Piney Woods planter and Amite union literary reflector. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1838-1838, 1838-08-04

which they should be carried.
: All will agree, think, who put them
selves to the trouble to think at all, that,
to succeed in the education of females, it
is indispensably necessary, in the first
place, to consider the sphere in which
they are to move. The branches, in the
opinion Of the tutoress Of Queen Victoria,
indispensable for her, as part of the edu-
cation of young sovereign, would surely
be unnecessary as part of the education
of the daughter Of a Mississippi Planter.
Seneca was inquired of, concerning the
things most necessary to be learned; learn
that, said he, that you will have most &C.
casion to use in the affairs of life. The
correctness Of this rule, all will admit
But how seldom do we see those most con-
cerned attend to it! How seldom do they
examine by what means ii is to be at
tained!! And still more seldom do they
obtain safe and competent guide to d.
rect young females to it'll!
Though safe, and often wise, TO avoid
singularity, and to go in the old beaten
track still the subject under considera-
ton, ] think, admits ofmany exceptions
am no believer in blindly following in
the footsteps of others-of consulting ro-
teen and custom, not reason and expert
ence; thus governing our acts by what o.
theirs have done, and not by what they
should have done. The errors of the great
1.-THE greatest are but human, and subject
to err,) produce evil consequences COM
mensurate with their celebraty. 1t often
happens, therefore, that an error once put
in motion, having received the sanction Of
a great name, or names, moves on from
sire to son---from generation to genera
ton, till custom, with its arbitrary sway,
renders it durable as the laws of Lycor-
gus, and Interchangeable as those of the
Meads and Persians. Thanks to the in
telligence Of the age we live in, old pre-
JUDGES are not chung to with the tenacity
of those ages that are gone. Persons
may propagate opinions with safety and
success, if supported by plausibilty and
reason, that are at variance with those of T.
the schools. Reason is unshackled, COM :
mon sense stalks abroad, conquering ig- {
norance and exterminating mental gloom, i
that have for ages chained females to the
car of ignorance, rendering them mere
of the worst sort--slaves
mentally and physically; the former of
which is, of all others, the most degrad-
ing, all will admit.
Men, women say, are tyrants and usur- !
Pers; and men, on their part, claim SUI !
periority and boast of their positive and {
natural rights. will not enter into the
discussion of this point, but shall proceed ;
to consider in courserv manner, the con- {
dition of my own sex, as it has been, and
as it is. Where the influence of educa-
ton is unknown and unfelt, as was the
case in all the world, or nearly so, in for
mer ages--the condition of females was
deplorable. For the proof of this we have {
only to turn the pages of either sacred or
protane history. Look into Rollan or Jo-
sephus. Even the refined Greeks. with
all their learning and knowledge, neglec-
ted the education of females; nav, refused
to educate them; this was so also with ALL
the European nations, in the dark ages ,
What was the result? Why, utter wretch [
edness prevailed; polygamy was allowed, {
and the purchase of wives. The ews were
allowed to divorce their wives, as we
learn in Deuteronomy.
Why should go to other times or other
when our own affords so many, {
and striking examplesf Look at the In G
dian and his squaw! See her carry the $
burthen-act as the pack horse to an i'm t
perious and arbitrary husband, who treats I
her as an inferior being. She has to plant : !.
his corn and in word, do all the labori- :
Gus g. mental drudgery. Is il so when fe-
males live in society, where educationre-
fines the character and feelings, when
general knowledge opens the stores of ma /
ture and their own resources? Woman's
advancement in the scale of moral and t
mental refinement, has been slow for CEN 9
turtles she has been advancing, but by al
most unseen degrees, to that elevation to /, ,