Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-12-22
HIGHER EDUCATION OF GIRLS.

ponds a much on its as on its
men, too much stress cannot be laid on
the paramount Importance of educating
our women in such a manner that they
shall be prepared by suitable physical
training and mental culture TO discharge
their duties in the domestic and social
circle, aiding and counseling their hus-
bands and brothers, and moulding the
plastic minds Of their children into all
the forms Of goodness, patriotism and
self-denials. Thus prepared and thus
discharging their positive duties, the
question Of the privileges to which
women are entitled as members of the
community, and to which they may lay
claim in the body polite, will admit of
easy solution. The subject is suggested
to US by a paper on the ''Higher Educa-
ton of Girls" by Miss Emily Davies,
part Of which is given in the "Massa-
SuuscttS tuCHcT luz NONeuluol.
a woman speaks to her sex, it is always
with sincerity, and generally with
knowledge of the theme which moves
her to address them. In the present in
stance no fattery is used. Actual
wants and deficiencies are pointed out,
q distinct admission of which is to be II
prelude to the needful reform. We are
told by Miss Davies of the small esteem
for their intelligence and good sense in
which English women of the middle
class are held of a habit of exaggera-
ton as a feminine characteristic Of
mental weakness not compensated for
by bodily strength, and ofwant of health
so general in the y. Women, pre-
cluded from wholesome sources Of ex-
element in towns, resort to such as
are unwholesome, and fall into indolent
habits. with their resulting dullness.
In times gone by, circumstances pro-
vided q discipline which is now
wholly wanting, and which needs to
be supplied by milder and deeper
cultivation. Men overtaS their own
brains, and, by a doctrine of vicarious
rest, are quite content that women
should be kept in a state Of wholesome
rust. This system tells in different ways.
Some girls fret and pine under it; others
| are content 70 idle about from morning
TO night, acquiring ''indolent and deSpl-
tory habits, hard to break through when,
| in later life, the demand for steady,
methodical exertlon comes upon them
What" asks Miss Davies, do ladies
talk about at morning and evening par
ties? Children, servants, dress and
| summer tours constitute the staple Of
conversation, which, after a while, flags
and leaves the tired countenanceS to
express the vacancy within" "Of liter
allure women of the middle classes know
next to nothing"
Can we say much of that Of the higher
class? The catalogue of a booksellers
circulating library, in which second-rate
fiction largely predominates, is a fair
criterion of the range and the ,>st Of
lady readers. The assertion that news
papers are scarcely supposed to be read
by women at all, must be received with
large allowances in this country, where
women are quite as much readers Of
newspapers as the men. "When politi-
cal or social questions are forced upon
their notice, they commonly judge them
from some purely personal point Of
view :" an infrmity, this, we may add,
not confined TO the fair sex. We like
much the sentiment conveyed in the
| following words: The want Of hearty
sympathy, not only between the classes
which are divided by broad and easily
recognized distinctions, but between
those which are separated BY lines so
| shadowy that, looked at from above or
below, they are scarcely discernible,
is one of the most serious impediments
10 social progress, and it is one which a
better and more widely-diffused culture
might do much to remove"
As great things are expected from a
reform in secondary instruction, it is
reasonable to ask hat such reforms as
may be possible shall be on the widest
basis, and not emitting any really i'm
portant section of society. No particu-
lar scheme is offered to meet these re-
quirementS by u selection Of the most
appropriate studies, and allotment of
time for such. When the discovery Of
u perfect plan is reached, sit will prob
ably be found, also, that the same
course is, in the main, the best for both
girls and boys, the object being sub
stantially the same-that of awakening
and strengthening and adjoining the hui
man spirit" 1t is more especially i'm
portant that the period of secondary
instruction should be well spent in the
case of girls, whose culture up to the
age of eighteen years, when it ceases,
should be wide and deep and humane in
the highest degree. There is nj Uni
versity for them, as in the cast Of boys,
to make up for the deficiencies of school
training.
THE EXPECTS OF THE CABLE ON TRADE.
Tho Atlantic cable seems to be work.
ing a complete revolution in trade be-