Here is, I believe, my dear Adèle, the first sermon that I will have addressed to you in my lifetime. I am delighted by your taste for reading, and until now I had not paid much attention to the resulting distaste for the works appropriate to your sex; but as you have already built good foundations, and I fear that you may get carried away, I want to give you my thoughts on this important point.

	You have probably read in the Bible: The valiant woman hath put out her hand to strong things, and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle. But what will you say of Fénélon, who determines, in all his mildness: “The valiant woman spins, hides, obeys and keeps quiet.” Here is an authority which bears little resemblance to the preceding two, but which nonetheless has its worth: it is that of Molière, who wrote a play with the entitled The Learned Ladies.

	Do you think that the great playwright would have dealt with this subject, had he not recognized that the title of “learned lady” is a ridiculous one? The worst flaw for a woman, my dear child, is that of being a man. To ward away so much as the idea of this unfavourable pretension, one must absolutely obey Solomon, Fénélon and Molière: this trio is infallible. Avoid seeing the works appropriate to your sex from the angle of material utility, which is meaningless; they serve to prove that you are a woman and that you consider yourself one, and that in itself means much...

	Therefore, my daughter, ask your mother, who is so generous, to buy you a lovely distaff, a lovely spindle; delicately wet the tips of your fingers, and then vrrrr! and you will tell me the turn that things are taking.

	You can well imagine, my dear Adèle, that I am no friend of ignorance; but in all things there is a balance to be observed: taste and instruction, these are the domain of woman. They must not seek to reach the level of science, nor lead others to believe that they have such a pretension, which amounts to the same thing as far as effects are concerned; and, with respect even to the instruction which is proper to them, there are many precautions to keep in mind: a lady, and especially a young one, can let it be seen, but never show it.