Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1867-10-18
Women in Society.
How they sho'd be Educated.
From q paper bv Rev, o. b. Frothingham, In
the Radical.

the Radical.
The bright women of Paris terrified
Napoleon more than Major Generals
did, and to break up coterie was to
him as important as to demolish q bat
TALON. This power Of conversation,
this wit, this swift-winged speech was
irresistible. Not one of those women
of Paris had vote; not one of them
had voice In any legislative or popu-
lar assembly. They were not writer's.
They did not address the general ear.
But for all that they were q power in
the State. If the women of America
f-possession, the same adr0itness of
language, the same keen and piquant
wit, they could In six months alter Leg
islation, so far as 1t concerned them
selves. They could change the laws of
property tenure, the laws of divorce,
the laws which define the marriage re-
lation. The women of New York cod
regenerate the city In a twelve-month,
IL they would use their tongues in the
service of their consciences. They
could make the Kingo ridiculous;
they could shame the magistrates into
cleaning the streets; they could procure
reform Of the markets; they could shut
up every dram shop as tight rs though
sober policeman stood at the door;
they could make the social vice disrep-
utable; men would be their willing SER
wants. Husbands, fathers, brothers,
lovers, acquaintances, would be talked
over and talked under. The parlor
would be mightier than the caucus
chamber, the public hall, or the pulpit.
1 am not exaggerating. Whenever
women try to do these things now, they
do them. With little art, with little
accomplishments, with smiles, intelli-
gence, but partial earnestness, they do
them. What, then, might they not
accomplish with disciplined powers?
But women can never hold this high
place till they appreoiate the character
that is demanded for 1t. Why should
feminine influence be associated almost
always with coquetry? Why should
suggestion Of wounded, wronged, oi
broken hearts? Why should female
fascination suggest the snake-like mag.
netism which misleads and kills? 1t Ii
shame; It Is an insult to woman that
il should be SO. 1t Is reproach to
womanhood that power SO tremen'
dous should be 80 tremendously mis-
used; that lightness, foolishness, sensu
atty, malignity perhaps, should con.
troll that singular and wondrous power
by which the female sex holds right OF
sway over the males. It is time that
this dangerous attribute should be em.
ployed for nobler uses. 1t is time this
subtle, strange power should be made
amenable to reason and conscience. II
is time, at all events, that taste and re.
finement had theirsharein this direction
Women should be educated for soci
ETY.. with as much purpose as anything
else. Will you educate women In order
that they may gain a livlihood? And
will you not educate them III order that
they may become power? VIII you
educate them for usefulness In the nurs.
cry, the kitchen, and the sick room
and will you not educate them for the
parlor, where all they are comes In
play? Will you educate them that they
may teach children, and will you not
educate them to sway men? Will you
educate some single faculty Of theirs
for some high employment, and will
you not educate their heart In the fine
work OF shaping character
OF women teachers, such as they are,
there Is no lack. or women philan.
thropists there are quite enough. For
the present, sufficient number ol
women lecture and preach.
But where are the women who are
mistresses Of the noble art of conver.
sation, In which they are made tc
excel?
The position of woman, as social
being. In the circle which is her world,
Is won by culture-culture OF the voice
by music; culture Of the organs OF
speech by elocution; culture iE gram
~ - trn N,
the dictionary. The very mode oi
talking IL ali art worth cultivating.
Then the materials for conversations;
where do thew come from? The dress
maker and the milliner, the jewelei
and the confectioner, the cook and the
chamb. rmaid, inexhaustible as they
are, do not quite supply them. The
last fashion will go great way, but
will not quite carry lady through.
What shame that so much eloquence
should be spent on belts and buckles!
If woman would only talk small things
in a large way, there would be no small
talk even about slippers and gloves.
To have q hundred ladies and gentle
men in room, and to have the ladies
discuss what their friends wore at the
last assembly!
Women should study history, biog.
raphy, the annals of social life. They
should study the living languages, and
read the living literature in prose and
verse. They should be able to talk
about music, and painting, and sculp.
.ture. They should cultivate the imag.
ination of the great masters. They
should be acquainted with the society
In which they live. They should know
the ideas that are abroad. They should
be instructed In the current politics ol
the day.
Surely social ambition as noble a.
that have presented would carry them
through studies as delightful as these,
IF they will learn little OF all these
things without any object whatever
they would learn them thoroughly with
such an object as this In view.
A grave responsibility rests on wo.
men here. They are not doing theiI
duty. Why 10 society coarse and dip
pant? Why do young men seek the
society Of meretrici0us women? Why
do gentlemen frequent the club, the
biliiard-room, the theatre? Why are
gentlemen reluctant to go into COM
pany, preferring the evening news
paper, or the evening nap. on the sofa!
These young men, wandering away into
vCuIPO6SAOny 6AO shSy hoU - SPA00NAA ~
the women, who ought to draw them
within the reach Of their fascination?
The nightly frequenters Of the club.
house and billiard rooms, and of worse
places, are they not = reproach TO the
women, the charm OF whose society
ought to make 1t impossible to waste
the evening hours in foolishness? The
crowded haunts Of dissipation cry out
against the dark and silent parlors
which should be alive with happy
guests. delighting and improving each
customs, stupid and ilJiberal habits,
instituted foI1ies, established evils, or.
ganized wrongs, existed by the suffer.
ance Of women, whose deIicacy they
ought 70 shock, whose scorn they ought
to provoke. Must hoy appeal to wo.
men as their abettors? Alas, that indO-
lence, ease, indifference, recklessness,