New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-10-19
Our Girls,

1 tAoiA al lulcI6SlluS GSody AZ AuIItI 5
| Magazine tor October, on Our Girls" we
| make the following extracts: 'To women
transplanted from the Old World 20 the
! New, our American girls, growing up in the
! free atmosphere of America, present type
| peculiarly their own. While European
| nations shut their girls up in conventional
| privacy lest IL ey should be sullied by con-
! tact with the world. our girls walk abroad
| nor do they lose the purity of their own
! fresh hearts by the knowledge which they
! gain of actual life. We trust them to form
| their own acquaintance. and to entertain
them, and there is nowhere else to be found
the young girl who, while she is free to re-
ceive attention, is well able to repel with
dignity any presumptien. She marks out
her own limits. She is left to decide her
life for herself, and is not considered as
piece OF property to be retained or a!Ienated
by he, parents.
With charming freedom she combine.
q certain wemanly reserve which il rot any
outside manneEism, but the result of the in.
ward conviction, which American life forces
on her, that she 10 considered an indie.
pendent and responsible agent. Il she be
unbalanced, the excess is on the eide of
liberty. showing 70 the educator the ten
dency which his preventive measures ought
70 take. Such girls we i,ust rule through
winning their own conviction on the side OF
right. They will not blndiy obey what
seems 20 them arbitrary rules OK If they do.
the natural eEuberance 81 life checked in
one direction viii spread itself out in an
other iawlessness and foolish bravado
which we shall find it impossible to control.
any set formal rules, any regulations as to
uniform dress are directly opposed to the
spirit OF our institutions, and can at best Sc.
cxre but formal compliance for Che time a
resu-, which can hot be considered as any
part OF the real education. The work Of
the teacher must always look beyond the
present, aiming as it does at permanent and
not temporary results, and must, in Amer. |
lea, appeal directly and indirectly to self |
control. The educator ha. in his hands. as
the result OF our climate, government and |
society, an eKquisi.ively sensitive and nes-
vously developed organism, q spili. which !
knows its rights, and will as5er. and IL air !
tain them, all ettervescent girI-life which is !
to be reduced 60 a gracious womanhood, |
but without lnpalrin2 its Individuality Is I
1t not manifest that mo- system based on |
European lite can adequate to the skillful |
solution Il such problem? Our American I
girls, II treated in school As il is perfectly
correct TO treat French and German gifl.
are thwarted and perverted into something
which has all the faults OF the German and
French girl without her excelencies Our
work is for peculiar class, under peculiae
and We mus: model i anew 7
FOR our necessities.
We have the finest material the world
has ever produced, and the best chances |
for its development Gu. girls' echOols |
% gnt 20 send forth the finest women that
hav. ever blessed and beautitied the world.
the strongest snd truest wives. the wisest
and tenderest mothers, the most intelligent
md worthy citizens, and there ought t. he
40 places as pure. healthtul and inspiring
Il the homes presided over by American |
women. II We do not find these results. the
'ault must be THAI of their education
TIE matter of physical education doe.
lot lie within the Predetermined scope Of
he present article. What and how shall
,ur girls he taught in the epheee OF intel.
ect! Ia accordance with the g neral idea os
What constitutes an education. we have 10 |
ay that intellectually it consists. after Civ. !
ng the mere tools OF thought-the ability | ,
Q read. 10 vito and to eaiculate-ir 80
raining the snind that it will be able after. :
yard intel gently to direct its own work,
md any school life which leaves it's pupils !
With distaste for books has in II something j
adicaly wrong. For the work OF cultivation :
aust follow that of education. No one. ,
urin. her schooi life, can have time to
cad enough history 30 give her any really :
Aluable knowledge thereof. At the best q
he will have gained merely a weli-con- 6
tructed skeletOn, as 1t were. which is after
-arl 70 be clothed with the form of life by |
ears Of reading. And the vast domain Of
terature must be carefully and leisurely
1piored. IL she would know the treasures a
lere waiting for her enjoyment. If, there.
IRE, our girls leave schOol with . dislike il
" standard books and with no mower of G
,ltteachins, We certainly bave lamentably ! p
Tiled. and must expect 20 find them seek b
x enjoyment in other ways, driyeu about | v
= restless desire which impstiently seeks,
ut never finds. any lasting reality Under
lch circumstances, what wonder that the I,
eslth suffers: There must be healthfu! F
entail action TO insure sound physical | A
and nothing makes a woman >,
'ow old 80 fast as narrow and shallow
hiking, while nothing keeps her young 4
I'd fresh 80 long as broad and deep mental !
tiyity. We seek afar for the fountain Oi
,uth, While 1t " ats to spring within US. 3
Since our girls have very much to accom- ! Ii
ISL IN fewer years than is allotted TO the ! "
ucation OF eur boys, 10 is evident that n
eat economy OF time must De used, and b.
erefore that they must. from their earliest hi
ars. have the best teaching There is no HI
stake more fatal than to suppose that it of
axes no very great difference about the it
st years OF teaching; for it is just then ca
at those false habits are acquired which | M
owe afterWard perpetual STUN bling th
'ck. both IN themselves and in the dis We
tie for labor induced by the endless repe- -
ions inevitable whenever the whole study &c
not systematlzed. The amount of time | Bi
en- spent now over the study of grammar, ar
thmetlo and geography is sufficient to nc
m all the important facts in those studies I'D
sadFed times sEet, while the mental con. J OF