Part 3 (2/2)

”Were it not better done, as others use, To sport with Ales of Neaera's hair?”

By all means it were far better, if effort for broader work be of no avail, to cease to think of it, and to make one's self as comfortable as possible And yet, how about the coirls, who, thanks to the inevitable march of Truth, will have a better chance than she, and her boys, to who, come to her in vain for sy of the husband, froht she finds herself barred out?[19] Babies and half-educated children are very pretty to play with, interesting to watch, and delightful to care for, but when they are married and have children, for they can never be said, in any true sense, to be wives or mothers, they appear in a somewhat different aspect I have sometimes, out of sheer pity, wished that there were some State asylum for such children, when they are left, as the chances of life and death so often leave the to their useless hands I have never seen a sadder sight than such a woman, her physical syste stunned and helpless into the world, unable to do anything for herself or her children, and dependent upon the charity of her dead husband's friends--and perhaps the wise thought and tender care of a faithful servant, whose practical education was co, and shelter They have been only half-educated, and it seems as if the authority which has refused in the past to provide thenize their right to be supported; asothers, for whose education it has failed properly to care in their youth, in jails, penitentiaries, and prisons

As to the effect of the want of education and culture upon what are known as the most characteristic womanly qualities, whether physical or mental, no better illustration can be furnished than that of the wo the war ca for protection into Missouri They had not dwelt in a frigid and contracting climate; they had not been physically overworked, and they had not been co-educated, for they had not been educated at all, either physically, intellectually, or morally Should we not have expected to find in these children of nature, these women who had spent their lives in idleness, undisturbed by any brain-work, at least, finely developed forned theular in face and form, while the masculine loudness, harshness, and depth of their voices, and the masculine expression of features and movement, made us involuntarily recoil fro neither ree by the spiritual, inevitably descends through lower foruidance, we find a sorateful for our kindness, or the horse that whinnies as he hears our step on the gravel-walk; for we find the idiot

But es of mental development, as ordained by the Creator, the definite school-work is intrusted to the hands of professional teachers American parents throw this responsibility entirely off froirls to school, with so of relief as that hich they lead their fairl, for whose indisposition they have, before su him, anxiously endeavored to care There is only one difference: in the case of the physician, they relate to him fully all the symptoms and previous treatone, in the capacity of nurses, and they see to it that his prescriptions are obtained and adestions in every respect exactly follohile, in the case of the teacher, they send the child, leaving her to make her own discoveries as to previous symptoms and treativen, the nature of the work prescribed, or the effect Having thus, as they think, placed the whole matter in the hands of the teacher, they are often surprised and annoyed at the result I aranted here that the teacher is qualified for her part of the work, as tounder a course of study laid out for her, as in the public schools, is herself able to arrange and plan This is the most favorable aspect of the subject But there is indisputably another side If mothers would only ith the teachers, so that the hoirls in matters already discussed, especially in the direction of the reading of their daughters, should be healthful and strong, the teachers would be saved y, which could be far more usefully applied for the benefit of the child I speak from the midst of a profession which often suffers in reputation, nay, even in actual character, froh the part of intellectual education which belongs especially to the teacher, is impossible here, nor would such a discussion be in place in these pages It has its place properly only in professional literature, just as the details of the treatment of a case placed underonly in the pages of a estions only will be added in this department

It is evident to the most superficial observer that a vast araphy and history in our schools, with but little perceivable result This is due in great measure to the fact that the manufacture of text-books has become in America a profitable business in a money point of view, and that, consequently, what text-books shall be used in our schools, both public and private, is decided more by the publishers than by the educators

Hence the graded series of School Geographies, for instance, through soed to wade, one after another, to find in each, only the sath Hence, to go one step farther, the stupefying of soto allrepetitions, a fact easily verified by any one akeful through ht, will take the trouble to repeat and re-repeat anybrain-work of which we have toobrain-work of which we have too little, that does injure the system The whole healthy tone of the mind is destroyed, and evils, mental and physical, follow in rapid succession

Fro the endless number of coed, mental power diluted, and the pockets of the parents unnecessarily taxed for the support of large publishi+ng houses, not for the education of their children

Another cause of this stupefying process is the rigid systee schools are conducted, where promotions, from one class to another, can take place, say, once a year, the pupil who, on examination, falls short of the required per cent of correct answers, being forced to review the work of the entire previous year before going on More elasticity, more fluidity, as it were, is sadly needed in our systereat extent modified[20]

It would be a waste of tiht not to be overworked, were it not that some persons always seem to imply that any intellectual work is overwork It would seem equally superfluous to say that for intellectual health there ought not to be any surplus energy, for the latter statement seems as axiomatic as the former

The problem hich educators are chiefly concerned is that of fully e theh_ and _too much_ could be determined as exactly as the Mississippi River marks the series of lowest points where the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains henies, our work as teachers were easy indeed Teaching, however, is not the only profession where such unsolved problems exist, for individual cases, and we teachers are thus but a part of a noble arrace, and are not ashamed

