New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-09-25
Our American Girls,

Woman transplantcd from the Old World
to the New, our American girls growing up
in the free atmosphere or America, present a
type peculiarly their own. While European
nations shu, their Girls up in Conyentuai pr
N3cy lest they !. Ill &c sulhcd BY contact
With tie world. oyr girls walk abroad; nor
10 ibev lose tie purity uG their own fresh
urfEi, Hy the knowledge which they gain q,
tUluJl lie. We trust sham n form theirowt,
seiuah.tin' -, and g. entertain them: and
there j. uaS here else la be f,rnd H. youno
-irl who, while she 5 frcc 20 receive attru
t"o, : So well able t. repe! with dignity an,
resumption. She marks oui her own limits
>'s is len 10 decide her life tbr herself, and
not considered as a piece % property T. D..
retained or Alicnatcd hy her lfrcul>
With charming freedom she combines "a
certain wun,IulN reserve which !, not SnS
outside nIannori>m. but the result Of the IL
wand conviction. which all American lie
"rrr~ on her, that she is considered an indie
pendent and responsible agent. Il she re
unbalanced. the excess is on the side of II.
erty. shown 10 the educator the tendency
which his preventive measures ought 10 take.
Such girls We mast rule through winrn Their
conviction on the s.lo &C right. They vii
not willingly obey what seems to them arb.
trary rules, or, If they do, the natural cxu
heJanCc of life checked in one direction will
spread itself Out IN another, in a lawlC~S and
foolish bravado which we shall Ind inpnS-
sibgc 10 control ANY set. formal rides, uaS
regulations rs To uniform dress, are Girscti,
opposed to the spirit of our institutions. auA
can at best secure but formal compliance
for a time, result which cannot be cou>it-
cred rs any part Of real education. The
work Of teacher must always look beyond
the present, aiming rs { does Mt permanent,
tpmnNrprN tt,
America, appeal directly and indirectly 10
self-control.
The educator has in his hands MS the result
Of our climate, government. and society, an
eNIuiSitely sensitive aud merry ouSlV developed
organism, a spirit which knows its rights, aud
will assert and maintain them, an efferves-
cent girlhood which is to he reduced to era
cious womauhood, hut without impairing its
individuality. Is il not manifest that no Svs-
tenn based on European life can hc adequate
to the skilItul solution Of such a problem
Our American girls, if treated in school as it
is perfectly correct to treat French and Ger.
man girls, are thwartcd and perverted into
something which has all the faults of the Ger
man and French girl without her cxccllencie;.
Our work is for peculiar class, under pecu-
liar circumstances, and We must model il
anew for our necessities
We have the finest material the world ha,
ever produced. and the best chances for its
development. Our girls schools ought to
send forth the finest women that have ever
blessed and bcautitied the world, the strong
est ana trucst wives, the wisest aud tenderest
mothers, the most intelligent md worthy
citizens and there ought to be no places n
pure, healthtul, and inspiring rs the homes
presided over by American women Ii We
do net find these results, the fault mist be
that of their schools. ANNA {. BRACKIsrT
in Hap0's Magazine for Octobsy.