When
my children were very young, when, as far as I can remember, the oldest
was about ten years of age, and the youngest about four, thinking they
knew more than I had yet discovered, in order to make them speak with
less timidity, I deemed that if they were put under a sort of cover I
might gain my end; and happening to have a mask in the house, I told
them all to stand and speak boldly from under cover of the mask.
"I began with the youngest (Anne, afterward Acton Bell), and asked what
a child like her most wanted; she answered, 'Age and experience.' I
asked the next (Emily, afterward Ellis Bell) what I had best do with
her brother Branwell, who was sometimes a naughty boy; she answered,
'Reason with him, and when he won't listen to reason, whip him.' I
asked Branwell what was the best way of knowing the difference between
the intellects of men and women; he answered, 'By considering the
difference between them as to their bodies.' I then asked Charlotte
what was the best book in the world; she answered, 'The Bible.' And
what was the next best; she answered, 'The Book of Nature.' I then
asked the next what was the best mode of education for a woman; she
answered, 'That which would make her rule her house well.
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