The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1873-09-26
Our American Girls.

Woman transplanted from the Old
World to the New, II American girls
growing up in the clear atmosphere OF
America, present a type peculiarly their
own. While European nations shut
their girls up in c%onventual privacy lest
they should be sullied by contact with
the world, IL girls walk abroad; nor
do they lose the purity ofthcir W fresh
hearts by the knowledge which they gain
Of actual life. We trust them to
form their own acquaintance.
and 10 entertain them: and there is no
where else to be found the young girl
| who. while she is free to receive attcn-
ton, is so well able Ia repel with digni-
ty any presumption. She marks ont her
own limits. She is lett to decide her
life for herself. and Is not considered as
a piece of property to be retained or al
iemated by her parents.
With a charming freedom she COM
binrs Il certain womanly re>cr,c which
is moi any outside manncrism. but the
result of the inward conviction. which
all American lie forces on her. that she
is considered An independent and res
ponsihlc agent. II she be unbalanced.
the success is on the side Of liberty,
showing TO the educator the tendency
which his preventive measures ought to
take. Such girls we must rule through
winning their conviction on the side Of
right. They will not biindly obey what
seems to them arbitrary rules. or. il they
do, the natural cXr.bcrancc of life checked
in one direction will spread itself ont in
another, in = lawlrSsncSs aud foolish bra
vado which We shall find il impossible
to control. Any set, formal sules, any
regulations rs Ia uniform dress. are di-
rcc.lv opposrr. tn the spirit of orr in-,i-
t%utions, and can at best secure n formal
compliance for the time. a result which
can not he considered ~ any part of 4
real education. The work o fthc teacher
wust always look beyond the present.
aiming as it does at permanent and not
tc..,pory results, and must, in America,
appeal dn,,..!v and indirectly to self
control. Inc tulrn~" 'aS ia AIN A"l'p',
as the result of our climate. gu.crnment,
and society. an .cxquisitrly sensitive anu
nervously developed organism, a spirit
which knows its rights. and will assert
and maintain them. an ~cfferycscent girl
life which il tn be reduced to a gracious
woman, but without inpairing its indi-
riduality. Is it not manifest that no
system based on European life can be
adequate Ia the skillful solution of such
a problem? Our American girls, if
treated in scnool as it is perfectly cor
rec 10 treat French and German girls,
are thwarted and perverted into some
thing which has all the faults OF the
German and French girl without her
eXcellencics. Our work is for a pccu-
liar class, under peculiar circumstances,
and We must model it anew for our ne
cessItics.
We have the finest material the world
has ever produced, and the best chances
for its development. Our girls school
ought to send forth the finest women
that have ever blessed and beautified
the world, the strongest and trucst
wives, the wiscst and tendcrcst moth
ers, the most intelligent and worry citi-
zcns, and there ought to be no places rs
pure. healthful, and inspiring as the
home presided over by American wo-
men. II we do not find these results,
the fault must be that of their education.
lama &. Bracket, in llarpcr's Mnga-
ZIne Tor Octo Der.