Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-02-05

al work OF woman. then certainly the girl
should be taught exactly tho same things and
be drilled in exactly the same way AS ara
boys who prepare for those professions; but
II not, 1t is hard to see either the necessity or
fitness Of putting her over precisely the same
course. At any rate, those who advocate
this proceeding should he the last to COM
plain because u young woman. finding that
she can hest use her acquired knowledge in
the practice of II profession, acts just ms does
the young man, and invests her capital
where he invests his. She has exactly the
kind and amount of money possessed by
HIM; and If the practice of law is wise in
vestment for him it must be equally so for
her. Why give your daughter the training
OF II professional actress If you intend to OBJ
jcct to her appearing on the stageP When
forced to earn n support, where else can she
prolitaby use her powers except in the glare
Of the foot lightsP If Mrs. Grundy is shocked
by hearing stentornn sneezc from her SUI
per-relinod daughter, let that estimable mat.
ron stop putting snuff in the delicate nostrils
of the lovely being. There is something lu-
dcrous MS well as illogical in rushing girl
through the mathematics only useful to the
astronomers the Greek only valuable to the
preacher; and the fancy things which ARE
not especially valuable to anybody, before
making her skillful in doing the things which
ninety-nipo of every hundred women are
called upon to do day by day, and which the
remaining one may have to do ut any hour.
Should the girl never use this latter knowl-
edge, she would be no worse off than the
great mass OF those who graduate from fc-
male colleges, for they rarely use what they
have been taught. But on the other hand,
| If, instead of the elegant and fascinating
Charles Augustus, who, growing weary of
waiting had long since married Hortense
she should marry the energetic Thomas
Brown, jr., it might easily happen that such
knowledge would be very useful in the
management of both Tom and his finely i'm
proved farm.
The second natural group of n woman's
work is that arising from the probability that
she will marry. This probability does not
depend upon the dictates of fashion, or upon
any degrees of wealth or intelligence. 1t is
rooted in her very nature, and springs rs
|
grace from the nature of God. Those who
remain unmarried are tho exceptions; and,
perhaps, the peculiarities which are regarded
us inseparable from spinstcrhoed are not to
he ascribed to the state of non-marriage, but
to something peculiar in the nature of the
spinster, of which non marriage is itself the
result. And an education that seeks to fol-
low womanly nature, and to prepare the
student for the realities of womany life,
must certainly he governed by probability
so great that it becomes certainty III the
vast majority of cases. In the first group
were clnssed those operations which require
II greater exercise of physical than of mental
power. In this one may be placed those
which require greater mental or moral than
physical ability. The distinction between
the two is illustrated by the difference be-
tween the work of the printer and that o f the
editor. Each employs both the body and
mind. but while the printer chiefly uses his
fingers the editor chiefly uses his intellect. II
is evident that instruction IN those sciences
which manly relate to the physical work OF
woman, together with the manual drill, falls
naturally in the first group; and that, if the
education has been fully gwen and taken
the girl will be prepared for such duties OF
matrlmony rs require physical rather than
mental ability. So that this group, by dis
tinctiOn, must chiefly concern itself with the
instruction designed to prepare woman for
exercising that mental, moral and affectona,
power demanded by the work of the wife
and mother
! b. eonfiausdN