The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-09-06

cAuIo uilAAeeAl IOT VI aSHlust congressional liz
tervention for the protection of the people
against despotic railway corporations, or be
prepared to meet the consequences as an ally
Of our confederate railway kings.
Sins OF Omission I'm Female Educa.
The motherly instinct of girls is theme
which has been over-written by moralists and
poets. No doubt there is such a principle in
very many girls and that it often saves them
from the ruin to which an evil education would
naturally lead but the moralists frequently
appear to forget that in numerous instances
this instinct has been crushed by the false
ideas which have been fostered at school and
the cruel repression which has been employed
at home. Now that we are abiding to the
defects in female education, it may be well to
state that some Of the more serious of them
arise from sins of omission. Perhaps it is not
going too for to say that in the vast majority
Of cases there is an utter neglect to train and
develop this motherly instinct, to throw
light upon it, to build it up and strengthen it
into principle and conviction dearer than
life, sacred as honor. 1t is the motherly in
stinct which makes good nurses and in many
cases good servants. 1t is that thoughtful and
needs and wants which makes home that
''heaven on earth" we all have heard of but
few of us have found. Provision dictates pro-
vision. The woman who is accustomed to
think for others will become apt in devising
practical ways for their help and comfort
1t is only girls of exceptionally fine natures
who can exercise these subtle and sweet solicit
tudes. 1t is only the bright exceptions who
have what may be called genius for home and
who understand intuitively how to make
household comfortable. With others-espe-
cially with those who have not had the good
fortune to possess excellent mothers-it must
become matter of training, and though
school, at best, is o poor substitute for that
finely penetrative influence which happy
and lovingly-ordered home exhales, still it is
the best substitute we have, and is therefore
not to be despised. This is the point we are
battling for. Practical instruction in domes-
tic details, and, above all, in that affectionate
and conscientious spirit which should inspire
their performance ought to underlie all the
other instruction at our female boarding
schools and colleges All other branches
should crystalline around this focus, and until
this is done it is in vain to look for much
purer or more exalted social condition than
we at present have.
Politics AND BLAspHEMY.-At the Texas
Democratic State Convention, held in
Austin on the 4th inst, the permanent
chairman, in his opening address, made the
remark that the radical platform consisted
only of high sounding generalities, and that
''they might as well have adopted the moral
law with the Lords Prayer as postscript"
1t would be good thing if some politicians
knew little more about the moral law than
they exhibit in their official transactions.
Were that the case such scandals as the Credit
Mobilier affair and such robberies as the back
salary grab would be less frequent. The
allusion to the Lords Prayer in the connection
in which the Texas democratic president places
it is highly irreverent, not to say blasphemous,
and it does not speak well for the morality or
the religious training of the individual who
uses the figure However in the instance
before us we suppose the old adage about
Satan quoting Scripture to suit his purposes
may be urged by way of defence, and there is
no reason why Texas democrat should not
be allowed to quote Scripture on the same
principle. But it is in bad taste, nevertheless.
ANOTHER CHARTER MUDDLE-Our law re-
porter furnishes the reasons which Justice
Fancher assigns for declaring void that charter
clause upon which Comptroller Green relied
for wrestling from the Supervisors what the
irreverent politician terms a salary grab. The
Judge applies the charter to city officers and
city affairs only. The decision is likely to
reach many other matters For if, as the
opinion argues, all legislation under the char
ter which transceuds the one subject and the
| single title Of city government becomes void,
then what shall be done with the prohibition
against an Alderman continuing to be a rnagis-
trate, or against the Supervisors choosing their
own subordinates? Perhaps, too, the clauses
about stolen property and its disposition by
magistrates or touching the fling by Coro-
ners of inquisitions with the Board of Health,
or relating to District Court Marshals or the
Juror Commissioner, or the abolished County
K! Tax Commissioners are TO be nullifed.