The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1865-01-19

NAoHIulJ IleNleW, as OF Dalpu AOer-
crombie said of those of Scotland, 'the
prettiest lassies in a. the world who nei-
ther know how to 'toil or spin,' who are
yet clothed like the lilies of the valley"
Are we not degenerating as nation in
this particular, and does not God by His
providence design to teach us lesson of
simplicity and domesticity? In ancient
times, queens and princesses considered
the use Of the distaff honorable now,
"none so poor as to do it reverence" The
great spinning-wheel has been quantity
called "Hygea's harp" and truly it dis
courses sweet music when played by nim-
BILE fingers, and at the same time proves
itself the goddess of health. The opinion
is too prevalent that lady may embroi-
der, but not make dress; she may man
ufacture flowers, but not darn stockings :;
she may make music, but not coffee Oh,
dear me, no that must be all left to the
Bridgets and Katrinas imported from
Europe. In the roll Of those who were
not ashamed of domestic employment are
numbered some OF the most illustrious
women of the earth. Madame Roland
could prepare her husbands dinner with
her own hands in the daytime, and in the
evening attract the admiration of the
greatest minds of France. 1t was labor
ing with her own hands in the garden
that the mother Of Washington was found
by the youthful Marquis de Lafayette
The immortal Milton was great advo-
cate that women should study ''Eousehold
good" And DR.. Franklin, perhaps with
his eyes fixed on some archetype of the
olden time, said, ~ would rather see a
spinning g-wheel than a piano-a shuttle
than a parasol-a knitting needle than a
visiting card" Then, we would say, let
"Domestic Economy" form branch of
the "course of study in the catalogue of
every institution of learning for young
ladies, and let the kitchen become as re-
spectacle as the drawing-room.
Although we would have our model
woman acquainted with household affairs,
yet think not we would have her reduced
to the condition of slaUe To shut her
up forever at home, is bar5arous There
are men enough who seem to think her
only Office is to be their scullion, who have
no higher notion Of woman's mission than
to scrub and scour, to wash and mend =
Thus, year after year, jaded, care-worn,
pale and broken-kearted, she drags her
weary life along till death relieves her
from her burden. It is not in Turkey
alone women are prisoners, for what else
than abject slavery is it for that tyrant,
bearing the semblance of man, to impose
such hard labor on his wife or daughter as
to allow them no time for recreation or
personal improvement? 1t is like the
M traol oP IL
wheel, or the toll of the galley-slave at the
car. Who would be content with harp
with one chord, or world with one
color? Who would consent to the mono
tone Of the glum bass with no soprano or
alto2 Yet even this would be more toll
cradle than the treadmill life some women
are compelled to endure, through the
spirit Of their self-constituted
masters. Throw open their prison doors
and let them walk abroad upon this beau
tiful earth, to see its towering mountains,
and Eden wales, and give them liberty in
the vast field of thought.
CulttUatton of the intellect enters laroezv
into the composition of the qualities or the
UOnadny Honaan. We know full we'll
here are some would be Solomons, who
set themselves up against experience, as
we'll as common sense, and declaim loudly
against female education. They seem to
,hink what they call "book larnin''' may
10 for boys who intend to be ministers,
doctors, or lawyers, but for girls, never
lslde from mere smatteripg of education
% enable them to read so as not to spell |
more than half the words, to write their
,wn names, and cipher as far as division
They have been so long impressed with |
he t'ateriority of the sex, that they have
worked themselves into the belief there |
las been an unequal distribution of
'rains, and that their daughters, like
themselves, have inherited a very small |
noietyl Such stolid reasoning might do
or the dark ages, but it won't do now. 1t
5 too late in the day to deny woman has
capacity for mental cultivation. Thou
ands of illustrious witnesses rise up as
right lights in the literary world 1 need
My point to the names of More, Barbauld,
|hapine, Aiken, Hamilton, Seward, De
tael, Landon, Porter, Hemans, Edge
'orth, Martineau, Hewitt, and Browning
4 foreign countries, and S:gourney, Hale,
leslie, Sedgwick, Stephens, Hentz, Gould,
,llet, Scott, Wood, Edgerton, Stowe, and
hid in our own land, to bear testimony
} the capabilities of the female mind.
1t is not for us to decide the controvert-
i question, whether the faculties of the
linds of the sexes are equal or not. This