Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1864-03-30
THE SMITHSONIAN HOUSE
FoR 90 -.
MISS SMITH on TIE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF
STUFFING.

* NV
From the New York Sunday Mercury.l
SHALL not forget the emotion that
softly broke within me on my first visit
to Smithsonian House. 1 know not how
it is, but have always felt a particular
respect for boarding-schools for young
ladies. I am open to allow the Oddity Of
the taste; 1 confess to the eccentrieity !;
but so it is. I have a knack of looking
upon such abiding places as great manu-
factories Of the domestic virtues-as the
salt-eellars of a vain and foolish world.
And now I am prone to consider them
as towers and castles-I, of course, speak
Of fsehool-hnishing-whenee, as in the
precious old times, young ladies walk
forth, their accomplishments breaking
IKE sunbcams about them, to bless, eie
vate, and purify ungraleful, Maynard,
earthly man. As Miss Smith herself was
wont to say, sometimes with little tear
glistenlng like pins heads in her eyes-e
as that great woman was accustomed to
observe Of her own pupils; Dear little
thingsl they are made too good for men;
but then, poor souls! it's their mission
Slightly chastened and humiHated by
this truth, I repeat it, I always contem-
plate a boarding school with growing
respect. And touching, and pretty, and
very suggestive it is to see boarding
school walk With school girls, gray
ity is, Of course, a matter Of hight; hence
the tallest--next the mistress-are ever
the most serious; while the little ones.
like rebuked kittens. are just as serious
as they may be- Dear little things! [
never see their line of bonnets that I do
not drop plump fathoms down in contem
plation. I ask it oft times, and Of course
have to wait for an answer Sweet little
girlsl where, at this moment, are your
husbands? How many of them are play
ing at TOP, wholly thousht'ess of the
blessings blossoming for them? How
many trundle the hoop, and dream not
of the wedding ring that even now may
be forged for them? How many hy their
long tailed kites, without a thought of
coming curl papers2 How many, heed
/ less Of the precious weight Of matrimony,
] jump at leap-frog? and how many, at
ring taw, oblivious of the holy state, at
this very moment 'knuckle DOWN. But
the picture is too affecting; my eyes be-
gin to Gater over the page. as if it>were
and onion bed.
Well. the intelligent and serious read
er-for trust the animal is not extinct
yet-the serious reader, I say, may now
imperfectly understand my emotions as
1 approached the Smithsonian House. 1t
was a building worthy of its purpose. A
large, square, massive red brick house;
house that somewhat revealed the sol d
comforts to be had within. A house, it
was plain, with a magnificent cellar for
its heart-a cellar that at seasons sent its
red blood throughout the whole body Of
the building. The contemPlatiye man,
( his eye for the first time resting on the
dining room windows, would inevitably
subside into calculations; wOuld count
the number of elbows that might be al,
lowed honest play around the mahogany
circles of that room. There are many
such houses throughout our merry land
and yet, how often arc they in a fallen
condition
The house was approached through ar
avenue Of lines, curiously cut. One ben
to the wind large green shoulder o
mutton; another had a sirloin shape
while shrubs came up in fryiu pans anC