Litchfield enquirer., 1871-03-02
From the Boston Post. THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

pilSnmcutS nave aIWayS been ConSlQefeU as merely acrowniDg grace and finish to sol i'd learning. and abilities we'll trained for carrying on the serious business of life. So long as war was made his chief occupa
 tion and bravery his greatest virtue, they combined those sparkling graces of mind and manner, that skill in sports and tour naments, which fitted him to shine at the Court of his sovereign in the idle intervals of peace. Chaucer draws for us the pie ture of such an accomplished young squire of his own day, as exquisite gallant as one would wish to see, with his cnrled locks and embroidered cloak, his driving and singing and futing, his painting and sonnet eering; but, with all this, he was no mere lady's man, for his strength and activity were something wonderful, and he had, moreover, served in foreign wars, and borne him we'll, the poet tells us, Sin hopes to standen in his lady's grace. To these he added celt tain other virtues unknown to the swells of our time, for he was "lowly and serviceable, and carved before his father at the table," We fear the heroes of modern drawing would cut but sorry fig ure beside this redoubtable young squire of four centuries ago, for in place of all the Vaccinations in which he could boast himself and which have fallen so sadly in- to disuse, but two new arts seem to have enriched the masculine repertoire-that of smoking, and of immoderate lounging at clubs.
 Very different has been the worlds esti- mate of the value of accomplishments in the education of women. No thorough and efficient training has been thought ne- cessary to precede them, and no knowl edge. except that of the most limited and oio n%oux 1n1o ao%n l | lNnn held as 8 mere polish to solid acquire ments, but as 0 substitute for them. While young men have been urged by the insti tutions of their country to develop and strengthen all their natural powers, wheth
 CT physical or mental, by every available means, young women have been discour aged from doing the same by whatever in
 luence the State and society could bring to bear. To stimulate the minds of boys and to restrain and hamper the minds o girls, has been the noble office of all gov ernment since the world began. These have been pleased to allow to women the superficial arts, provided they could man age to acquire them by their own efforts but though the most serious and impor tant duties were to await them in life, they have been directed to no guidance but that of instinct for their proper discharge.
 Any aspirations which they might fee for fuller, deeper draught of Knowledge have been as carefully repressed as if they tended to the ruin of mankind. ShreW0 I old Tom Fuller reflects the time-honore6 opinion of the world, when he declare; that learning in a woman is but little tt be prized, though he admits that it may be necessary for princesses and queens and all the Mrs. Malaprops of fashionable society have ever been ready to assure it. Sir Anthonys that ''so much learning doe. not become young woman." Any girl ir whom nature had unfortunately implanted love for study, and who had indulged il ln the leisure of solitary hours, was fain te hide her intelligence, as a gifted woman once said she did hers, with as much soli
 citude as she would hide crookedness o lameness. In the light, airy accomplish ments of the day she might be proud to excel, but to stray beyond these into othe
 realms was to incur the dreadful suspicion of being 'blue." ra-.
 It IS easy to account for this state O things, from which our sex have so griev ously suffered. One sweet delusion whicl man has always cherished, and with whicE he IS even now 10th to part, has been the belief that woman was made expressly fol him. and that all she lived for was to be guile his leisure hours or assist him in his toll. To his thought she has never been first of all, a woman in her own right, but always a prospective mistress or house keeper in his right. From this it follow ed, as matter of course, that there was no cause for developing her mental facul ties beyond that which would directly con
 duce to this end. When barbarous na tions held her as 9 mere drudge, her train
 ing was absolutely nothing; but when the early Eastern civilization raised her to the rank of 8 toy. it suited it's purpose to sur
 round her with all the charms of material beauty and superficial culture. Modern races, lifting her above both these posi- tlons, have yet retained for her something of the character of each. The work she does is lighter, but it is still such work as man prescribes for her, and from which she cannot escape without breaking from her proper sphere. She must continue to study his wishes and conform to his preiu- dices, not because she fears the displeas. ure of master, but because upon the fa- vor of her brother man hang all her hopes of obtaining position and wealth. To claim his right to choose her own work, and to fit herself for it in her own way, by striving to avail herself of the best train ing taught anywhere in the schools, would be to fly in the face of Providence, and to defy her destiny in manner too impious to be allowed. So the theory holds, that as she exists for others. her education must be made to contribute to their benefits, and not her own. Even Rosseau, who, more than most men, could free himself from the hampering of conventional thought, and who prided himself in follow ing no precepts but those that nature taught, decides the education of his ina ginary pupil Sophie by consulting solely the advantage to accrue to his young para gon Emile, whose wife she is to be; for woman. he assumes, like all his predeces- sors, is and should be subject to man.
 Even could we grant this to be the right view, we must be astonishel at the igno- rance and short.sightedness which does not see that tho more skillful and inteli- gent the servant is made the more valuable helper she must become. The fact. how ever, has been as little recognized as that higher truth, which is just dawning upon us, that the bonds of mutual love and com mon interests which nature has established in all freedom between the sexes, unite them more surely than any imaginary ties that convenience may suggest, and that the more all others are loosed the stronger will these be knit Generous and willing l. A. ntN Ac% ktNa~N ~1o~,A