Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1843-07-22

The great neglect paid to female education in
our county seems to arise from one of two eau.
ses--eithcr, the idea That itt.y education is ne.
ccssary to fit females for their station in life has
obtained to a popular extent, or parents have
never given the iect that consideration which
Its magnitude and importance certainly dc.
mands. If the first, the question arises, why
should the female mind be left uncultivated?
Does 1t not possess the power to,improve, and in.
tellgencc to understand? Has il not the focnl.
Ties OF reason, judgment perception, &C., which
constitute the intellectual being? No zone denies
'his' why then, leave it uncultiyatcd and
clouded in obscurty, that intelligence which
It's wise and bencficent author has bestowed as a
mark OF superiority? No one prctends to DENY for
moment, that an improved and intelligent
NUM- renders Its possessOr more useful, more
hapPy' and more interesting; such an idea, in
aeed' would be preposterous. But, it is URGED.
mat females consigned by a very wise custom 70.
an obscure sphere lie, suitable To tbeir delic,
cy, disconnectcdand disintercsted entirely with
,iia''eis OIL pubic Importance, have CONSEQUENT
~ out little use for polished educatons and
some even go SO iaras to say, that it disouali-
hes them to proper discharge of their duties
IN 'he domestic circle. Egregious mistake
ana ne that urges it, wants himself, the intelli.
gcnce TO appreciate the beauties of the intellec.
tual mind. Who is the earliest and best guar.
aian OF the infant mind? Who sowes the first
secGs IN the tender sell and trains the plant with
care1nd affection? The mother And lust in
proportion as that mother is intelligent will the
enid be useful. And too often is the tender
mind OF children suffered to grow up in neglect
and wild profusion from want of education
and consequently, proper sense of her duty III
the mother And we could not reasonably ex
pect it to be otherwise--for if that exan,Dle
which ls first placed before the child and which
it is taught by nature to initiate, be wanting in
the higher and pobler qualities Of our nature, he
child Of course must be deficient. But educate
the mother. You throw around her the grace.
ful dignity Of mental improvement which al
ways commands respect. You inspire her with
an admiration and fondness for literary taste
and improvement, which combined with her af.
lection Tor her offspring, viii induce her to use
every effort TO instil into its early education,
those important lessons of moral duty and men
tai Improvement which alone can fit it for an
honorable and useful station in life. And the
clid lmbibes by intuition the light Of intelli-
gence from the polished mind of the mother,
Just as the vegitating plant absorbcs the genial
rays OF the sun that strengthen and noursh it.
II 49, moreover, true, that the dcyelopement of
the moral feelings depend almost entirely upon
inc cultivation of the mental faculties. Daily
observation demonstrates this TO be true What
wide waste Of moral and mental worth and
beauty has been committed, then, in neglecting
to cultivate the female mnd--wlat an amount
OF genius has been suffered tomouldcr and ruin
beneath The shades Of gnorance-and what u
paradise of social delight and Intellectual plea
sure has beSn denied " woman through gross and