Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-11-26
For the Nashville Patriot.
EducatiOn.
BY L. vIROInIA gEEsoH.

the children we educated Nature gives them one
mind, but how do We pervert and deface i'll God
has given them souls, but how few Of US, by our
practice acknowledge their existence We plant
the little seed and leave il TO the air the SOIL the
dew Drop and the sun beam, but are we as just to
the young expanding soul? This is not as it should
be. Let us show more confidence in Gods arrange.
ments more veneratiOn for His work.
We have a right to inquire into the basis and
structure Of our system Of Education; nav; it is
our known duty 10 do So Each one has the right
TO study for himself, and having done so, it be-
comes his duty to ask himself-what can I DO,
in iiv.duAlly, to render our system more worthy,
more liberal, more reiablef Wherein are we lia-
bic to become perverted by the system which now
prevails among usl-wberein are we to be benefit
ted by amendments !-anj how are such amend.
ments to be nader
There is one direct question which each one
would do well TO think upon, and answer for him
self. Our present system of Female Education, is
e right or wrong Is it not in its very nature OPP
posed to freedom, and to progress? By it we sac.
rifce the soul TO show of mind. We sell our
birtbright COR a mess of pottage We do not cult
vate the heart, the SOUL the affections and without
these no woman can be truly educated. 1t is mere
cant TO reverence distractions. Life,-life, and
heart must be infused into the inertia of abstract
ideas, before they will take hold upon her nature,
and be appropriated by her faculties. 10 our mod.
eru "mode schools" there is little learned of the
true philosophy of life. The great lessons of self
reliance, sel-dependence and determination,
have but little share in the orthodox Collegiate
course" True it is, that notwithstanding, nay, in
despite of the cramping, narrowing, unnatural sys
TEN Of education practced upon them, we have
some true women among US. But they are excep
tions,-theirs are the natures that yiH row,-that
piH assmilate the free air of earth, and the free
sunshine of heaven. When they throw off the
shackles that a mere conventional system has riv-
eted upon their early years, they educate them
selves,-taking God and Nature fa their nstruc-
tors Their wisdom is born Of experience, their
lore learned in conversation, their knowledge
caught in contemplating nature, and studying hu-
mainly, and this TO them is worth all the dead Jumps
of erudition in the universe. She is ''taught of
God" and He ever commends his teachings to the
heart 1t is not a cultivation of the intellect alone
which develops the true woman. She may have
intellect erudition, elegance, accomplishments, and
yet fall far short Of the standard of "perfect wo-
man noby planned" Let not your lip curl when
freely assert that often honor more the ignorant
slave girl who washes the steps of your hotel, than
the arstocratic belle who sweeps by, Mortified lest
her costly robes should come in contact with her
sable servitOr The former is oftencr the true wo
man. Her richer heart, her warmer nature makes
il so, for and tenderness, and generosity
not efpossession, and intelligence, and sefshness
make the true ideal woman.
OF all the causes which have been instrumental
in producing that pseudo system Of female educas
tion which now obtains among US, the principal,
perhaps, is our so called Esprit of progression"
Here | would confess in a modest whisper, that
at times have my doubts whether we are the
great people we take ourselves to be. ask
myself, is our activity real progress? is our ex.
element true enthusiasm As a people we need
calmness, mean not that calnness
which is a stagnatiOn of the faculties,-nor that
serenity which is born of apathy and Indifference,
but the "quiet of a thinking mind, selr-occupedn
mean a stiffness like that of the forest in spring
time, when every tree, and shrub, and tiny root is
celebrating from its sap-vessels the rich foliage
and redundant bloom, which is soon TO burst upon
our enraptured vison;-a silence like that of the
night snow storm, when all the winds are hushed,
and the great fakes come slowly waiting down to
earth, fraught with fertility and kindly blessings
Power, and truth, and wisdom, spring not up like
the goard, but ever, as the giant oak are slowly
and silently matured and the best and strongest
natures, the lovelest hearts and minds amongst u.s.
are folded up, shielded from the crush, and glare
and hustle of the world unfolding their rich treas
ures of beauty and fragrance, like the night bloom
ing Cereus, beneath the quiet stars, and serene
shadows Of home. But with US Hurry holds her
Carnival all the year round, while Serenity keeps
perpetual Lent. This spirit is so contagious that
parents affected by it even ns regards the edu.
cation Of their children and they are ever ready to
commit them to the teacher who will hurry them
Through" and '6nish them off," upon the tele-
graphic principle. Papa looks nervously forward
10 the happy time when the hundreds which now
slip annually from his pocket book "ior the girls"
shall be employed in procuring "more negros to
make more cotton" aud Mamma by the time their
education is fairly commenced begins TO count the
months and sessions until they shall be ready to be
married.
The young ladies themselves imbibe the same
spirit II they are not allowed TO ''play pieces" in-
stead Of practising scaes and "paint pictures" be-
fore they are able to draw respectable perpens
dicular they consider that they doing nothing"
their instructors are characterized as Inefficient Of
course and straightway they are whisked OF 10
some other "model institution" One which could
'put them through" in ''less thsn no time" would
certainly be the one most literally patrOnized. In
structors are well aware that ia their business as
well all Others, patronage is the great desidera-
tum, and to gain this, they with few honorable
exceptions, viii pander to the ignorance and pre-
JUDGES Of their patrons.
Female education will never become what il
should be until the absurd idea that the chief mis-
sion OF woman is 20 marry, is exploded. True,
the croSning glory Of woman lie to be (worthily)
a wife and mother, but bow many thousands are
there whose highest ambition is satisfied merely 70
be-,aarrisd The realization Of the true wife, The
noble mother, is as foreign TO their de-pi-seml
intsllects as is the knowledge OF SsnseriL This
marrying idea is the reason why We have SO many
brilliant girls, and 90 many mediocre women.
While at school, that which Is impressed most
deeply upon the mind of the yong pupil Is APP
pesFAnce. She is taught that TO sesD learned, and
witty. and well-nformed, is just as good as 10 b
80. Every faculty is whipped into service TO gain
the desired agset Then there are the periodical
examinations, and exhibitions, for which she has