The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-11-07
Our American Girls.

Woman transplanted from the Old
World to the New, our American girls
growing up in the present free atmos-
phere of America, present q type pecul-
iariy their own. While European na-
tions shut their girls up in conventional
privacy lest they should be sullied by
contact with the world, our girls walk
abroad; nor DO they lose the purity of
their hearts by the knowledge which
they gain of actual life. We trust them
to form their own acquaintance, and
to ent 'rtain them; and there is no.
where else to be found the young girl
who, while she is free to receive atten-
ton, is 50 well able to repel with dig
nifty any presumption. She marks out
her own limits. She is left to decide
her life for herself, and is not consid-
cred as a piece of property to be re-
tained or a.ienated by her parents.
With 4 charming freedom she COM
bines 4 certain wOmanly reserve which
is not any outside mannerism, but the
result of the inward convictions which
our American life forces on her, that
she is considered an independent and
responsible agent. If she is unbal-
anced the excess is on the side of lib
erty, showing to the educator the ten
dency which his preventive measures
ought to take. Such girls we must rule
through winning their conviction on
the side OF right. Theywill not blindly
obey what seems to them arbitrary
rules, or, if they do, the natural exuber-
ance of life checked in ons direction
will spread itself in another, in a law
lessness and foolish bravado which we
shall find ii 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 secure but q formal compliance for
the time, result which cannot be con-
sidered as any part of a 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 America, appeal
directly and Indirectly to self-cOntrol.
The educator has in his hands as the re-
suit of our climate, government, and So
ciety, an exquisitely sensitive and ner-
vously developed organism, a spirit
which knows its rights, aud will assert
and maintain them, an efferVesceut
girl-lite which Is to be reduced to a gra-
cious wOmanhOod, but without impair
ing its individuality. Is it not mani
fest that no system based on European
life can be adequate to the skillful solu-
ton OF such problem? Our AmeTi-
can girls if treated in school as it is per
fectly correct to treat French and Ger
man girls, are thwarted and perverted
into something which has all the faults
Of the German and French girl without
her eXcellencies. Our work is for a
peculiar class, under peculiar eircum-
stances; We must model it anew for our
We have the finest material the
world has ever produced, and the best
chances for its development. Our
school girls ought to send forth the fin
est women that have ever blessed and
beautitied the world, the strongest and
truest wives, the wisest and tenderest
the most intelligent and
worthy citizens; and there ought to be
no place as pure, healthful, and inspir-
ing as the homes presided over by
American women. If we do not find
these results, the fault must be that of
their educatiOn.-ARHG c. Bracket, IN
Magazine for October.