Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1861-04-10
SPIRIT OF The AGE A Weekly Family News paper.

was lett to point out to the modern Traveller
the site of the onec proud and opulent Troy.
The story of the disinterested Pocahontas,
in connection with the rescue of Smith, the
father of Virginia, is well known to every one ~
who is at all familiar with the history of this !,
country. The stern, dignifed old chief, whose :,
will was law, could not listen unmoyedt to the !
feryent supplications of his beautiful daugh- I Z
ter, nor behold without emotions Of pity and :,
forgiveness, the tears tricklisg over her angel !.
face. The uplifted tomahaMk Of Powhattan )
fell harmless to the ground fronthis hnnerved :
hand, instead Of being plunged into the heart :,
of the intended victim. =
But it is useless to cnumerate more instan- !.
ces of female influence. Daily observation :
affords satisfactory proof of the unlimited .
power exerted by the fair sex over the proud
lord Of creation. Her magical charms began !
in the delightful garden of Eden, and like Mil
toms angels, vital in every part, cannot but
by humiliation die Adam, fresh from the
hands of the Creator, pure and unspotted by
sin, yielded to the persuasions of his lovely
companion, to partake of that forbidden tree
that brought sin and death and all our woe
into the world. She took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat; and gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat. Well may we i'm
agine this transgression on the part of Adam,
to have been one of the ~severest trials of his
long life. One Of two things must be done.
He m u either abandon to her lonely fate
the beautiful being that Gpl had given him
as a helpmate, or violate Ne command of his
Maker, and cause the wsl Q mourn in sack
ltcloth and ashes. y
= An objection has been urged against ex-
tensive female. education, on the ground that
she is inferior in natural mentaT sY 1ewments.
The truth of this position, however clear it
may seem to its advocates, does not appear
thus evident upon q close and unbiased ex-
animation. On the comparative intellect of
woman, contrary opinions have been main
tained-some contending for-others against
her inferiority. Perhaps neither of these po-
sitions are strictly true. No doubt there is a
near approximation to an equality. | think
Mr.. Doggett, in an address delivered at Ran
dolph Macon College, has conclusiyely proved
the absurdity of entertaining the idea, that
any material difference exists, in the original
; structure of the mental capacities of the sexes.
/, An apparently plausible reason has been ad.
0 vanced by those who contend for woman's in
f~eriority. They say that she manifests less
s strength of mind than man. This can be &C
counted for, says Mr.. Doggett, without low
ering the standard of her capacity. First
J.. her duties are not of such a character as ne
y ~cessarily to deyelope her mind in the same re
y SpecC, ana TO the same eAIellL Inc Llit'
y usually adapts itselfto its requirements. Som
h men, beyond all doubt, are fsade intellectual
n ly vigorous by The collision and pressure {
A. circumstances. Secondly, her education i
20 very different, both domestic and literary. B
IN the one, she is made familiar isom childhoo
es with the scenes of a narrower circle, and of
IL less stirring and disciplinary kind. By tt
"a other, she is deprived of more than half Il
or advantages conferred upon the male Ii
domestic position, then, and limited educatio
clearly point out the source Of difference o
ed served, and entirely removes the objecti'
n; with every unprecedented enquirer. She
n merely taught the first rudiments of scienc
n and the ornamental accomplishments, pair
b. ing, music, and dancing, are allowed to sup'
in sede the more useful requirements. L
young lady, too, is taken from school befc
the higher faculties become developed, and
the time when the young man usually ent'
The college. But were her advantages ever
of great, two Instructions will always prev
con her from exhibiting her knowledge as striki
Or ly as man. She acts upon a less observa
the theatre, and possesses a constitutional diff
IN EMS, ", Wh ieh. must st forever conceal It 5ls N +
ices mind will be in a measure alike. Reve
E to their social c~ondition-their circles of acti
)wn mode Of instr uction-and you reverse il
great degree the mental manifestations.
ally The world has furnished quite a numbel
females distinguished for their literary att;
ments. Pericles, a famous orator Of Gre,
attributed his success to the lessons he lear
cter from Aspasia. The philosopher Scion,
], in knowledged that she taughIhim rhetoric
by Semiramis is represented as a woman of
as a ability, and well versed in the intricate scie
un- of government. In modernitmeS a long
. Of of females looms up before Us, who have m
Ks valuable contributions to scence. Mrs. S
ana e~rville, Madame De Stael, hannah More,
have Hemans, Grace Greenwood and a host OF
ence ers, have drank deep drauhts at the Pier
cans spring. They are profould original thi
some ers. The first mentioned lady is the
oyra- mathematician of the age. Mrs. Hemans
mind Sigourney have done honr to the muse of
etry, by their lively, interesting, instruc
more illusions, glow ing with tire poetic lnspirat
from The grand enterprise o columbus, tina
S not suited in the discovery Of he New World,
i. 1t f~ostered and supported b1sabella, Quee
ends Spain. The practice Of tocnlation for
ad- Small Pox, was Introduce into England
ports Lady Mary Wortley Montague. That An
mate, Electricity or Galvanism, Fas discovered
les of Madame Galyani, with he labors OF
IF old Herschell, brother to theEeat Astronom
o the that name, every school6F is familiar.
before We content ourselves Eth the above S
tons. They are amply efficient for our
ne les pose. And in the Language OF Pope,
d. as. "While plants their shFe, and flowers
me U odors give,
Their names, their hoIlfs, and their pr
shall live"
Let woman be educatea Much of her
happiness, and the hapness of the race
pend upon the cultivate OF her faculties
is a right, then, in b estowment of "
the most forcible claiuAan be urged; a
is an act of gross in Nice to deny her
'ceptre privileges of the oppsfe sex. 1t IS dl
y the her, from the domestic ad social positio
!, over occupies, as the ~instructr OF children in
] ! GF "A sra4 principles, and infe formation of
lishing rect habits, 20 aAa3fFrr to learn then
Romeo all important laws, relatifto the presery
Dccem' OF health, and to throw I weight of he
he c;tv bdundedinfuence on tbAde Of moralit,
ms tha virtue. Will any one de to assert. tn:
himself duties are of a humiliatir or degrading
besiega acter? That her sphe1of usefulness
sy had below that of mans? well might W
terms sert that the earth is lbs important il
when "nolhy vi vegetation lan the sun O
a last S Nc a'mospnere and It1llZIng Shove
,urnful The majestic river, roligi in solemn graz
him, to 70 the ocean, and bearing on its liquid /
city, the proud navy of SOM mighty nation,
eepino us origin and CONTINUED existence to
denial ripping rilts, issuing fam springs sit
Eomen. among the distant andhefred hills and va
nd the The rose, with all the Beauties and g
n their That make it the queuAof flowers, de
agita- for its nutriment upoa a few ibrous
lis fair concealed beneath the cath from human
These are fit iIlucfrattunw /, Of tho eooro