Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1869-02-25
For tie Fassssssi'ls chssfTss w
Our Daughters--Ho shall
they be Educatedp
BIZ MA1coLM.


upon Christian principles-on the
great and liberal principles of Prot
estantism. Let the crescent wane
before the cross! let the darkness
of the Catholic Middle Ages be
dispelled by the light of the Prot
estant Reformation! Woman has q
mission in the world. The mys-
ferrous harem and the gloomy
claster are not her sphere. Sue
was not alone created to be a light
to eur eyes, and a perpetual adj
.miration; but, also, to gladden.
our hearts by her love, and our
homes by her presence. An elo-
.quent writer has said:-:'Woman
wields the Arehimediau lever,
whose fulcrum is childhood, whose
weight is the world and whose
sweep is eternity" Yes ! hers is
! o noble mission, hers a high desti-
ny. How shall she be prepared
for her work? How shall she be
educated?
Is it wise to shut her up IN q
convent? To seclude her from
the world? or, if she is permitted
1 to go abroad, to veil her SO that
she can only see ''meu as trees
walking?" Undersuch treatment,
she will, of course, have only the
most vague and uncertain Opin-
lions of those who are to be her
companions in life, and of the
world in which she is to live
She looks forward to her deliver
ance from these unnatural re.
Istraints with longingeyes, and with
the most extravagant and fanciful
dreams of happiness. Distance
lends enchantment to the view"
Every man becomes invested with
the harm of mysteryand romance;
and on her exit from prison life
lin fashionable parlance. her debut
she is ready to fall in love with
the first mustachioed popinjay
who meets her eye. Sometimes
alas too often-she does not a
wait her destiny; but, becoming
impatient, muses. with herself
"Where is the promise of its COM
ing?" rushes forward to meet her
fate, and elopes with some cum
ming knave who is shrewd enough
to outwit her Argus-eyed guardi-
ans. The statistics of our fash
ionable female boarding schools
bear sad examples of the evils of
such system. | have in view,
now, one institution in particular,
for many years the most popular
in the South. l have known
mothers, who .wept bitter tears
of regret that their daughters had
ever been placed under such in
fluences to be educated.
Experience is the best school
in the world, and the only one in
which to study human nature
Place your daughters where they
can study the characters of the op-
posite sex. We do not advocate
promiscuous mingling of the sexes
In the schools. On the contrary
we believe that they should have
separate Fairgrounds and differ
ent study rooms; and that no COM
munication should be allowed ex-
cept Of the most open and public
character, such as the common CT
Whites of life demand. All i'm
proper correspondence can be pre-
vented by wise regulations and
judicious management. Letthem
meet at prayers, at lectures and at
recitations. The latter Of these
is the best place in the world to
study chara cter--to say nothing
of the stimulating influence which
the presence of each sex exerts
upon the other, 1t is thus that
our daughters can learn who are
worthy and who are worthless,
The native streamlet, if unim-
peded by artificial restraints runs
quietly along in the channel which
Gods own finger has marked out,
and fulfilIs its destiny in glad
dening and blessing the land
through which it flows. The
samestream may have its waters
damned up, until, with accumula-
ted force, they break through all I
restraint and rush onward in a ru-
nous torrent. -. -
You who eadaughters to ed /
ucate, fathers, mothers, guardians,
think of these things. i