Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1829-11-10

| Yeti was but lately that visited a
family not Of moderate fortune but of
no fortune at all ,-one of those people
VINO i've nobody knows how - and |
found a young girl of about IL; practising
on the piano, while an elderly lady beside
ner was darning her stockings. l was
toia lior the mother was proud Of bring
ing up her child so genteely) that the
daughter had almost forgotten how to
sew and that woman was hired into
the house to do her mending. (" But
why, said ], " have you suffered your
daughter to be ignorant ofsso useful an
employment ? if she is poor, the knowl-
edge will be necessary to her; if she is
rich, \ Is the easiest thing in the world to
lay IT aside if she chooses; she will be
better able to Judge whether her work
IS wesFssene by Others" {" That is true. .
repled the mother g and I always meant
she should learn; but she never has SEEM
ed to have any time. When she was
eight years old, she could put a shirt To-
gether pretty well; but since that, her
musck, and her dancing, and her school,
have taken up her whole time. | did
mean she should learn some domestick
habits this winter but she has so many
vlsiters, and is obliged to go out so much,
that l suppose | must give it up. don't
like to say too much about it; for, poor
girl she does SO love company, and she
does SO hate anything like care and con-
finement!-NoaO is her time to enjoy her.
self, you know. Let her take all the com
fort she can, while she is single ~
But" said |, you wish her to marry,
some time or other; and in all probability
she will marry. When will she learn how
to perform the duties which are necessary
and important to every mistress Of fami-
ly." "Oh,she will learn them when she
is obliged to- answered the iniudicious
mother 8" at all events, am determined
she shall enjoy herself while she she is
young."f
And this is the way have often heard
mothers talk Yet could parents forsee
the almost inevitable consequence of such
a system, believe the weakest and vain
est would abandon the false and dangerous
theory. What lesson is taught girl in
that sentence, Let her enjoy herself all
she can, s0hile she IS single''i Instead of
representing domestick life as the gath
ering place of the deepest and purest af-
fectons las the sphere Of womans en-
joyments as well as of her duties ,--as in
deed the whole world to her-that one
perniclons sentence teaches girl to con-
slider matrimony desirable because :. a
good match is triumph of vanity, and it
is deemed respectable to be "weIl set
tied in the world )" but that it is neces-
sary sacrifice of her freedom and her gale
ty. And then how many aflectionate dis
positions have been trained into heartless-
ness, by being taught that the indulgence
of incidence and vanity were necessary to
their happiness a; and that to have this in
diligence, they must marry money But
who that marries for money, in this land
Of precarious fortunes, can tell how soon
they will lose the glittering temptation to
which they have been willing to sacrifice
SO much =! And even if riches last as long
as life, the evil is not remedied-educa-
ton has given wrong end and aim to
their whole existence-they have been
taught to look for happiness where it nev-
er can be found, viz. in the absence of all
occupation, or the unsatisfactory and ruin
GUS excitement of fashionable competition.
The difficulty is, education does not
usually point the female heart to its only
true resting place. That dear English
word home," is not half SO powerful
talisman as the aoorld." Instead of the
salutary truth that happiness is IN duty,
they are taught to consider the two things
totally distinct; and that whoever seeks
one must sacrifice the other.
The fact is, our girls have no home edu-
cation. When quite young they are sent
TO schools where no feminine employ
ments, no domestick habits, can be learn
ed; and there they continue till they
"come out" into the world. After this,
few find any time to arrange and make
use Of the mass of elementary knowledge
they have acquired and fewer still have
either leisure or taste for the inelegant
everyday duties Of life. Thus prepared,
they enter upon matrimony. Those early
habits which would have made domestick
care light and easy task have never been
laugh: for fear it would interrupt their
happiness and the result is, that when
cares come, as come they must, they find
them misery. am convinced that indif-
ference and dislike between husband and
wife are more frequently occasioned by
this great errour in education than by any
other cause.
The bride is awakened from her delight
full dream, in which carpets, vases, sofas,
white gloves, and pearl earrings, are Cd
dly jumbled up with her lovers looks and
promises-perhaps she would be surprised
if she knew exactly how much Of the fas-