The Cecil Whig., 1871-04-22
What Shall Boys Do.
BY MRS. JANE G. SWISSHELM.

Here am confronted by the little school
mistress-beg her pardon-by the lady
principal of a young ladies' seminary,
whom | once met in her tlourishing insti-
tuition, where young ladies were prepared,
under the auspices of an orthodox church,
for their duties in coming life, and where
they were regularly lectured, by pious
clergymen, on their paramount obligation
to be good cooks, and the great danger of
falling into the snares of the strong minded.
The benevolent little woman was doing
the honors, and showing me through her
comfortless establishment, when we came
to the study-room. Here half-dozen
young victims of scant food and hard beds
were at work with their books; and on the
wall hung a cheap engraving of Rosa Bon
hours Horse Fair Having seen little
to admire, and feeling amiable, stopped
before this, and was soon lost in studying
once more its matchless lines. After a
while I reused myself to proceed with our
walk saying:
"Well. Rosa can paint horses!''
A deep sigh called my attention to the
lady principal, who stood with folded hands,
trying to draw her upper lip down over her
squirrel teeth. as she turned her eyes bash
fully to one side, sighed again, and said:
"Don't you think it's pity ?''
GA What ?''
GA pity that lady should have done
such a thing? 1t seems such a queeah
thing for lady to do!
Her manner was so gentle and deprecat-
ing, and her position SO startling, that it
seemed as if could not have heard Alright;
and, in blank amazement, I exclaimed
"Do you mean to say that it is pity Rosa
Bonheur should paint horses!''
eyes. The picture is very good. Rev.
presented it to the school. But don't
you think it would have been 80 much bet
ter if gentleman had done it -
"But, do you not know that no gentle
man could have done it? Doyou not know
that she is the greatest animal painter in
existence; that she is greater than Land
seer, and has enriched the world by her
genious?
"Oh, yes, know; but still it seems as if
that is not nice work for lady-as if a
gentleman should have done it..
"Oh, well, you must talk to the Lord
about that. The mistake is all his in not
sending that gift to gentleman
The lady principal is a pocket edition of
Society, which has her stereotyped rules
as to what must be done by gentleman,
what by ladies; and holds that the Lord,
having been graciously permitted to desig-
nate such individuals as shall belong to
either sex, should carefully abstain from
any further interference. If he has bestow-
ed faculties on person of one sex which
should have been given to one Of the oppo-
site, why of course, this is his mistake; and
it becomes the duty of the lady principal
to crush out, lop off, exterminate, extin-
guish, annihilate, and get rid of all such
misapplied donations.
The lady principal has decided that girls
must learn to cook; and that boys must not
rob bird S nests, orchards and melon patches
But girls will not cook well; and boys will
steal eggs, apples and melons, and devour
them with gusto which means something.
1t means masculine love of food which
induced Adam to eat the apple for its own
sake, not for the wisdom it might bring,
marks man as the cook; and that the race
never will be properly fed where women do
| the cooking.
Who has not heard returned soldiers
boast Of the excellence of army cooking ?
| Who ever knew three men 90 off on Il sur
yer or hunt, where one of them did not
develop an unsupported talent for cooking?
| have often watched men around u camp
fire, and felt that the rule is wholly arbitra-
ry which makes woman the cook. | never
knew the significance of the impulse which
leads all boys to want to bake griddle- cakes
until | saw a French half-brced, from Sci
kirk, beside his ironless cart, on the open
prairie, preparing his evening meal He
had large fish broiing on the Goals, with
out any Intervention of gridiron. His
batter for his "ilapacks - was in bucket
He heated and CREASED a long-handled
sheet-iron frying pan, poured in enough
| batter to cover the bottom, set it over the
fire, kept on serenely attending to other
matters, as though no flapjack were in dan
ger of being burned, as it would have been
if any woman had set it to bake, but Just
at the right moment he came up, looked
into the pan, took hold of the handle, shook