Feminine Threads, Diana Lynn Severance (Christian Focus, 2011)
There are so many awesome women shared in this book (along with some characters). I wanted to pass on a bit of wisdom from America’s first English poet, Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672). Anne and her husband, who was the governor of Massachusetts at this important time, had eight children. Here is a piece of advice from Anne about raising children with different temperaments:
Diverse children have their different natures; some are like flesh [or meat] which nothing but salt will keep from putrefication; some again like tender fruit that are best preserved with sugar; those parents are wise that can fit their nurture according to their Nature (191).
For the most part I think that’s some pretty wise advice. However, if you have the good kid that I discussed in another article, you might have to throw some salt on something that appears to be pure sugar.
The whole quote reminds me of an inside joke my girlfriends and I shared in high school. Whenever a guy was laying the lines on thick, our code for help was, “get out the salt.” This was in reference to what happens to a slug when you have a salt shaker.
