The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1873-12-11
Letter from Boston.
Correspondence of the Journal.


, this fall, and if the author had had no
other end in view than to secure for his
| little volume of less than two hundred
pages a financial success, his fondest an
/ ticipations would already have been more
than realized, which in their turn, have
been searchingly criticised, have had the
effect of bringing into prominence what
might otherwise have fallen flat on the
book-reading community. But now that
the doctor has been soundly scolded by
several prominent cultured but obviously
highly indignant women, and as warmly
defended in return by such as think with
him, everybody is anxious to try his own
teeth on the bone of contention and de-
eide for himself | have not read the
book, my calls tor it at some of the circu-
lating libraries last week having been re-
sponded to by the repeated mot in until
the refrain became monotonous. As | I'M
derstand it, however the writer contends
that girls should be educated in manner
very different from that now obtaining in
schools and colleges for the instruction
exclusively for boys, and not, as some of
his reviewers would have us believe, that
| girls and women should not aspire to and
occupy the same intellectual plane so gen
orally desired by parents Tor their sons.
He points out that the peculiar physical
| structure of woman calls for discriminate
ing treatment in the school room, which
has heretofore been either wholly ignored
or only partially recognized. And while
DR.. Clarke gives strong emphasis to the
ill-effects of putting the sexes in COMPETE
ton in the same or separated schools with
out regard to their diverse physiological
| requirements, he does not claim that no
other evils exist in the rearing and the oc-
equations and pleasures of girls; vet he IS
criticised somewhat severely for not lay
l ing greater stress on the miseries result
ing from tight lacng, from the artificial
| detormtles strapped to the spine or piled
on the head and from irrational cooking
and indigestible diet as If he had intend
ed going into an elaborate review OF al
| the ills that feminine flesh is heir to-
! Another phase of tins question of sex in
| matters educational is presented in the
| bringing forward OF womens names in
| and the election Of three ladies to the Bos-
| ton board to-day. Other cities and towns
| in the immediate vicinity have also inau-
gurated the experiment, while in yet
others it has long ceased to he an expert
| ment, the committee having for some
years been composed of both sexes, and
the innovation has in each and every in
stance resulted in proving the wisdom OF
making the trial The four ladies chosen
in this city to-day are practical teachers
and we'll educated and Will not compare
unfavorably with many male members Of
former boards who only sought their posi-
ton as rungs in the ladder that reached to
the alderman's desk or a seat in the Great
and General Court. Indeed, the only OBJ
jections advanced al the nominating eau
cuses where the names of these women
We're offered We're that they We're not com
petent to transact the business matters
constantly requiring attention, and that rs
the meetings Of the board often contlnu-
ING to a late hour it would be unsafe for
women to pass through the streets unac
companled; not remembering, apparently, |
that many of the gentlemnn Of the COM
mittee had never been trained to and knew
but little of trade, and also that some of
them would stand but slim chance against
4 vigorous assailant on their way home
from protracted meeting. At all events
whatever women are chosen to places on
these boards, for the present at least, will
naturally be selected for their attachments
and worth, as unfortunately is not always
the case where the other sex is concerned !
In addition TO the incalculable good
that will result to the scholars, especially |
the younger ones, from the peculiar fitness |
and quick and intuitive perception Of
woman thus brought to bear in their be
half, the 8lS female teachers and - 900 |
have representatives in the counsels of
the School Committee competent to pre-
sent their particular grievances and re-
quirements in an intelligent aspect. A
writer in the South Boston Enquirer re-
lates an instance in point wherein the APP |
parent injustice done to two female teachers
would hardly have been inflicted had their
own SEX been represented on the board. |
In one Of the schools the head master was
for number Of weeks confined to his
home and bed with typhoid fever. Dur
ing his entire absence his salary was al
lowed to 90 on, while the duties of his
position We're divided between and borne
by the two female assistants. The teachers
performed their extra services without in
creased compensation, and as the writer
claims, the school went on without any
visible absence of the governing power, |
But these teachers, possibly from the
extra strain occasioned by their unusual
| labor, are now stricken down, yet, instead
Of receiving their pay as did the head
master, they are forced to employ sub
stitute at two dollars per day OF lose their
| situations Such is this story iii brief, but
whether the moral adduced by him, viz,
that these teachers are thus shabbily treat
ed because they are females. is correct OF
not, is not so clear Be that as il may,
however, the women teachers are entitled
to representation through their own sex
There are, | know, many questions of
doubtful expectancy connected with the
schools, in which women are especially
interested 1t is certainly not made clear
by the ADVOCATES of normal schools that
the city OF State should, or even is en-
titled legally TO establish seminaries for
the instruction of Young ladies in the