But the fact remains to be considered that the work of school education is, as the result of unavoidable destiny, in A very rapidly into the hands of women We may deplore this, but we cannot prevent it The last census showed that the number of women teachers in the United States stands already to that of theThere is no other country in the world, then, where it is so all iirls should receive a complete education In one view, this tendency of the ti are often thefor the work of the reater exercise, and hence, a greater develope of human nature which will enable her well and wisely to direct her children, successfully to grapple with the ”servant problee circle of details within the coeneralized rules She has learned what industry means, not, as was said by a Christian writer of the thirteenth century, only ”to pray to God, to lovein her hand, though no one profits by her labor, and she is reduced to look for her sole reward in civil speeches ifts, or insincere praise of household ornaments that are in everybody's way,” covers, and covers for covers, and covers for covers of covers

Many women ”are busy, very busy; they have hardly tiht to do that, but with all their driving, their energy is entirely dissipated, and nothing comes from their countless labors,” and I ask, in the words of a Russian woreat loss to the econoth is wasted and leaves behind it no good work!”

But many persons continually pursue self-contradictory ends, simply for the reason that their education has been so narrow and limited that they are not able to see these ends as self-contradictory

Indeed, there are other disabilities than the physical for the duty of a mother ”The want of self-control that co habit of frivolous e this duty, and to reive the ability to educate children”[21] The power of independent thinking, without which there can be no judgment, and which alone frees the soul, the real irls should be most carefully educated into it

Which course, then, will be best to fit the average child for her future work in the active world, a course of private lessons, or the life of the school, which is in itself a miniature world, where she learns to measure her own acquirements and character by those of others, and is educated into the knowledge that individual caprice cannot be allowed as a rule of conduct? And is there any country in the world whose citizens need to learn a respect for law irls have the ability successfully to pursue, the question is no longer an open one The experian University, Vassar and o out of our own country, are sufficiently positive and conclusive to convince the most incredulous[22] If the question be as to the branches which she ought to pursue, that is also to some extent settled The courses of study which are laid down for students in European and Ament of centuries of experience and induction as to the thened and developed They are the results of long generalization, and are founded deep on a knowledge of the human mind

Shall we venture to depart from the old ways, and to decry the custoone by? Do we not know that the wisdo the hue of one? Since we are ”heirs of all the ages,” why throay our inheritance?

In one word, our girls should be so educated intellectually that there will no longer be any internal barriers to their progress, and when this is done they will find that the external barriers, against which they fret themselves, have disappeared When Britomart had fairly conquered and bound with his own chains the enchanter within the castle, she found, as she passed out, that the castle walls, the iron doors and the fire which had barred her entrance had no longer any existence We can yet afford to learn lessons of wisdom from the prophetic ”woman's poet”

of the sixteenth century

Whether our school girls and college girls will be injured physically,to the boy and h schools and universities, the advantage of felloorkers of the other sex, is a question which, though practically settled to a large extent by experience, ought not perhaps to be passed over here in entire silence One very curious feature of this question with regard to the education of our girls seeent that the question should be decided by facts do not bring theeneral principles assumed, and on theory As has been well said by President White, of Cornell, to seek for information on the real results, so far, of the experies that have never tried it, would be to commit the same absurdity as ”if the japanese authorities, aroused to the necessities of railroads and telegraphs, had corresponded with e the ethics of the subject, instead of sending persons to observe the working of railroads and telegraphs where they were already in use” Where inquiries were made of universities which had never tried the experiainst the admission of women It was declared to be 'contrary to nature,' 'likely to produce confusion,'

'dangerous,' 'at variance with the ordinances of God;' in short, every argument that a mandarin would be sure to evolve froraph which he had never seen”

I around of philosophy is the only proper one from which to settle the question of the sphere of any hu, and what education will fit her for it; but after this has been done, if special objections are raised against the possibility or advisability, in a utilitarian or physiological point of view, such special assertions, in default, from their very nature, of any other possible demonstration, must be proved or disproved by experience--and yet these material facts are not allowed in evidence by those who theoretically insist her education for wo as co-education, have within a few years shi+fted their ground At first it was asserted that wo of the higher branches of study Having been driven froes on written examinations, they have taken up their new position with the assertion that woh and coain, that for the her education for wo

In this position of the question, we have only two things for which to be profoundly thankful: The first is that we, as living women, are asserted by no one to be composed of more than two parts--spirit and body The second is, that we have in our own hands, at last, thethe second assertion

To us as women, as wives, as e girls, as school girls, and to us alone, the settlement of the question has at last been fairly handed over We have only, in all these relations, to learn the laws of physical health, and to obey them, and the whole matter will be set forever at rest We have only to see to it, day and night, that our girls are educated into proper ways of living as regards food, clothing, sleep and exercise, till we have created for them a second nature of fixed, correct physical habits--and we alone can do this--and the end is at hand We have at last the right to settle our own questions conceded to us The responsibility of the decision, whether our girls are to have e deerly and persistently de to us, and to us alone Responsibility means duty Are we ready to accept the one, and to perform the other?

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