The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-05-25
Horace Greeley ON Female Education

Horace Greeley on Female Education. |
Is there nothing to be said or done for
the education Of acomen' Woman evident
ly begins to be regarded, however timid,
ly and blindly, as somebody or
something in the field of blended Intels
lectual and Industrial effort she begins
to make figure even at our annual exs
hibitions OF agricultural proficiency and
achievement. 1t is discovered that she
can do something more for these than make
patchwork quilts and cartewheel cheese
she can actually manage and ride
horse! q am aware that "st horse" is
the daintier expression.) Well, truly,
this is some thing to be considered whose
can do it well may not impossibly be
trained to do even more. Admit that 1t
is not easy to connect this with Produc-
tive Industry, and that equestrian feats
have usually been performed outside of the
Enclosure at our County and State Fairs, it
is still something to be thankful for that
Woman has achieved position, if not
the most fitting, in our modern Olympian
games
To switch the world with noble horse
mauship" is an old attempt; and, if it
does not excite the highest kind of adj
miration in the mind, it may, under such
auspices, awaken a tenderer emotion
in the region fthe heart. Diana is hardly
less fascinating than Venus, and the blind
archer lets fly his arrows from all manner
of unsupported looksouts.
"The fust time l ever seed that
wonderful voman," says Manager Crum-
miles, in Nicholas Nickleby, dlating adj
miringly on the personal graces and aero
batic achievements of Mrs Crummles,
she vos standn' on her head on the
butt-end Of spear, surrounded by blaze
of Fireworks"
There are thousands no wiser, perhaps,
in general than other people, who know
oil about the sphere and capacities of Wo-
man, and who can tell to dot all that she
needs to know, and what she ought to study
and to do, as well as what she should
leave undone. l coufess my own total
incapacity to direct her in these impor-
tant particulars. Nay, so dense is my
ignorance, or so singular my modesty, that
| realize my incompetency to direct her
in the sphere of custume or personal
adornment, and that can only counsel
her TO dress according to her own ideas of
convenience and sense Of propriety. No
part Of my education having been more
deplorably neglected than that which per-
tains to millinery and the mysteries of the
toilet, I am constrained to keep silence in
the midst of noisy and heated discussions,
and my silence has very naturally been
construed into Partially for the less vo-
ciferous and denunciatory side when in
fact, have no feeling, no choice in the
premises, beyond the wish that women, like
men. should dress as they see fit, so long
as the garb sufficiently distinguishes one
sex from the other. Beyond that, it is
not my business to regulate the apparel
ing of my neighbors' wives and children ;
and do not see that it is others any
more than it is mine. The subject is one
of serious, often painful, interest to those
who pay the bills, and to them leave it.
So with regard to Female Education
If you tell me that mathematics, for in
stance, is a science to which Woman'i
powers are unequal, answer, that de-
ponds on which iwoman you refer TO-
There are great many women not quail
flied to shine, even in photography yet
would nct, on that account, forbid then
the use Of the spelling book. / SHOULD
not advise my daughter to study Greek
but, if she chooses so 10 do and max
no objection, l don't see why other
should trouble themselves about the mai
ter. believe Nature is competent Il
the vlndication Of her own laws, and tina
no act of congress, no decree of Boar
Of Education or University Regents,
required to prevent the growth of cucum
beers on pea-vines, or artichokes on hoE
poles. These matters may be trusted
regulate themselves
/ would have, then, our Academies an
Colleges, like our Common Schools, ope
to all clearly and withdrawing person
who may see fit to claim their advantage
and pay the established charges, withol
exclusion on account of age, or caste, {
sex. If women could not find therein Il
opportunities for requirement that the
need and seek, they would continue,
course, to look elsewhere but, go f
from excluding, would make exertio
to attract them. That their presence,
considerable numbers, would elevate Il
common standard Of morals, as well as
manners, in our Colleges, have no ma
ner Of doubt; and the frequent insinuatic
that such community of study would
perilous to female modesty or purity, RICH
fully belongs to darker age than oul
remember Mrs, Brandyball, in one
Theodore Hooks novels of society, boa,
ing Of her Seminary fer Young Ladies
one Of the safest in the world-being e
tirely surrounded by dense wall, Gig
feet high, surmounted by sharp spikes a
broken glass bottles. / reckon all {
virtue preserved in this way wasnot wor
the cost Of its def.nces. - Packar
Moathlu for Man.