Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-05-07
THE GAZETTE.
SATURDAY MORNING, MAY :, 1859.
THE RIGHT TRAINING OF WOMEN.

THE RIGHT TRAINING OF WOMEN.
The Church of England Review has IN ar
tice on female education, from Which we take
the following passage;
Much remains to be done in winnowing
out of peoples minds ridiculous ideas OF a
certain purely Fictitious style of living, with
ont which il is impossible to keep house,
There are plenty Of young men who have to
unlearn the foppery Of expenses dispropor.
toned to their means, and the sordidness Of
luxurieS which feed, not seif.respect but
gluttony aud pride. The possibility must
be secured to daughters and younger sisters
growing to be rational appreciatve COM
panions; girls who, if they are ever married,
will choose and value their husband for what
he is, and be interested in his calling and
his opportunities of acknowledgements
who will estimate the grave and sweet rea-
lities of wife and motherhood, beyond any
accident of precedence or superiority. BY
dismissing false and foolish notions of re-
probability, by refusing the cheap fascina-
tions of paltry education Of display, by
misunderstanding restraints misdirected or
too rigorous, by cultivating an intelligent
and unassuming mode of intercourse, by q
careful foresight in assisting young people
to prepare themselves for the exerton and
cost ofon day being the centre ola peace
full, hospitable home; in these and other ways.
much may he done To remove distractions
to that gradual acquaintance and that unaf-
fecIed respect and attachment which lead on
10 happy marriage.
In the mean time it will be we'll to think.
with not only the sympathy, but the venera-
ton they deserve, ofmany among those who
will never marry, to assist in multiplying
the too few occupations suitable to women.
or too open to them; above all, not to preach,
by implication OF otherwise. that woman's
life need never be dwarfed to a negation, or
onsumed miserably away, by causes com
pletely out Of her control. There are women
strong enough to keep their footing in the
world singly, without loss of womanly dig
nifty and sweetness, and to organize around
them the moral elements at all events, of an
independent existence They whose steps
are feeble need the more to be helped rather
than hindered in the struggle with their
fainting and more yielding self. Ifthey fall
here, is it at all certain that in welded life
their lot would have been suspicious Alas
how many faltering will has been bent and
given" beneath sanguine. unfulfilled reso
buttons to reclaim and humanize the husband
who has pulled the wife down instead to his
own mean and wretched level. Marriage is
not a lottery, but it is mere wilful blindness
to forget that in all its higher aspects it may
be wofully inverted or appalingly debased.
Not all the grand provisions of tender ties
and gracious instincts which surround one
of the greatest of divine ordinances, willmake
people pure or happy who insist ON being
peevsh or frivolous, or worldly. sensual or
deyilish
Welded life is great and holy mystery,
and source ofpower for good. often far be-
vond estimation; but unless there be at least
one soul filled with unselhsh love- and strong
in an unHagging faith, the formal union be-
tween two persons is no guarantee whatever
for will ennobled. or affections enlarged or
cleansed. And the faith which So works
by love can make q sunshine in shady
place without an infant or husbands eve
70 look into The harmOnies Of developed
and TRANSPORTED womanhood have been set
many a time to other music than that of wedd-
ing-bells She who in enthrOned never. I'M
der any roof, in mothers holy sovereignty,
may earn the right, in many house, OF
compelling every soul to love her. She will
create or find an atmosphere in which to
keep unwithered 1.-The heart out of which are
the issues oflife" Her hands will redeem
the time, aud her brain not be idle. Living
singly, vet not solitary, when she dies it will
not be till "smote" by many touch off graft
tude and cheerful. raverential sympathy, 1.-The
chord of self has trembled past i'll music out
ofsight."