96: O handmaids of the Merciful! Render ye thanks

O handmaids of the Merciful! Render ye thanks unto the Ancient Beauty that ye have been raised up and gathered together in this mightiest of centuries, this most illumined of ages. As befitting thanks for such a bounty, stand ye staunch and strong in the Covenant and, following the precepts of God and the holy Law, suckle your children from their infancy with the milk of a universal education, and rear them so that from their earliest days, within their inmost heart, their very nature, a way of life will be firmly established that will conform to the divine Teachings in all things.

For mothers are the first educators, the first mentors; and truly it is the mothers who determine the happiness, the future greatness, the courteous ways and learning and judgement, the understanding and the faith of their little ones.

Source: 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá (1978). Public domain text from Project Gutenberg eBook #19287.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1978). *Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá*. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19287/pg19287-images.html