Part 7 (1/2)

But even listening to h intellectual exercise A symphony of Beethoven's, with its co fro so beautifully represents David as soothing the troubled spirit of Saul And when to these are added the passionate fervor of the opera, the tax upon the nervous systereat Properly to hear and appreciate the opera of _Fidelio_ or _Don Giovanni_ or the _Seventh Symphony_ of Beethoven requires as much exercise of brain as to listen to a scientific lecture I do not deny its value as an influence, but it is a positive value, not a negative one It is _re-creation_ rather than relaxation, and is noday of study than a sere of intellectual exercise Still more is the study of music, and the practice necessary to acquire coreat tax upon the nervous strength of our young people Manyup of so htfully be put into any hour of holiday or rest I have heard music teachers say that their pupils came to them weary and listless, and their parents seemed to have no idea of the amount of intellectual and even physical exertion which the music lesson required We cannot all become fine musical performers, but if theand culture of iet all the influence and enjoyhly educated and creative artists, and we shall do so with more relish, without the weary re uninspired by active interest

Music leads the way to a world of the greater danger fro and sentih for the immediate effect of spiritual causes upon the physical health Cheerful influences, sunny surroundings, happy relations, will save one through heavy tasks of work or privation; but any blight of the affections, anyof one's ideal of life and humanity, will depress the nervous system and ruin the health far more surely than even overwork of the purely intellectual faculties Often intellectual labor is the true antidote and corrective of this state of feeling

Theodore Parker once reco lady, who, from physical weakness and other causes, had become morbidly nervous and introspective

I have spoken of the i of body and e and maternity, which may be the lot of every woman It is not possible to overstate the importance or the sanctity of these relations, but it is possible to look so nore its real

The woman, falsely or carelessly h and true and ree too little, but because she has too great reverence to enter into it lightly or falsely And the hter to meet nobly the possibilities of unwedded life, than even the duties of e is so perfectly natural a state, that it reveals its os; and a siuide woman more wisely than much precept

But in our present social state, the probability for any girl is by no means small that sheupon this blessed relation If she has been taught that woe alone, that only by that means can she hope for a life of happiness, usefulness, and respect, she will probably become ae at any price to escape fro life without purpose, occupation, or delight

But if she has learned that Providence is boundless in its resources, and that when one way is closed, another is opened, so that ”all things work together for good;” if she knows that her nature will be far nobler without the fore unless the spirit and truth can be present also, she will find that there is a life open to her a life of devotion to truth, right, and beauty, of service to humanity, and of love just as noble and true as she could attain in e She is not fit to marry until she is fit to stand alone Unless life has a purpose andof its own to her as well as to her husband, she cannot bring hi which should take its value from the richness of the life that she is ready to blend with another's

Nothingthe last half century,away of the opprobrious use of the term ”old maid,” which is now rarely heard

It is possible to re from the duties and responsibilities of the relation, or froher station than love can offer Such sin brings its own terrible punishh ideal of e, from true nobility of character, or from devotion to some other relation which seele How ave a charm to her youth, but did not find its reality in life, has devoted herself to the service of humanity with all the passionate devotion of a lover to his mistress! Of such an one, to whouardian and protector, an artist said, ”She has the mother in her face” We owe too much to this noble class of women, in art, literature, and philanthropy, and in the service of the country in its et their claimatized as unworthy of the name of pure and noble manhood who sneers at the virtue which he cannot understand, or vilifies with opprobrious epithets the noble women wholorious phalanx of old irl, under the na down her ideal of life, and especially her ideal of the possible partner of her future life

Tennyson speaks of one for the vain coquette as the possible future mother:--

”Oh, I see thee old and formal, fitted to thy petty part, With a little hoard of hter's heart”

Men often speak of the pain it is to them to see the debaseood, the other nobler self, for which theyto wolory of creation

”The person love to us doth fit, Like manna, hath the taste of all in it”

But the low social standard of raded him, that the very ideal of hter not to expect ht to hope for the loyalty of Sir Philip Sydney or the pure ideality of Michael Angelo

It is a great wrong to s from childhood upwards are stimulated by the opinion entertained of theh behavior Whatever your own experience, do not thrust the poison of doubt and unbelief in goodness into a daughter's mind Let her keep her faith and her ro heart True, it is hard to see a Thaddeus of Warsaith a cigar in his ine Hamlet with a blue veil about his hat, but nevertheless the race of heroes is not extinct, and the girl had better preserve her faith and her love till the true knight appears, than accept the dreary belief that all men are alike unworthy, and that she must not ask for a purity and truth which exist only in the dreams of romance Man's low idea of woman has reacted upon hinity, as equally entitled to spiritual and moral elevation of soul and refine woone another” is the true condition of love, and no one has truly loved who has not exalted the beloved far above one's self

But, after all that I have said, perhaps at too great length, I corand art of education as of life Do not dwell upon petty details or exaggerate accidental peculiarities Lay your foundations broad and deep in the coround of universal law Then, gradually, out of this corow up the special flower, true to its own individual lahich is just as sacred and unalterable as the general law All the art of the gardener cannot transforh by its aid the sour crab has becoent pear, the luscious Bartlett

We need to study the great subject of education more, and to talk less about the special peculiarities of woreater includes the less, and that the hly we develop all the powers of mind, the more eminently will each woman be fitted to perform her own peculiar work in life

I did once see a s, who clai-machine because he stood lower than other men

I honored his acceptance of his lis an advantage not to be despised

The great duty of the educator is to place his wheel so that the stream will fill its buckets evenly Far reat social forces, the influences of custom, society, hereditary tendencies do for her; but you can hold the helm and keep the rudder firht; and so, fro fullness of athe spirit of life, however rand basis of humanity, and in the consummate perfection of her own individuality you may rear

”A woman nobly planned To warn, to coht, With soht”

EDNA D CHENEY

Ja of the father's influence upon the education of girls, si on that subject, but I do not wish to be suspected of undervaluing it By the beautiful law of relation between the sexes, a father hter on soreat needs of our home life seems to me to be the more intimate acquaintance and influence of the father]

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