Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-10-22
Ladies' Department.
To the Guardians Of Female Education
BY MRS. L. H. sIGoURNEY.

The mind of the present age, acting on the
mind of the next" as it has been happily def
ned by living writer, is object of concern
to every being endowed with intellect, or inter-
ested through love or hope in another genera
aion
Nor has the Importance of education in the
abstract been alone conceded. Practical re-
searches for its improvement, have signazed
our age and incorporated themselves with its
vigorous and advancing spirit Our most gifted
minds have toed to devise methods for the in
struction of the humblest grades of community,
and to make useful knowledge the guest of the
common people.
In this elevation of the intellectual standard,
our sex have been permitted freely to participate.
No Moslem interdict continues to exclude them
from the temple of knowledge, and no illusion
of chivalry exalts them to an airy height, above
life's duties, and its substantial Joys.
We are grateful for our heightened privileges.
We hope that those who have bestowed them,
will be no losers by their Iiberality. Still we
believe that an increase of benefits may be made
profitable both to gver and receiver. We soil
cit them in the name of the blooming and beau
tiful-those rose-buds in the wreath of our coun-
try's hope
1t is desirable that their education should be
diffused over a wider space of time, and one less
encountered by extraneous objects, and that the
depth of its foundation should be more correct
ly proportioned to the imposing aspect and re-
dundant ornament of its superstructure. Is it
not important that the sex to whom nature has
entrusted the moulding of the whole mass of
mind in its formation, should be acquainted with
the structure and Developments of mind!-that
they who are to nurture the future rulers of
prosperous people should be able to demonstrate
from the broad annal of history, the value of
just laws, and the duty of subordnaton-the
blessings which they inherit, and the danger Of
their abuse! Is it not requisite, that they on
whose bosom the infant heart must be cherished
should be vigiant to watch its earliest pulsations
Of good or evil!-that they who are commiss-
toned to light the lamp of the soul, should know
how to feed it with pure o!-that they in whose
hand is the welfare of beings never to die should
be fitted to perform the work, and earn the plau-
dit of Heaven!
That the vocation of females is to teach has
been laid down as position which it is impos-
sibIe to controvert. In semnares, academies
and schools, they possess peculiar facilities for
coming in contact with the unfolding and I'M
formed mind. 1t is true, that only a small por-
ton are engaged in the departments of public
and systematic instruction Yet the hearing of
Rotations, and the routine of scholastic dlsc-
pline, are but parts of education. 1t is in the
domestic sphere, in her own naive province
that woman is inevitably teacher There she
modiies by her example, her dependents, her
companions, every dwelIer under her own roof
Is not the infant in the cradle her pupil Does
not her smile give the earliest lesson to its soul!
Does she not enshrne her own image in the
sanctuary of the young child's mind, so firmly
that no revulson can dlsplace, nor dolatry sup
plant it? Does she not guide the daughter, until,
placing her hand in that of her husband she
reaches that pedestal, from whence, in her turn,
she impartt to others the stamp and colorlng
which she has herself received?
Might she not, even upon her sons, engrave
what they shall take unchanged through all the
temptations of time, to the bar of the last judg-
mentl Does not the influence of woman rest
upon every member Of her household, like tile
dew upon the tender herb or the sunbeam silent
ly educating the tender flower! or as the show
er, and the sleepless stream cheer and inyigo-
rate the proudest tree of the forest?
Admitting then, that whether she wills it or
not, whether she even knows it or not, she is
still teacher-and perceving that the mind in
its most plastic state is yielding to her tuteage,
it becomes most momentons inquiry, what she
shall be qualified to teach Will she not Of ne
,cessity impart what she most prizes and best
understands! Has she not power to impress
her own lneaments on the next generatlon?-
If wisdom and utility have been the objects of
her choice, society will surely reap the benefit.
If folly and selfindugence are her prevailing
characteristics, posterity are in danger of inher-
ting the likeness.
This influence is most visible and operative
in republic. The intelligence and virtue of
its every citizen have heightened relative value.
Its safety may be interviewer with the destiny of
those whose birth place is in obscurty The
springs Of its vitality are liable to be touched,
or the chords of its harmony to be troubled, by
the rudeSt hands
~" Teachers under such a form of government,
should be held in the highest honor They are
the allies of Legislators. They have agency in
the prevention of crime. They aid in regua.
ting the atmosphere, whose ncessant action and
pressure causes the life-blood to circulate. and
then return pure and healthful to the heaat OIL
the nation.
Concluded merit ooeek