor starting around age nine.
the twentieth year, and is often wholly wanting. {163a} Irregular menstruation, coupled with great pain and numerous affections, especially with anaemia, is very frequent, as the medical reports unanimously state. Children of such mothers, particularly of those who are obliged to work during pregnancy, cannot be vigorous. They are, on the contrary, described in the report, especially in Manchester, as very feeble; …
He explains that U.S. family relations change under democracy: paternal authority is relaxed as sons approach adulthood, so men become independent without a domestic struggle or lingering bitterness.
I have just examined the changes which the equality of conditions produces in the mutual relations of the several members of the community amongst democratic nations, and amongst the Americans in particular. I would now go deeper, and inquire into the closer ties of kindred: my object here is not to seek for new truths, but to show in what manner facts already known are connected with my subject. It has been univers…
Tocqueville argues that democracy weakens the perceived authority of fathers because law treats them as ordinary members, and that democratic social manners further narrow the distance between superiors and inferiors.
the community, no such intermediate person is required: a father is there, in the eye of the law, only a member of the community, older and richer than his sons. When most of the conditions of life are extremely unequal, and the inequality of these conditions is permanent, the notion of a superior grows upon the imaginations of men: if the law invested him with no privileges, custom and public opinion would concede …
He claims that democratic family life increases intimacy and affection between fathers and sons, changes how children address their parents, and alters elder/younger distinctions within aristocratic families.
resist its commands are carried away in the end by its example. I have known eager opponents of democracy who allowed their children to address them with perfect colloquial equality. Thus, at the same time that the power of aristocracy is declining, the austere, the conventional, and the legal part of parental authority vanishes, and a species of equality prevails around the domestic hearth. I know not, upon the who…
Democracy equalizes children by abolishing fixed rankings, so brothers grow close through daily shared life, free sympathy, and taste rather than through inherited interest or imposed hierarchy.
all its branches. The different members of an aristocratic family are therefore very closely bound together; their interests are connected, their minds agree, but their hearts are seldom in harmony. Democracy also binds brothers to each other, but by very different means. Under democratic laws all the children are perfectly equal, and consequently independent; nothing brings them forcibly together, but nothing keeps…
Swift concludes by challenging critics to explain how Ireland would feed “useless mouths,” asks whether parents would prefer the sale-at-a-year-old option, and states he has no children to profit from his proposal.
too tender a consistence, to admit a long continuance in salt, although perhaps I could name a country, which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without it. After all, I am not so violently bent upon my own opinion, as to reject any offer, proposed by wise men, which shall be found equally innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual. But before something of that kind shall be advanced in contradiction to my scheme, a…
It argues that being schooled only privately can shape a person’s character, then places Abigail’s maternal education at Colonel John Quincy’s home at Mount Wollaston (Braintree) under her grandmother’s instruction.
Hence it is not unreasonable to suppose that the knowledge gained by her was rather the result of the society into which she was thrown, than of any elaborate instruction. This fact, that the author of the letters in the present volume never went to any school, is a very important one to a proper estimate of her character. For, whatever may be the decision of the long-vexed question between the advantages of public …
John Adams reassures Abigail, emphasizing that religion consoles the bereaved and that human life includes burying parents; he mourns her mother and discusses his children’s education and their grandmother’s influence.
13 October, 1775. I this day received yours of the 29th of September and the 1st of October. Amidst all your afflictions, I am rejoiced to find that you all along preserve so proper and so happy a temper; that you are sensible "the consolations of religion are the only sure comforters." It is the constitution under which we are born, that if we live long ourselves, we must bury our parents and all our elder relation…
Abigail Adams, writing 14 November 1779, mourns her disconsolate home and intense separation from John, hopes for their reunion, worries for her sons’ futures, and addresses Mr. Thaxter’s kindness.
you, because you say a lady cannot help being an odious creature at sea; and I will not wish myself in any situation that should make me so to you. Nothing new in the political way but the raising the siege of Savannah[210] and being unfortunate. You will have particulars, no doubt. Our friends are all well. Mr. Laurens is appointed to Holland--has not yet given his answer. Adieu. Ever, ever yours, PORTIA. FOOTNOT…
In June 1545 (undated but shortly after Calvin’s Strasbourg visit), Calvin consoles John Cavent after the deaths of Cavent’s wife and mother, suggests ways to send the children via M. de Falais, and urges patience.
