, 1855-06-08

= this all in woman's power to be and teach
, Let us now turn to the chief objection,
which anticipate to the views here pro
pounded. 1t may be said that would dc
stroy the essential differences between man
, and woman, lay snhiecting both to the same
process Of education. There are to thi,
objection various answers. Take class o.
boys, all taught in the same way, by the
SAM teacher, for years learning together
aud playing together do we find that
their indivitualities are obliteratcd They
know much in common, bnt the true charec.
teristics of each continue but little changed
aud even in so far as they may he changed,
il is rot hy the process of assimilation to
others. If, then, as it is said, the natural
differences between man and woman be
greater than between one man and another,
why fear that similar course of instruc-
ton will remove them? Again The
profcsscd Instruction of which alone have
been speaking, is but one branch of that
multifarous education, which circumstances
impcrccptiLly, but not less surely give.
Eqnalize the one, and the other remains in
all its force, perpctuating the differences
which it is important TO preserve.
But, in truth, education, culture of all
kinds, developes differences much more than
it produces resemblance or uniformity.
Plants varicgate their colors when cultiva-
ted, so do towels when domestcated The
principle is universal. Take twenty Indians
and twenty educated white men Of the
same country. or which set do the mem
bers differ most from one another? The
same aliment is not the same to two differ
ent recipients. As one plant converts the
agency Of the elements into healthful juices,
another into poison, so with mind The
Had which slirs the youthful warrior, strs
the youthful poet also, and in the lays Of
chivalry which merely Soothed the idle
hours of thousands, Milton found the inspi-
ration Of his muse. So it is in all things,
The oak and the ash do not assmilate, or
exchange natures, because they are planted
side by side in the same soil, moistened by
the same showers, shaken by the same
treezes. Men do not grow alike because
they have, read Euripides or studied the
Diaerentral Calculus together /; the sources
Of variety multiply as the stores Of knowl-
edge increase Each seizes on his appro-
pirate aliment, there is root OF unity, but
Il diversity Of stem and branches, and both
are good. l,s.tr~ t rBf.r r,
Bot il will he said that education should
strictly be in the direction of the natural
bent. In professional training this may
indeed be true. To make merchant Of
the mechanical genius wonld be a dOubly
sad mistake. But in general education the
truth lies on the other side The over
strong we must curb, the feeble we must
cherish. We must have no morbid or mon
strous growths. Singular tastes must not
be fostercd into disproportioned vigor,
while the rest Of the mind Is stunted. And
SO with woman. If, as VIC are told, She be
naturally weak, in reasoning powers, her
reasoning powers wemust strive to strength
en-. If she want, naturally, self,reliance,
that selfreliance VIC must seek to give, and
SO in every case. Boys and girls both
must he trained in those things which each
most wants. Perhaps the training that
seems most congenial with each nature is
that which should be diligently employed
upon the other for the one, that mental
discipline which may seem to have most
affinity with the sterner constitution, in
order to preserve it from weakness, and for
the sterner nature, more Of that cultivation
which is generally appropriated to the
gentler, in order to endow il with more
kindness, and preserve it from hardness and
coarseness. But it may be further said,
that would take woman out Of her sphere.
OF all absurdities, this is the most absurd
Let the objector define what woman's
sphere is, or rather what it ought to be.
That her present sphere is, in all things,
her proper sphere will, surely, not be CON
IA. Ii "a =.
period of the worlds history, the existing
should be deemed the right, and the eter-
nal but yet changes steal in, and the
thing that is, is not what was, or what yet
shall be. On such a subject it becomes no
one to dogmatize but thus much l will
say, that never will it be known what wom-
ans sphere is, till the powers with which
she has been trifted bvl our common Creator