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86 BIANCA MIIiESI MOJOH.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
About This Time Madame Mojon Lost Her Mo...
table a memb . As er of tlie tli dining e famil - y room . From was tliat small time I beg I was _'ged admitted when ther to e tlieir were
, , guests , to be excused . One day , in _tlie midst of dinner , Henri , the little boy who died , exclaimed c Oh ! mamma , _tuhy is not Julie
dining _zvith us to-day ? ' c You are right , my child , ' replied his mother ; she ought to he here ? After dinner she came to me and
said , affectionatel ' y , _'My child has taught me my duty . You shall not again leave the place which belongs to you . ' It was through
her children that she recovered her faith in God , which she had lost through the reasoning of philosophers . She did not teach the
existence of God to her children—they revealed Him to her . As to her relations with me , you have witnessed the goodness of this
angel towards me . The little that I am , I owe to her . Madame Mojon rescued me from slavery . But for her , I should now be an
old nurse , whose white hairs would make it hard for her to find a place . I would not exaggerate my humility—it is true that I have
endeavored to do my duty ; but I have the conviction that there are many Julies in the worldand but few Biancas who would take the
, trouble to discover them !" Madame Mojon ' s chief anxiety , in relation to her children , arose
from the impossibility of rearing free men in an enslaved country . The government of Piedmont , now the citadel of Italian liberty ,
was , thirty years ago , so _oj _3 posed to every innovation that Madame Mojon , who combined with some friends for the purpose , failed to
obtain permission to establish a gymnasium for boys . " The government could not authorize such an innovation , " was the
significant reply to her application ! Madame Mojon could not submit to educating her sons under the government of a country where they
must "live slaves or die in prison ; " and after much hesitation M . . Mojon decided on a removal to France . A letter to Madame Fulvia
Verri , written in 1834 , describes her mode of life after her change of residence from Genoa to Paris , and the routine of instruction
which she pursued with lier eldest living \> oy . She writes , "My Benito is at my sidetaking his lesson in linear drawing . He does
, this by eye , without a compass , —my only object is to exercise his eye and hand . I do not enter into any geometrical
explanations—I only use the scientific dictionary when I examine his work . . . . I rise at half-past seven . My first care is to go to Benito ' s room :
the poor Beppo has already brought him a light , and he dresses himself alone . "When he is dressed , I take him into the children ' s
room , which is already warmed , and hear him read two pages of Italian , and one from the same work in German . He afterwards
practises mental arithmetic , as is the custom at Hofwyl . After the readingI ask him a dozen questions about the meanings of the
words he , has been reading . At half-past eight we breakfast , in the dining-room . After thisBenito goes to play , while I read the
, newspaper to my husband . When this is done , I dress myself . I
give Benito a short lesson in drawing and natural history , occupying
86 Bianca Miiiesi Mojoh.
86 _BIANCA _MIIiESI MOJOH .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1861, page 86, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041861/page/14/
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