[*June 1545.*] VERY DEAR BROTHER,--I have no doubt that Master Christopher[495] will have done his duty by delivering to you the letters which contained information of the death of your wife and mother. If it be hard to bear their loss, you have good cause to find consolation in our Lord, who enabled them to glorify his name in their death, and who gave them strength in the hour of need, and who, I do not doubt, wil…
Smith argues that despite huge revenues the East India Company accrued debts, cut its dividend, begged government for a loan, and triggered a parliamentary inquiry that reshaped governance in India and Britain.
But during the two years in which their agreement with government was to take place, they were restrained from any further increase of dividend by two successive acts of parliament, of which the object was to enable them to make a speedier progress in the payment of their debts, which were at this time estimated at upwards of six or seven millions sterling. In 1769, they renewed their …
The narrative summarizes Marcus’s later correspondence: he cares for children, writes about summer heat and his daughters’ health, informs Fronto after Faustina’s near-death, and urges sympathy when Fronto loses a grandson.
[41] Ad Ant. Imp i., 3. Marcus, we know, was devoted to his children. They were delicate in health, in spite of Fronto's assurance, and only one son survived the father. We find echoes of this affection now and again in the letters. 'We have summer heat here still,' writes Marcus, 'but since my little girls are pretty well, if I may say so, it is like the bracing climate of spring to us.'[42] When little Faustina ca…
King Olaf visits his mother Asta, meets his half-brothers Guthorm and Halfdan, and as a child Harald forecasts future command; the boys’ chosen “gifts” portray ambitions for land, cows, and power.
76. THE DIVISION OF THE COUNTRY. In Svithjod it was the old custom, as long as heathenism prevailed, that the chief sacrifice took place in Goe month at Upsala. Then sacrifice was offered for peace, and victory to the king; and thither came people from all parts of Svithjod. All the Things of the Swedes, also, were held there, and markets, and meetings for buying, which continued for a week: and after Christianity w…
Appendix B reproduces Johnson’s letters from 1759 to his mother and Miss Porter in Lichfield, expressing care, spiritual counsel, financial help, and plans for managing household affairs after his mother’s death.
'I pray often for you; do you pray for me. I have nothing to add to my last letter. 'I am, dear, dear mother 'Your dutiful son, 'SAM. JOHNSON.' 'Jan. 16, 1759.' 'To MRS. JOHNSON, IN LICHFIELD. 'DEAR HONOURED MOTHER, 'I fear you are too ill for long letters; therefore I will only tell you, you have from me all the regard that can possibly subsist in the heart. I pray God to bless you for evermore, for Jesus Chr…
Tacitus praises German upbringing: harshly even-handed parenting, equal affection, inheritance without wills, and collective acceptance of internal duties and compensations for wrongdoing.
the increase of children, [116] or put to death any of the later progeny [117] is accounted infamous: and good habits have there more influence than good laws elsewhere. [118] 20. In every house the children grow up, thinly and meanly clad, [119] to that bulk of body and limb which we behold with wonder. Every mother suckles her own children, and does not deliver them into the hands of servants and nurses. No indulg…
Griseldis endures her father’s weeping and attempts to cover her with an old coat, while she shows no offense or loss of humility, then the narrative shifts as Bologna’s earl arrives bringing the new marchioness.
*had gratified his whim* He woulde think it were a disparage* *disparagement To his estate, so low for to alight, And voide* her as soon as e’er he might. *dismiss Against* his daughter hastily went he *to meet (For he by noise of folk knew her coming), And with her olde coat, as it might be, He cover’d her, full sorrowfully weeping: But on her body might he it not bring, For rude was the c…