The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-05-05

From the Rockford Seminary Magazine
Is John Smarter than I Am 2


When the September morning came
that was to send us forth to school, |
had, standing IN the hall, two trunks |
filled with what was considered a
proper wardrobe for boarding-schoOl |
Miss. This entire outfit was largely
the product of my summers work, for /
my father was strictly orthodox on the |
question of girls making and mend |
ing her own clothing. Johns one
trunk stood beside mine in the hall. |
Not an article in it had cost him mo-
ments labor, and scarcely a single
thought. Even the folding and packing
had been done by my mother, aud each
garment was so placed as to give him
the least possible Inconvenience in TAX
ing out for use.
Arrived at our respective institu-
tiOns, we were marshaled for eXamIna-
tions. John passed his every way
creditably. /, together with nine
tenths of my companions, fell degree
lower than we had expected. Facts
that were once perfectly familiar, de-
fed even my slightest acquaintance.
There seemed really nothing i'm my
Uranium but couple of muffled
drums, that kept beating away in either
ear as if playing a dead march for my
departed wits.
"Ah ~ says Professor Spactacles,
"girls learn largely by the faculty of
memory. They never grasp a subject
in its various relations, and so make it
thoroughly their own. They make a
brilliant recitation, but few months
after the greater part has evapOrated."
| entirely disagree with the learned
Professor. Suppose John had been hard
1 E.
three months before his examinations,
making coats, pantaloons, and waist
coats, given to realize that his gen.
tiIity, Tespectability, and every mascu-
line desirability depended on his filling
at least two Saratoga trunks with these
garments in every conceivable style of
cut and material, and then, at the end
of that time, call him up to demon
strate proposition in Euclid, and see
! Is there has not been some evaporation,
even from a masculine brain.
Johns school had four years course
of study, and so had mine. With the
exception of a year and a half of the
ancient languages, and a half-year
| of mathematics, the two were par
allel. This difference, however, was
met by the more advanced require
ments for entrance at Johns school; so
! the amount of daily study required of me
! for the four years was equivalent to his.
The institution selected for me by my
parents was what might have been des-
| ignated a compromise school, it being
adjusted TO run to the temple of khOwl-
edge either by broad or narrow gauge.
While it held college charter, had
fair course of study, and recognized the
idea that woman was capable of ac
q II
so great fear that its pupils might be
called 'strOng-minded,r or forget their
province of general superintendent of
the dinner-basket, that the wise Board
of Trustees established that each pupil
should devote one hour per day to do
mestic work. 1t fell to my lot to mix
bread. Accordingly, every morning, at
a certain bell, | donned a large apron
and went to the domestic hall. Here /
found several pans containing flour
and water mixture, upon which l was
to spend an hour kneading into a state
of greater consistency. What became
of it after this, know not. How it
came to be in the state | found it, /
know not; but for twenty weeks, one
: hour daily, Sundays excepted, l spent
i'm this work, which l was told was a
part of the process of bread-making
The next twenty weeks | cut bread.
Then l sifted flour, washed glass, swept,
f turned the crank of the chopping- ma
chine, ETC., until my fourth year, when
| was allowed to scOur knives without
change for the forty weeks. This work
} was regarded as one of the senior
: privileges, not because of the greater
mental discipline necessary to its ac-
plishment, but forty-five minutes
of this labor was considered equivalent
: to sixty of the ordinary kinds, so it left
/ fifteen minutes daily for recreation and
reading, which it was thought proper
for seniors to have.
When the Rev. Mr.. SmilaX spoke SC
: glowingly in his anniversary address oi
: the value of learning that useful accom-
pIishment, housekeeping, at the same
time that we were acquiring an educa.
tiOm in mathematics aud the languages
| could but think it very strange thai
our trustees, who were also trustees o.
Johns school, had never thought to sci
him to planning boards and boring holes
an hour daily, so that when he gradu.
? ated he could be hOuse-builder, a:
e we'll as | a house-keeper. ventured al
one time to suggest this to one of Oul
venerable fathers, but he so frightened
me with the immense Interrogation
= points that stared at me from his eye.
as he answered, in very decided tones
"Miss Jones, such thing would be per
fectly mpracticable,n that / never ven
tured farther with my philanthropiC
: suppestions So John did NOT shove 5