252. Then comes _the Sunday_; and, amongst all those who keep no servants, a great deal depends on the manner in which the father employs _that day_. When there are two or three children, or even one child, the first thing, after the breakfast (which is late on this day of rest), is to wash and dress the child or children. Then, while the mother is dressing the dinner, the father, being in his Sunday-clothes himself, takes care of the child or children. When dinner is over, the mother puts on her best; and then, all go to church, or, if that cannot be, whether from distance or other cause, _all pass the afternoon together_. This used to be the way of life amongst the labouring people; and from this way of life arose the most able and most moral people that the world ever saw, until grinding taxation took from them the means of obtaining a sufficiency of food and of raiment; plunged the whole, good and bad, into one indiscriminate mass, under the degrading and hateful name of paupers.
253. The working man, in whatever line, and whether in town or country, who spends his _day of rest_, or any part of it, except in case of absolute necessity, away from his wife and children, is not worthy of the name of _father_, and is seldom worthy of the trust of any employer. Such absence argues a want of fatherly and of conjugal affection, which want is generally duly repaid by a similar want in the neglected parties; and, though stern authority may command and enforce obedience for a while, the time soon comes when it will be set at defiance; and when such a father, having no example, no proofs of love, to plead, complains of _filial ingratitude_, the silent indifference of his neighbours, and which is more poignant, his own heart, will tell him that his complaint is unjust.
254. Thus far with regard to _working_ people; but much more necessary is it to inculcate these principles in the minds of young men in the middle rank of life, and to be more particular, in their case, with regard to the care due to very young children, for here _servants_ come in; and many are but too prone to think, that when they have handed their children over to well-paid and able servants, they have _done their duty by them_, than which there can hardly be a more mischievous error. The children of the poorer people are, in general, much fonder of their parents than those of the rich are of theirs: this fondness is reciprocal; and the cause is, that the children of the former have, from their very birth, had a greater share than those of the latter--of the _personal_ attention, and of the never-ceasing endearments of their parents.