Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1846-01-07
Female Education.

The fault of the age. in regard to fe-
male education, may be traced to an
erroneous idea of the ends which ought
to be attained by education--in other
words, girls are educated with the view
of being accomplished firts, and with too
little reference to their fitness as scives.
This latter, however, should be the great
end Of a woman's education. Pro7i-
dence has assigned her condition in
life of peculiar character. He has en-
dowsd her with an exquisite sensibility,
a preponderence Of the moral faculties,
and with thousand graces Of mind and
manner, which fit her peculiarly to be
the soother Of our cares, and the in
structor Of the infant mind. Her home
is in the affections. She is intended by
the ordination of nature for a wife and
mother. Her sphere is in the family
her empire is the fire-side-her throne
is in the heart of her husband and her
children. To make them happy is as
much her business az it is her plea
sure. To cheer them whom despond-
ing-to watch them in illness is her
peculiar duty, and for this duty an all.
wise Providence has fitted her, by the
very constitution Of her mind. Man has
other provinces assigned him-he has
also other characteristics. 1t is his, to
drive the plough, to ply the tool, to
chatter in the mart, to preach from the
pulpit, to thunder at the bar, to WELD the
destinies of a nation, to defend the homo
to which he took his bride. But woman
has more quiet duties before her. 1t is
hers, to do q athousand little acts to make
comfortable and happy that home, for
which her husband daily tolls, and for
which. if requisite. he is ready to die.
TO it her properly to perform these
duties. should be the great object Of
education.
Is it sol Are girls educated with an
eye to being wives and mothers9 Are
they not rather practically taught by the
manner in which they are educated, that
the great end Of their life is to secure a
husbandl We speak now Of what is
called fashionable education, for al
though the large portion Of young ladies
are not thus educated, they escape the
evil rather from their parents inability to
afford the expense, than from any cons
viction OF its folly. We say then. that
the aim Of fashionable education is not
to make the subject ofsuch education
good wife, and that she is taught those
accomplishments which shine in ball
room, rather than those which shed sun
shine around the hearth-stone. To play
on the harp or guitar-to dance with
grace-to scream French, Spanish or
Italian songs--to lisp in foreign langua.
ges--to dress extravagantly-to enter a
room in a certain manner-to eat with
silver forks, and to do thousand other
things of the like character, are the &C.
complishments taught at our fashionable
boarding schools, and drilled into young
ladies from the time they can read until
they are, as the phrase goes. "brought
out" Now we do not object to these
accomplishments in their proper place. -
But we must recollect that they are, at
best. only accomplishments. They are
the gliding, not the material itself. II
a girl has nothing but accomplishments
she is scarcely fit for wife or mother.
Her singing, her French, her fine-lady-
airs will not cheer the domestic fire-side,
unless she has more solid qualities to
support her claims to our admiration. -
No one more admires an accomplished
woman than ourselves, but she who is
merely fine lady is our utter aversion.
Yet, al our fashionable boarding schools,
the pupils can become nothing else than
this. There is no attempt made to teach
them those things which every vito
should know--the economy, tho over>
sight, the management Of household. In