so that, on wet days, in long evenings, these came into play. A large strong table, in the middle of the room, their mother sitting at her work, used to be surrounded with them—the baby, if big enough, set up in a high chair. Here were inkstands, pens, pencils, india-rubber, and paper, all in abundance, and every one scrabbled about as he or she pleased. There were prints of animals of all sorts; books treating of them; others treating of gardening, of flowers, of husbandry, of hunting, coursing, shooting, fishing, planting, and, in short, of everything with regard to which we had something to do. One would be trying to imitate a bit of my writing, another drawing the pictures of some of our dogs or horses, a third poking over Bewick's Quadrupeds, and picking out what he said about them; but our book of never-failing resource was the French Maison Rustique, or Farmhouse,"—a book full of illustrations; and " there " he goes on to say, " was I, in my leisure moments, to join this inquisitive group, to read the French, and tell them what it meaned in English, when the picture did not sufficiently explain itself. …
"To teach the children the habit of early rising was a great object. This was a capital matter; because here were industry and health both at stake. Yet I avoided command even here; and merely offered a reward. The child who was downstairs first was called the lark for the day, and further sat at my right hand at dinner."
Miss Mitford says that "'the Lark' had, amongst other indulgences, the pretty privilege of making his mother's nosegay, and that of any other lady visitors."
"But to do the things that I did," continues Cobbett, "you must love home yourself; to rear up children in this manner you must live with them; you must make them, too, feel, by your conduct, that you prefer this to any other mode of passing your time. … I never spent an idle week, or even day, in my whole life. Yet I found time to talk with them, to walk, to ride about with them; and when forced to go from home, always took one or more with me. … When my business kept me away from the scrabbling-table a petition often came that I would go and talk with the group, and the bearer generally was the youngest, being the most likely to succeed. When I went from home all followed
