NO ATTENTION WAS PAID TO THE CHARACTER OF THE FATHER." [114] It has also been observed that in cases where the father has turned out badly--become a drunkard, and "gone to the dogs"-- provided the mother is prudent and sensible, the family will be kept together, and the children probably make their way honourably in life; whereas in cases of the opposite sort, where the mother turns out badly, no matter how well-conducted the father may be, the instances of after-success in life on the part of the children are comparatively rare.
The greater part of the influence exercised by women on the formation of character necessarily remains unknown.

They accomplish their best work in the quiet seclusion of the home and the family, by sustained effort and patient perseverance in the path of duty.

Their greatest triumphs, because private and domestic, are rarely recorded; and it is not often, even in the biographies of distinguished men, that we hear of the share which their mothers have had in the formation of their character, and in giving them a bias towards goodness.

Yet are they not on that account without their reward.

The influence they have exercised, though unrecorded, lives after them, and goes on propagating itself in consequences for ever.
We do not often hear of great women, as we do of great men.