Litchfield enquirer., 1843-12-07
OUR DAUGHTERS.
IAeir Physical and Domestic Education.
BY CATHERINE E. BEEcHERs

BY CATHERINE Z. BEEcHERs -
The physical and domestic education of daugh.
tiers should occupy the principal attention of moth
ers, in childhood; and the stimulation of the intel
lect should be very much reduced. As general
rule, daughters should not be sent to school before
they are six years old; and when they do 60 far
more attention should be paid to their physical de-
vclopement. They should never be confined, at
any employment, more than an hour at time; and
this confinement should be followed by sports in
the open air. Such Accommodations should be Sc
cured, that at all seasons, and in all weathers the
teacher can send out portion of her school, every
half hour, for sports.
In addition to this, much less time should be
given to school, and much more to domestic en-
Payments, especially in the weather. classes.
little girl may begin, at five or six years of age to
assist her mother; and, if properly trained by the
time she IS ten, she render essential aid. From
this time, until she is fourteen fifteen, it should
be the principal object Of her education to
strong and healthy constitution, and thorough
practical knowledge of all kinds of domestic en-
Payments During this period, though some at
tention ought to be paid to intellectual culture it
ought to be made altogether secondary in impor-
lance; and such measure Of study and intellectu-
al excitement, as is now demanded in our best fe-
male seminaries, ought never to be allowed, until
young lady has passed the most critical period of
youth, and has a vigorous and healthy constitution
fully established.
And it is to that class of mothers, who have the
means of securing hired service, and who are the
most tempted to allow their daughters to grow up
with inactive habits, that their country and the
world must look for reformation, in this respect.
Whatever ladies in the Weather classes decide
shall be fashionable, will be followed by all the
rest; while, if ladies of this class persist in the ar
lstocratic habits, now common, and bring up
their daughters to feel as if labor was dngradinr
and unbecomng, the evils pointed out will never
fad remedy. 1t is, therefore, the peculiar duty
ladies' who have 70
PIC, in this respect and make it their first aim to
secure strong and healthfl constitution for their
daughters, by active domestic employments. All
the sweeping, busting, care of furniture and BEDS
and clear starching, and the nice cooking should
be done by the daughters of family, and not by
hired service. II may cost the mother more care,
and she may find it needful to hire person for the
express purpose OF instructing and experimenting
her daughters in these employments, but it is what
should be regarded as indispensable to be secured,
either by the mothers agency, or by substitute.
rs IN this point of view, that the dearth of
good domestlcs IN this country may, in its results,
prove a substantial blessing If all housekeepers
that have the means, could secure good service,
there would be little hope that so important rev.
olution, in the domestic customs of the wealthy
classes, could be effected. And so great is the vis
intertie of mankind that the amount of exercise
ncedtu for health would never be secured by those
who were led to it by no necessity, but merely
from rational considerations. But already the
pressure OF domestic troubles, from the want of
good domestics, has led many mother, in the
wealthy classes, to determine to train her daugh-
tiers to aid her in domestic service and thus ne
cessty is driving mothers to do what abstract prin-
ClpleS OF eXpendiency never could secure.
second method of promoting the same object
Is, to raise the science and practice of domestic
economy to its appropriate place, as regular study
IN female seminaries. But it is to the mothers of
this country, that the community must look for
this change. 1t cannot be expected that teachers,
who have their attention chiefly absorbed by the
intellectual and moral interests of their pupils,
should properly realize the Importance of this de-
partment of education. But if mothers generally
become convinced ofthe Importance of this meas
ure, their judgement and wishes will meet the re-
opoctful consideration uicy ueserve, ana the thing
will be done. CO.,, ~.. ...
The third method Of securing remedy for the
evils pointed out, is by means of endowed female
institutions, under the of suitable trustees,
who shall secure proper course of female educa-
ton. The importance of this measure cannot be
realized by those who have not turned their attention
to this subject; and for such the following consid-
erations are presented.
The endowment of colleges, and of law, medi-
cal, and divinity schools, for the other SEX is de-
signed to secure thorough and proper education
for those who have the most important duties of
society to perform. The men who are to expound
the laws; the men who have the care of the pub
lie health, and the men who are to communicate
and wel-informed minds and it is mainly for this
object that collegiate and professional institutions
are established. Liberal and wealthy men contri-
butte funds, and the legislatures of the States also
lend assistance, so that every State in this Nation
has from one to twenty such endowed institutions,
supplied with buildings, apparatus, library, and
faculty of learned men, to carry forward superior
course ofinstruciion. And the use of all these adj
vantages Is secured, liz many cases, at an expense
no greater than is required to send boy to COM
mon school and pay his boara there. No private
school could offer such advantages, without charg-
ing such sum, as would forbid all but the rich
from securing its benefits. BY furnishing such
perior advantages, on low terms, mutitudes are
properly educated, who would otherwise have re-
manned in ignorance; and thus the professions are
supplied by men properly qualified. ,,.
Were there no such institutions, and no regular
and appropriate course of study demanded for ad-
mission to the bar, pulpit, and medical practice,
the education Of most professional men would be
desultory, imperfect, and deficient. Parents and
children would regulate the course of study accord
ing to their own crude notions and instead of hav-
ing institutions that agree in carrying on similar
course Of study, each school would have its own
peculiar system, and be competing and conflicting
with every other. Meantime, the public would
have no means o. deciding which was best, nor any
opportunity of learning when professional man
was properly qualified for his duties. But as it s
the diploma of college, and the license of an ap-
pointed body Of judges, must both be secured, be-
fore young man feels that he has entered the
most promising path to success in his profession.
Our country, then, is most abtndantly supplied
with endowed institutions, which secure a liberal
education on such low terms as make tiem access
sble to all classes, and in which the interests of
education are watched over, sustained, and made
permanent by an appropriate board of trustees.
But are not the most responsible of all duties
committed to the care of woman! Is it not her