The Portland daily press., 1869-06-23

.sa .H.
sbo1t womca and Their Training. ssg
? We think the following article from the
Boston Advertiser contains mneh good ad-
vice to mothers as well as to daughters. The
truth is, there is much that is wrong in the
education of girls both at school and at home,
and there Is loud cry for reform. In dress
too, reform is greatly needed. 7, To speak in
common parlance-a girls clothes cost. alto
aessef gaeessssef 100 much, and the fashion OF making
them upais often absolutely ridiculous. so
long as mothers and daughters are given 10
such Expensive habits" and wear SO many
costly foreign fabrics the balance of trade viii
be against us, and the great manufacturing
cities Of Europe will reap the benefit Of IL.
But Fashion is tyrant,..an how long il win
bear such sway as it does now is more than
we can tell. We hope the time win come
when its power over woman will be some
what abated and they viii breathe more ffee-
ly. 'ia'eR an4gosa,f % ssla12 IA asrA
Much fault has of late years been found
with the education given to boys, becauseit
does not fit them for practical liIe; but the
same defect is Just as prominent in the edll-
Gallon OF girls. A girl graduating from our
schools, OF which we boast SO much. Is fitted
lor teacher, but for nothing else. ra,s,.a,.
Inc majority of orr girls begin to 90 to
scnooi at flve years Of age, and from that time
untli they graduate, at sixteen or eighteen.
study is their only recognized employment.
Out OF school they study large part of the
tlme, and for the remainder they are amusing
themselves; because their studies tax them
SO heavily, they need all the time that they
can get for relaxation. When they leave
senool they know nothing, or almost nothing,
OF needle work or houselwork, and often lc6k
Win profound Contempt or aversion upon
both. A more useless creature can hardly be
imagined than one of these girls. Her moth
er has worked early and late that. her child
might be spared from everything that could
interfere with her studies. She has been
housekeeper, house-maid, seamstress, any
thing or everything by Turns, or at once, that
her daughter might have nothing to inter
rupt her studies or her pleasures; but she has
not been companion, not q, mother In the
high and holy sense of the word. ~
II the girl has an intellectual turn of mind
and has studied because she loves stuy, she
usually becomes a teacher as soou as she
leaves school; bat the majority of girls are
not naturally intellectual, and these study
from rivalry, vanity and, the love of approba-
lion, Il they study at all. On leaving school
they drop their books, and scatter themselves
about In shops OF all kinds as clerks, sales
women and seamstresses. Some do this be-
cause they are obliged to earn their living,
but many leaua e-R-hvuues, and mothers
-soverpurdened with care, because they hate
tiie sle wo!k tnat belongs to home, and long fol
tne eXeitements OF shops, and crowds, and 4
HE IN the CITY,. Those who stay at home and
help to make home happy by assisting to ner.
form the duties of the house are exceptio1al
blessings, and are looked upon by- their
schooimates as greatly wanting in spirit en-
telprise and Independence 0a lias "A adi
( whenever you ind one of these exception
al, nome-loving girls, you are pretty sure to
nnd that she has an exceptional mother, who
mas all along made her a COMPANION in the
sewing and general work OF the house: and
has brought her up with the idea that the du-
ties OF a girl are not confined to the school,
room; and yet these practically trained girls
are among the most intelligent scholars while
in the schoolroom, and they make the most
Intelligent women after they leave school, for
practical employments give a tone and sub
stance to character, and those who know how
to use their hands can use their heads to bet
ter purpose. ela saE h9tisiioni9b - d .cH ,
The mothers of these practically educated
daughters not only know that unless airl
learns 70 work while young she rarely ever
isa atns 70 WORK With ease, and SO always looks
upon WORK as burden and trial hut tlfau
practise what they know. Many :,
have the knowledge, but have not princi1ls
CT independence enough. to practise wi5al
they know; to bring up their children differ.
entity from their neighbors, or to constfain
L..
and SO they let them DRIFT along with the tide
trusting things will come out right somehow
by-and-by.
1t is well known that if you wish child to
become aaproficient IN playing upon the pi-
ano, its fingers should be exercised upon the
keys as soon as they are strong enoughlto
produce a well-defned sound. In this way
the hand learns to express upon the instru-
ment automatically what the eye reads on
the page. Ii a person tries to learn after he
is grown up, it requires great labor ever to
learn to play with ease. He Is constantly
Obliged to stop and think how the hand is Ito
be placed or the passage to be fingered.
This necessity of early training is quite as
true OF knitting and sewing as OF music. IA
child learns to knit or to sew with far more
facility at four or five than at fourteen OF &c
teen, and it is only by the putting forth OF
great determination that either can be well
learned alter twenty. In. the house, also
there is an ease in turning off all kinds oi
work with those who have been accustomed
to 1t in youth that is never gained in after
life. "a 80 ri tlsE sdi ael if8c rs 2Jl SIS :
A very large proportion of girls care Httle
or nothing for the studies they pursue lat
school, and bring away from it little beside
the love OF excitement and rivalry which our
schools stimulate to the highest point. En-
tering upon practical life without any proper
training for it, they take counsel of vanity
and the meaner passions, and embark as soon
as possible upon the sea of town life; trust
ing to ind happiness somewhere in store for
them. We learn the result OF their search in
the statements laid before the public from
time to time in relation TO the sufferings of
the working women OF our cities. Many the
ories, plans and petitions are promulgated to
bring happiness and comfort within the
reach of these women; but all outside rene
dies are of little avail. "A change must be
wrought in the principles that underlie the
character of women before they can be saved
from poverty, crime and misery. 1Gast b =
New employments are demanded for them,
such as have hitherto been performed by
men; but what are men to do If women ell
bow them out of so many positions; and who
is to do the work that has hitherto been al
iotted to women if they systematically turn
their backs upon it? ....a -,
So much is said at the present day Of tbe
work that woman may do, and has figbt TO
do, and should be allowed to do. aside rom
that which she has Gone ever since fbe world
began, that we are insdanger OF losing sight
OF the truth that she has no right to omlt DO.
ing, OF at least knowing how to do' what Is
unquestionably woman's work. \.
Needle-work, housework and the rearing
of children are admitted by every one 10 be
work for women rather than for men. IL
the circle of her labors she should first prove
herself SO efficient and accomplished in her
own peculiar work that after doing her whole
d,,tv there she has time and strength and
ability to take upon herself some of the work
which mas hitherto belonged to man. -i
Is it because woman has exhausted the du-
ties OF the wife and mother that she presses
into the shop, the counting-room, and the col
lege that she seeks to win q place in the lib
eral professions that she asserts her claim to
the right Of suffrage, and even aspires to- sit
tho tauielnfiuo boflioa IA tho k1pd4 u Ia II