The same motive, however,
indiscreetly made use of with boys, has not the same effect:
provided they are let pursue their amusements at pleasure, they care
very little what people think of them. Time and pains are necessary to
subject boys to this motive.
'Whencesoever girls derive this first lesson, it is a very good one.
As the body is born, in a manner, before the soul, our first concern
should be to cultivate the former; this order is common to both sexes,
but the object of that cultivation is different. In the one sex it
is the developement of corporeal powers; in the other, that of
personal charms: not that either the quality of strength or beauty
ought to be confined exclusively to one sex; but only that the order
of the cultivation of both is in that respect reversed. Women
certainly require as much strength as to enable them to move and act
gracefully, and men as much address as to qualify them to act with
ease.'
'Children of both sexes have a great many amusements in common;
and so they ought; have they not also many such when they are grown
up? Each sex has also its peculiar taste to distinguish in this
particular. Boys love sports of noise and activity; to beat the
drum, to whip the top, and to drag about their little carts: girls, on
the other hand, are fonder of things of show and ornament; such as
mirrours, trinkets, and dolls: the doll is the peculiar amusement of
the females; from whence we see their taste plainly adapted to their
destination.
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