Armand Chauvelin (citoyen) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-05-12 13:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | !network post, !trigger warning, armand chauvelin, enjolras, percival blakeney |
TW: death and pregnancy issues
The celebration of motherhood is nothing new, certainly, although the emphases seem to have changed. In my day, when virtue in its civic form was having a great vogue, the importance of mothers as molders and shapers of young citizens was paramount. No republic can hope to survive unless the inheritance of duty to its founding principles can be assured, and mothers were entrusted with that all-important transmission.
My wife died, like so many women did and I have no doubt still do, in childbirth. My daughter was therefore raised largely by servants and one or two neighbors and as a result was saddled with their provincial ideals I have, of course, always wondered how she might have been different had she been able to enjoy her mother's influence. It's speculation that is by its nature ineffective, and more than a little melancholy, but perhaps important in that we always should consider how we take care to train up the next generation.