How to Ruin a Son
1. Let him have his own way.
2. Allow him the free use of money.
3. Suffer him to rove where he pleases on the Sabbath.
4. Give him free access to wicked companions.
5. Call him to no account for his evenings.
6. Furnish him with no stated employment.
7. Let him go to the theatre.
Pursue any one of these ways and you will experience a remarkable deliverance or you will have to mourn over a debased and ruined child. Thousands have realised the sad result and have gone mourning to the grave.
This stern warning appears in the The Females Advocate (1838) a publication of the London Female Mission, a charity which former Indefatigable midshipman Sir Henry Hart was a supporter of. I presume this book is fairly typical of the genre of 19th century improving texts but it rather fascinated me in a sort of horrified-amazement kind of way. The sections on "Errors in Female Education" and "Fascinating Snares" are particularly edifying. The latter, in case you're wondering, is about the dangers of listening to music. Don't say I didn't warn you!
PS. Is it just me or does that list make you think of Archie?
2. Allow him the free use of money.
3. Suffer him to rove where he pleases on the Sabbath.
4. Give him free access to wicked companions.
5. Call him to no account for his evenings.
6. Furnish him with no stated employment.
7. Let him go to the theatre.
Pursue any one of these ways and you will experience a remarkable deliverance or you will have to mourn over a debased and ruined child. Thousands have realised the sad result and have gone mourning to the grave.
This stern warning appears in the The Females Advocate (1838) a publication of the London Female Mission, a charity which former Indefatigable midshipman Sir Henry Hart was a supporter of. I presume this book is fairly typical of the genre of 19th century improving texts but it rather fascinated me in a sort of horrified-amazement kind of way. The sections on "Errors in Female Education" and "Fascinating Snares" are particularly edifying. The latter, in case you're wondering, is about the dangers of listening to music. Don't say I didn't warn you!
PS. Is it just me or does that list make you think of Archie?