The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1866-04-03
[For the Spirit of Democracy
Female Education.

much!
We hear eloquent orators and learned
Divines, discoursing on this much used
and much abused subject.
We poor mortals, who are destined to
grace the home circle, to make home de-
lightful to the lords of creation, must be
educated for the sphere of cur destinies.
From the cradle we have been taught
that time is precious and we must i'm
prove the moments as they fly.
To be sure [ havn't livedas long in the
world as my grandmother, neither have /
gazed from the tops of the Pyrinees, nor
slept beneath the sunny skies that per-
feet the orange bloom. Have never seen
the bear circling the pole, amid the Arctic
SHOWS. Nor have l with awed admira-
ton and stilled heart listened to the aw
full thunderings of Niagara. But have
seen enough of our system of female ed
%ucation to know that it is a thorough sys-
tenn of imposition on all women kind.
1t was surely the production Of some
cid bachelors fruitful brain, with whom
the fair of his acquaintance would have
nothing to 10, and as q revenge on the
whole race, he set himself to work. Lol
and behold! the result was our Female
Schools and Colleges, where the studies
are adapted to the capacity Of the stu
dent. As if the female mind was not ca
pable Of delving as deep into the world OF
science as the sons of this enlightened
world. l have no doubt they could not
fathom the brain of the originator Of
such a system, for it is so exceedingly
shallow they would be through it before
they had any idea they had arrived with
in its vicinity.
There is so much parade about the light
topics of ladies' conversation. And
why? Not because she prefers them, mol
because shei is not competent to cope with
the deep and abstruse subjects upon which
men bend all their energies; but because
these very same men will not allow then
an opportunity Of acquiring the knowl
edge, or if allowed to acquire it are mo-
permitted to display the same, and i
they do are termed "herridblue," strong
minded, &c., &c. Well, suppose they are
What of it? | think that much p%refera-
bic to the silly nonsense that gentlemen
usually talk to ladies, and think, or seen
to think, they are interested by no other
l would rather be blue until l wa:
black, as some have said, and horrid, too
than have as empty a head as some ]
know With elder down on their upper lip
When the masculine mind is SO very
weak, as it is now, there must be an equi.
librium kept, you know, ana that by the
female mind being developed into its prop.
er sphere, growing stronger and nobler
They are no less feminine for being strong
and blue. Considering all the circum.
stances, then, what wonder if ladies' con
versation, thoughts and actions should be
frivolous? AT whose door lies the fault
O! man? Not in the weakness of theil
mind, but the way they are educated.
We go through a course of study al
College, take up book after book, pore
over them week after week, and year after
year, con French idioms and Latin verbs,
until the heart is sick, and the brain, like
a machine put in motion, kept on from the
impetus given. To what purpose? Not
to fill a high station in the Council
Chambers of the Nation; not to proclaim
divine truths from the pulpit, but to
hold counsel with ourselves as to the best
means of disseminating our learning
among pots and kettles, that they may
soothe the hungry, and consequently ir-
ritable, specimen Of humanity denomina-
ting himself man.
What a lofty and inspiring aim for d.
Vlnely enuOWed mlndS.
Now suppose we have gone through a
course at school; spent all the best years
of our lives over musty books; poured
out the wine of our young souls over
classic lore and are then transferred to
the home circle to make it pleasant, char
ming and attractive to the homo who may
gather there, of whom wc have seen SO
few specimens, and they mostly in the
fossil state, or nearly SO, that we know no
more about how to conduct ourselves and
go about the task assigned US than Gen.
Mcclellan knew about taking Richmond;
Have seen, it may be in all, a half-dozen
gentlemen in the whole College course,
and taught that a look at them was almost
a crime, no wonder we shrink from their
terrible presence, and, from fear, blush
until our face assumes the hue of a boil
ed lobster, if addressed by one of them,
at the same time having altogether too
many hands to know how to dispose of
them anything like gracefully. If we
are being educated for the express pur-
pose Of entertaining and, well you
know I think it would be well to revise
the system of education. If these same
beings were brought into school as kind
of study, it would be a vastimplovement
over the present style; we could then
know what was expected of us in the
world in which in course of time we were
to enter, by having a miniature world and
real live specimen by which to learn.
Among the duties the ladies have to
perform is the one about which SO much
fuss Is made hv the adorable men. &c.