Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1871-07-18
Female Education.

attract the attention it so richly deserves. |
the recent Baptist Educational Convention hel
in Richmond it was the subject of an essa
by DR.. Royal, of Raleigh, n c., and was di;
cussed by number of the distinguished mem
bers of that body The following extract fror
the report of the proceedings of the evenin
session OF the second day, as published by tn
Dispatch, will be read with interest:
In the absence of Rev. DR.. Royal, of Ra
leigh, n. c., detained by sickness, Rev. DR.
Prltchard read DR.. Royals essay on
FEMALE EDUCATION
The essay begins with an allusion to the diff
Guilty OF. the discussion growing out of the ex
treme views on the Woman's Rights question
lie then argued that woman is an i'm mortal be-
ing, endowed with all the capacities that mar
| has
2 That woman has achieved great success:
In literature and science, and has shown her
self as capable of rising to eminence in poetry
and the fine arts as the other seq. And there
are good reasons for believing that when equal
labor is bestowed upon her she will rival man
in the departments of metaphysics, philology,
and the sciences generally. He argued that
i woman had duties as imperatvely demanding
education as do any Of the duties of man.
There is line OF duty requiring the full ed
| general courses that all professional men
should learn, SO there is common ground upon
which both sexes should stand
He insisted that more time should be given
to the education of girl. He then paused to
speak of the power of mothers influence,
and the consequent necessity of having her
educated-ot her power as wife, &c.
He you'd not have them preach or practice
law; but there are most important spheres in
which she should labor. He concluded that
her education was as important as that of man,
and should be conducted on the same plan and
to the same extent a...t-,
cation as early and prosecute it as long as the
boy that the teachers should be as thorough
and competent, and that the textbooks should
be as carefully selected.
He, earnestly insisted upon the importance
of thorough primary schools, and that female
colleges should be as fully endowed and E.
quipped as the male colleges. The Baptists of
the South had done much in the matter of fe-
male education, but there are two serious evils
among us
l. We have scattered our resources instead
of combining ON few and making them what
they ought to be.
2 That to too great an extent we have pat
ronized the schools of other denominations to
the neglect of our own institutions.
He urged again, in conclusion, that we
should raise larger endowments Tor our female
schools III
The essay was referred to the Committee on
Female Education.
Professor c. L. Cooke, Of Hollins Institute,
was called out and made few remarks, in
which he endorsed the essay, spoke of the diff
fculties of female education as arising largely
out of the fact that our people cannot afford
tn rdi coHo ole 10
gave some details Of his experience during the
twenty-five years he had been in charge of his
schoof-Hollins Institute, Roanoke county,
Va.
DR.. Curry called out the Rev. Dr. Hovey,
who warmly endorsed the sentiments of the
essay. He was opposed to the woman's rights
doctrine, and yet he insisted that woman needs
the same culture as man, in order to fulfill her
grand mission.
He thought it worthy Of consideration
whether boys and girls should not be educated
in the same schools and By the same teachers.
He thought that the changes necessary to con
vert our male colleges into schools for both
sexes would not be so great as to seriously IN
pair their usefulness.
He did not know how it would work here
but it had been tried in some instances at the
North, and without the social difficulties which
were supposed to be Inherent in it. He earn
estly insisted upon giving more time to the ed
ucation of girls
Rev. DIR. Sears would superadd one or two
things to what had been said. He spoke of
! the peculiar power which the sexes have over
| each other by reason of diverse mental organ
| ism, and argued that it would not be wise to
| do away with this peculiar organism. He is
the most perfect man who preserves his man
| hnesS, and she is the most perfect woman who
most fully develops her a00naanh0Od.
| Woman sees the beauty, man the utility In
| things, and we must recognize this in our sys-
| TENS. There is in all that woman does or says
a delicate something-a feminine gender
| which he would not have changed, and he be-
| lieved that we could not change it By any prop
er methods of education. He did not believe
! high culture would uaSec woman; but he
would not have anything done which should
alter the character or relations which the sexes
sustain to each other. He spoke of the power
of woman as teacher Of the young
Dr. Jeter called out Prof G. H Winston,
who desired to say several things very practi-
cally. He would endorse all that had been
said in reference to what is desirable.
| Young ladies ought to spend more time at
school, and we should seek to get them to do
so. But We must meet the question just as we
| find it. Young ladies go to school as matter
| OF fact, only from seven to seventeen or eigh-
teen. She must know sewing and something
about culinary matters, etc., and she must
know music and it is simply impossible for
the young lady within this time to pursue as
full a course as young men do at college. And
I then the young lady must be prepared for en-
tering society, and there are such radical diff
ferences between the circumstances of the sexes
that there must be a different system of edu-
cation.
Rev. Dr. Reynolds, Of South Carolina,
thought that if we recognize that there is a
difference between men and women in their
mental and moral characteristics, we should
recognize this In our system. The old system
made woman mere butterfy-a mere mar
rio0eable creature. The tendency of the pres
ent system is in the opposite direction to utili-
| tarianiSm. ars ~
He contended that-the constant end and aim
of her education should be to develop true
aoonadahood. He thought that the Art course
should form large part of her education
Rev. DIR. Fish, of New Jersey, gave an &C.
count of an academy in his State where boys
and girls are taught together, and said that
the experimeHVIad proved eminenty satisfac-
tory in every respect
He urged upon the Baptists of the South to
go to work and educate the girls. He had
gazed to-day on the Washington Monument
(the most splendid he had ever seen,) and he
had thought OF the power of the mother oil
! Washington
He earnestly urged that If we could not ed
ucate both We should at least educate oul
daughters
Rev. DIR. Stockbridge was sealied out, bu
facetiously excused himself. -
Gov. Hoffman, in letter to the Democrat