Smyrna times., 1874-07-29
mise eIIUW e OMS.
Learned Ladies.

If women should grow irritable, it would be
no wonder, so eterna!ly are they discussed in
the newspapers Of these latter days Isn't it
time definitely to admit that a woman has
right to study that which she wishes to study,
the honest wish being accepted rs evidence of
the propriety of the pursuit? Yet is there no
end of cheap dialectics upon this point Here
we have, in fifty journals, complaints of the
severe course of study pursued at the Packer
Institute or at Rutgers School, at Vassar or
other college for girls-complaint of too much
Latin aud Greek, or of too much attention to
philosophy and the sciences On the other
| hand, it girl gives her golden youth to the
delicaces and elegances of acquisition-to
music, drawing, dancing, the modern lam
guages-she is denounced as frivolous, or
laughed at as light-headed. So she hesitates
whether to be Muse or Grace, and fre-
quently the doubt dsastrously results in her
being neither Another trouble of the young
ladies' is that they can never clothe them
selves to suit all sorts of philosophers. If they
neglect dress they are dowdy. If they make
an elaborate and brilliant toilet, studied to
conform to their own personal style, then they
are too fond of display; so that between old
fashioned notions of what becomes a young
woman and new-fashioned notions of what
does not become her. they are left at loss
whether to be strOng-mlnded or frivolous,
forgetting SOmeIlUeS InaG IQey nave nee0
only to be earnest and honest and natural A
good knowledge of the Greek and Latin lit.
erature may be valuable to woman just as to a
man this we say without stopping to fix its
precise value to either. One would think
from the pOther made about them that learned
. ladies we're absolute novelties, whereas they
have been common enough ever since the
revival of learning. There are few stock
students of the feminine kind, celebrated
as immensely classical in their pursuits
E and are not these always paraded in tht
s: Commencemencspeeches at Ladies' Colleges
= The list, even in English history, is a lon,
: one, from Queen Catharine of Aragon to Mrs
Browning-from Margaret Roper, Sir Thoma
More S daughter, down to the sweet girl gradu
. ates of the present season. Haven't we beer
told often enough that poor Lady Jane Gre!
= was we'll versed in Latin, Greek, Hebrew Chal
!: dee, Arabic, French, and Italian2 Indeed
n these English ladies of classical requirement
J; were very numerous in the sixteenth ceutury
even before Queen Elizabeth set the fashion
which, perhaps, she did not so much set a
follow. Damsels who wish to read Homer @
I'd Horace in the original need not lack for pre-
cedent. Only when girl has gone resolutel
Al to work, and has proved the ability of her Sc
re to acquire Greek, it must be rather discourag
" ing to her to read in the newspapers that sh
~ has wasted her time and has been crammed I
er little purpose. Why do they not say thes
~ things about pale-faced boys who have fe
10 themselves upon Greek roots into dyspepsia
be We are for all manner of experiments. AftC
he such pother, we trust that all these problem
n. are not to be left unsolved and uncertain.
he In the second place, while foolishly extra
~ tb agant dressing is to be censured and satrize
.. it ought to be understood and admitted th
IEs IiEns dress is of vastly more importance to woma
OF than to man, who likes to see his sister,
TT. wife or his sweetheart arrayed like unto Sol
nt mon in all his glory. Is it for nothing that,
Of Mr.. Herbert Spencer Observes the decor
he tive element has continued to predominant in
OF, on greater degree among women than amor
,ts men?" Suppose that this does arise fro
on 6 the desire of approbation" lis approbatiC
or or then a thing to be contemRed and careful
led avoided? Is she.cynic any more tolerab
of 2 than he-cynic2 If the love OF art be d
ID z. sirabe quality, is there any reason why
should not be shown in a statuesque arrang
~: ~. ment of drapery or 10 a brilliant combinat
q; of colorP We men like women sumptuous
''" clothed, and why should we pretend that
DO not like this harmless display P-this she
not merely harmless but sometimes positive
srs. useful and instructive?
yes Upon the whole we are beginning to be b,
Tia. of the opinion that women have not much
try; casion to be grateful for masculine adviC
try Opportunity, liberty, encouragement, I
@n ,1s chance to be true 10 her best intentons-the
one are what woman wants, and not endless ADV
J Of and dogmatcal interference. If there be pc,
nor restraints away with them Ii there be &C
Iais ventiona and mistaken dogmas, let them
,aIs ,on discarded IF there be tyrannical laws,
end sooner we repeal them the better Won
To- must work out her own salvation. Ii we CT
pSl, spy not help, in the name of justice let us l
hinder her IN. Y. Tribune.
A countrvman with his bride sstopped a