The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1873-09-03

lady, but have we any more right
to say that it would be an attrac-
ton in the eyes Of young men:
Examine for yourselves the full
extent of meaning conve. ed by the
phrase, ian accomplished lady,
and you will confess that limited,
Aimsy, and unsubstantial, indeed,
| is the curriculum thought sufficient
for woman. During the last few
years, however, a reaction has SET
ma strong desire has been grow
ingstill stronger, that woman should
learn everything, should traverse
tile whole field Of learning, and
schools and seminaries publish in
their yearly circulars al appalling
roll of studies. sr~
1.-The languges-especially the dead,
The sciences-and most Of all the
.abstruse,
The :arts-at least all such as could be
... said ......
To be the most remote from common
" USE" " .:
The array of studies is enough to
make the stoutest tremble. One is
almost forced to believe that we are
reversing the Chinese art of COM
pressing ladies feet, applying the
pressure to the brain. Of the two
systems now in vogue-the too
limited and the too comprehensive
it is hard to say which is the
worse. In the former, to know
one thing completely, pupils must
remain wholly ignorant of all the
rest; in the latter, the pupils get Il
smattering of zverything, and end
by knowing nothing well. The safe
lniddle-way is to combine minute
knowledge of a few things with a
general knowledge Of many things.
8. And this brings US to the third
fallacy-that of supposing that a
girls education completed at an
when her brother is just entering
the university. The too prevalent
custom Of exposing girls to a hot
house, training and pushing them
on to premature young-ladyhood, is
one of the greatest obstacles in the
way of good female education. At
the age when her brother is con.
tented to be called a Freshman, a
girl is supposed to able to scale the
cliffs of science and dive into the
depths of philosophy. The educa-
tion of woman will never be thor
ough until as long time is afforded
them for the completing Intercourse
OF studies as is allowed to men.
4. The next popular fallacy I
shall refer to is one which happily
is not 80 widespread as it formerly
was. I refer to the idea that once
was the ruling one-that large
schools might do for boys, but girls
must be taught in small schools.
In Britain, and Europe generally,
at the present time, girls arg elu-
cared at select schools and private
boarding houses, and America has
taken the lead in their reform at
least. And o great reform it is,
for be assured that, important as it
is to find good teachers, it is of no
less Importance to find good school
fellows. I doubt if the best of
teachers be able to make a really
good school without having large
number of scholars. The number
of pupils at school ought always
to be large enough to allow the
growth of a healthy public opinion
among the girls-say from 100 up.
wards. A small school breeds mar
|row-mindedness, and encourages sell
fshness and all the pettier feelings ;
while in a large school public opin-
ion will put down and destroy
everything mean and selfish, and
exalt and encourage all the nobler
traits of character. Two bad girls
can do more harm among twenty,
than twenty can among two hun
dred.
S. Another popular fallacy that
needs to be eradicated is one, allu-
sion to which in this assembly will
I trust, offend no one. Should it
do so, however, it will only confirm
and endorse what 7 am about to
say. 1t is wrong to suppose that
GIRLS can be properly educated
only at those schools identified with
! the religious denomination to which
their parents belong. Sectarian
schools and colleges belong to
system that is dead, and ought tc
be buried. The time has passed
even in the old countries Of Europe
! " b IN the churches were looked OF
as the hereditary instructors Of the
young; ana America surely vii
not long suffer sectarianism II
schools. to drag out a gu
perannuated existence. The time
has come when, in the true spirl
of enlightenment, we must be sat
isfied with placing Christian mel
; and women as teachers in ou
schools, forgetting to what particu
lar sect they may belong. Fo
after all there is but one religion
: and one morality, which are on
and indivisible; and it is this, or 81
! much of it as has been revealed t,