The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1857-07-22
WOMAN IN ENGLAND.

uo ID aSlo AolA UuiSu lilo 1oho"AnS
extract is taken, is as applicable towoman
in this country as in England. After
speaking Of the purity of woman as the
safeguard Of the state, and her condition
as furnishing us with guage for its
civilization, its refinement and religion"
the writer points out the degraded condi-
ton of woman in other countries and then
says:
We pass from scenes like these to look
on our mother land with feelings of natur-
al pride and national gratitude. There
are specks in the sun, and the women of
England have their faults; but, with all
their faults, they are still genuine women
--femining in feeling, with unconupted
affections and untainted delicacy of ma
ture. There is religion in the heart of
England, and where there is religion good
is as inseparable as light from the sun
In our creed the graces are all Christian
In heathendom they are corporeal; with
us they are spiritual. Even when religion
is not the individuals "bosom lord" it yet
30 gloriously subImates and enlightens
the general atmosphere that the notional
soul is purified and exalted, and opinion
takes higher stand. 1t has been well
said that "hypacrisy is the homage which
vice pays pays to virtue" In one sense,
indeed, it is better than shamelessness in
sin, since it proves that crime must hide
its head and veil its features before the
the great tribunal Of reproving world.
With what refreshing feelings of the
spirit we turn to those mighty impulses Of
educational advance which are, at this mo-
ment upheaving the bosom of our own
dear county, from one extremity of its
widespread sovereignty to another. The
word education meant a far different
thing in the last generation from what it
does in our own. Then it signifed few
tunes on the piano-forte, badly played;
few flowers painted, as unlike nature as
possible, a sampler with strawberry Dor
der round, and dates, urns, and hierogly-
phics within; and stiff, low courtesy
taught by the dancing-master. Now, the
word education means practice of all the
faculties, memory stored with the histo-
ny Of the worlds great family, making the
heart know and own its vast relationship
mind made capable of communion with
the master spirits of the age, powers en-
ergised for good and useful action, cour-
age to meet LIES cares, enduradce to sup
port its evils. 1t means the practical
power of domestic rule, the ability to guide
q house the knowledge how to work in
the great field of benevolence; above ALL
it means that mental grasp Of the high
purposes of life which enables woman to
train her children with some degree Of
fitness for thrir future destinies, to carry
them safely through the shoals of super
stition and the rocks of predjndice which
beset their early years, and which, if once
suffered to make their mark upon the
child, so corrode the after-life, and like
wounds received in the cradle, are carried
even to the grave. 1t means that noble
elevation of the woman which enables her
to project moral aed intellectual power
strong enough to stamp the character of
the generation which in to succeed her
own.
In speaking thus Of female education,
let it not be said that we are aiming too
high. So far from this being the case, we
actually desire to exempt those who have
been rocked in silver cradles. Their edu-
cation is only for the exclusive sphere
which is hedged round by pride enclosing
luxury. No doubt there are those within
it whose honor is the greater because they
have broken through the boundary which
separated them from their fellow-creatures
to theie stewardship. We areleaving out
the opulent whose Incidence is the privi-
lege of their station. We are speaking of
the masses. 1t is these which fill our
country with that leavering of good sense
good deeds, and thrice-blessed affections,
which tells upon the whole constitution
of society," Then plain, these honest,
these golden virtues, make the land Of our
birth the land Of our love.