The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1872-03-29
CHE sparietta sanrnal.
Marietta, Georgia March 90, 1872.
FEMALE EDUCATION.

For thirty years our young wo-s
men, or rather girls, have studied
the ancient languages, but if Il thor
ough, classic scholar has been de-
veloped among them she has hidden
her light under a bushcl and is un-
known to fame
They have studied mathematics,
but where :arc female mathemati-
clans ?
They go to college and study
| Latin, Greek, mathematics, miner
aIogy, geology, zoology, astronomy,
botany, rhetoric, logic, physiology,
natural history, natural philosophy,
chemistry, English literature and
composition, and music, with French
and Gorman added,
Is there in this State any woman,
graduate of a college, who has at
tanned eminence in single one of
the scientific or mathematical studies
which she began or pursued while
in college
The truth is, it i, simply ridicu=
lous imposaibility for the immature
mind Of young girl-a graduate at
eighteenth acquire in four short
years an insight into scientific stud
les, which is the result only of years
of intense labor and thought on the
par of men of mature minds and Of
men who concentrate their energies
upon one subject.
Education is but a means to an
end. 1t is, or ought to be, the
preparation which enables us to IN
derstand and fulfill our duties in life,
and its success or failure must be
Judged of by the fitness we exhibit,
each for her individual sphere.
What would be thought Of the
man who studied law in order to
practice medicine ? Aud, yet, it is
customary for woman, who, it is
reasonable to suppose, will one day
become a wife and mother, to study
surveying.
Our women have been studying
mathematics ever since they became
college students, for the purpose of
strengthening their minds, but, as
yet, no feminine mental Simpsons
have appeared; and is it not a mat
ter of regret that the invaluable time
of early youth should be spent upon
studies not half compreheuded, and
that have little or no connec,io ion with
the duties that follow, when the same
length of time, devoted to prepare
ton for the actual, and not the ideal,
lives these young women are to lead,
would save them years Of trial
The severe mental labor necessary
to the success of scientific inquiry is
impossible to the woman who has
the care of household on her hands
and who, when she has watched all
night with an ailing, fretful child,
will have but small inclination, on
the following night, to enter into as
tronimical calculations, and will find
the prospects of = good nights rest
infinitely more interesting than even
the probable discovery of new
star.
And thus it is with every scien-
tifc pursuit. A woman's first duty |
is to the helpless children she has
brought into being and not science.
Nature has made this duty so much
an instinct, as well as labor of love,
that failure in it, so far as each |
woman understands It, IS most rare.
A gentleman, a physician, brought
his daughter to a teacher, and said,
II wish to place my little girl under
your care. She is not very bright,
and is rather backward, so you must
make her do double work. She
ought 30 study twelve hours day"
Twelve hours a day Of mental la
Dor for a dulllbrain! It was simply
an impossibility. The child could |
have been forced to sit for on indef-
mite length Of time with g book in
her hand-as too many unfortunate
dull children are compelled to do
but the words of the lesson would
convey no idea to the weak mind,
tired with half hours work. 1t is
as cruel to require hard manual Ia
Dor of weak mind, as weak body.
FENEY THOMAS.
-Athluta PlaRtati0R.