Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1861-05-24
THE EDUCATION OF WOMlN.
By MISS L. c. ARNOLD.
Read before the Teachers Association
Of Bedford County.

This is subject upon which much has been said
and writer, and yet il has lost Of its fDlpor
faace but is susceptible Of wide and extended dis
cussion Education is a word the analysis Of eh1ch
only adds to its significance, and taken in connec-
tioD with co'nen, it becomes Of almost vital impor-
tauce.
Great is the boast Of the progress of education:
great would be the Indignation excited by doubt
to the truth IF this assertion. single query
will make this doubt more intellgible, and place
the subject in a stronger light care women quail
fed to educate men ~ If not, no available pro
gress has been made, Upon her training depends
the happiness of ames-the loett being Of aatioHS.
The Selishness, political and social the fOrgetfu
ness Of patriotism the unregulated tempers and
low ambition of the sex, testify Too clearly how
httie has been done by the raunted education Of
the other. For education is usees pernicious,
in its influence unless it bears upon duty, well
as upon cultiyation-unless it expands the soul,
while il enlightens the intellect
Whatever may be the laws and customs of a
country, woman always gives the foae to moTaLs.-
Her influence, therefore, is more or less saluaary
according to the degree of esteem in which she is
held, Shs makes man what be is- Nature has
made mans intellect to depend upon her dignity,
as she has made his happiness to defend her vir-
tue. Just observe the great divisions Of the hu-
man race, the East and West. portion of the
l1ld world remains IN a state of inanity under the
oppression of rude civilization the women there
are slaves the other advances in equalization and
intelligence, the women there free and honored
The celebrated Ram Mohun Roy observed, ssthat
as long as the females of India remained in their
present degraded state, all attempts to improve
society and TO Implant christianity, would be use.
siess.''
The sacred maxim, .sFor the soul to be without
knowledge is no. good, )" applies to woman well as
10 man indeed 'tis reasonable to suppose that the
evils OF ignorance woman ere an consequences ta,
more pernicious than in If in repairing and
beautifying supeTstructure, we neglect the foun-
dalton, the work Of our hands will never be es-
tablished. If, in purifying stream, We are care
less Of the fountain--the source from whence il
springE-we labor in vain. 1t will be found, on re
fection and Investigation, that the tardy advances
of mankind in knowledge and in improvement, are
chiefly, owing to the defective state Of the for
mation-to the neglect, be it to greater or. les:
extent, in different countries, in the intellectual
moral and religious education OF women.
II we consult the pages of history shall find
that very many Of the greatest and best men thai
ever lived, owed their eminence to the influence and
direction given TO their minds in early childhood
by tender and intelligent mother. In our oYr
heretofore happy Republic we have the mother o.
the 'slmortal Washington"-a woman, whose re.
markable life and character has been so universally
admired throughout Europe, that of the most
celebrated men of that country, affirmed it no won
der that 'tAmerca produced the greatest men, since