THE CHRISTIAN LADY'S MAGAZINE. JULY, 1843. THE TOUCHSTONE OF HISTORY. CHAPTER I. FEW Christian ladies are excluded from opportunities of influencing, if they cannot in any measure direct, that most important of all works, early education. It is, indeed, the peculiar province of woman, and one in which man rarely interferes, save as the occasional helper of her work; and that, too, in goodhumoured subordination to her temporary rule: for we suppose that just in proportion to his sense of manly superiority will be the gentleman's indisposition to assume the active government of the nursery. There, he delegates his authority to the weaker vessel, and delights, or ought to delight, in seeing her handle the reins, so willingly entrusted, pro tempore, to her. She holds local rank, by his appointment, or rather by the gracious, loving appointment of their |