Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1876-04-15

daughters; otherwise there can he mr.
promise Of success In ANYTHING. Con-
centratiun, not diffusion, is what we
need; nor can any excellence bc
promised under the system OF prom
isrnous cramming now pracliccd liz
most of our female colleges and semi.
naries. Just think Of the absurdity
of their usual requirements, and its
folly is apparent. Why. in her limise's
scholastic course. our dangh,'T tolls.
through the lengthy curriculum, an's
makes her "dcbut" u. siss,een, With
Just sufficient ae1nain,snse with
each study to prove invaluable---
utterly useless True, she can repeat
gliLly. most of the rules Of Rhetoric
and Criticism, but when called upon
fox an essay on some familiar subjce:.
she fails to put those rules in practice.
Possibly she can demonstrate the
most difficult problems in " GaS.on,.''
aud Mensura,iOD. but take Aer away
from the textbook, aua she woult'
recoil timitlly Eom she ,a>k Of calcu-
latiDs ,As hsigss ssa natural object.
or the area of an :r"sgula- surface.
AS "lipguiS,," she CAN Sonjngato.
thu verSs "aimer" and "parler "
with fluent ease, end can. doubtless
translate chosen fsasSasss, from "Tele-
maaue,"" Til BIAS or Virgil" but
examine her in, impromp,u colloquiali
or written exercises, and our accom-
plished Miss" is compnllsa to. coI,
frss ode ns-sois pos.H likewise
with the lighter accomplishments of
drawing and musis : rs the majority
of hngers make little use of tho bruSr
or pencil aud rs most musicians only
succeed in converting golden silence
into pandemcni,an u torture. Now
where is the fault BIAS osr girl no .
talent f0r any special braEsf , Evi--
IDENTIFY sas has, or arr peSs little head
could not cont Ain h. mssS of misccl-
laneOus knowledge inflicted upon her );
bu, in the plan Of dlvi>ion, ana sub
division. Of her psseions time her
attention has b-sn Sc dSisacted
between the mul,ipliei,y ot subjects,
as to render those talsats powcrlcss.
Surely this is the rational effect of
such q course, for does il not find its
analogy in the employment Of every
force, mental or physical, within the
; scope of our observation No strik-
, ing results being a,tainable cxccpa
: through the power Of attention or
concentration. For example, in nature.
the sun is the time-worn archctype"
: of knowledge, but We we'll know that
= all bis beautiful and wonderful ther-
5 NAL phenomena, are lessencd or des.
, iroyed by the divergence Of his rays ,
5 Just so, and for the same reasons tho
: light of the body--,hc God-given
r Indebtedness its activity aud penc-
tratiOn, by O distribution of attention
so unreasonable, and 81 diiIuse. Then
; while it is desirable that every man
: and woman acquire as thorough n
] knowledge as practicable of the gene
raj principles of SCIENCE: get, so broad
5 and msasAreless is the world OF
c Philosophy Literature" and
: "Arl" that no individual mind can
v reasonably hope to compass it. Hence.
y We find that every eminent scholar in
e either Of the three great continents ol
o this literary Cosmos " has early III
If life abandoned the attempted citizen
r ship Of oil, and chosen the one most
l. congenial TO his taste and genius
It Thus, and thus only. is excellence
It attained and it is, beyond question
= to this eccentric persistence that We
e owe our great discoveries and oul
" great reforms.
r, Shall We descend to . question o
'e bare utility, the same reasoning l.
,e applicable. No man expects L
~ acquire skill in q variety OF mecbani
,e cal arts but rather selects the ont
,e most suited to bis inclina,ion OF phys
ID ieal development. In pursuance o
al this idea, have we boy to educate
y. we first train him from infancy to loo
O. forward to some goal in the faro
re future, TO be reached through psrsis
10 tent effort, and Nn,iring industry, 70
III should We fail to train him thus W
ns have forgotten the cornerstone t
or success. Having directed him I
I'd some aim. his time is chiefly cniployc
n in the pursuit Of that branch tbroug
til which he is expected to win his wa
J." to fame, honor or wealth. OF cours
er we do not dream Of making him pr
Of ficient in Literature, Philosopb..
I'd, Commerce and Architecture, but "
,st make a selection in cOnsonancc with b
er taste and inclination, and for,hwi,
be direct his energies towards pcrfectit
ho in this chosen channel. Now. wei
as this singlencss Of effort encourage
nd in our girl what might she u
accomplish =? Is there not reason
re- predict that she would soou take b
or stand prominently among author
MS artists and possibly. inventor
ng Understand, wo do not mean
red euumeratc any new or unbcard
ese training, but merely suggest paral
as regard for tho daughters. as Tor
Of sons mental aud physical devel'
red ment. In the supervision Of
ex- education, as that Of the son, spec
lily selection should be made ; upon wh
ON department: 10 expend the limited ii
her and means usually her portion in I
e Of direction. Instead Of frit,oriu. aw
tied her golden opportunities i'll the '
eld; effort to compass Natural Scier
lose Mathematics and Belles-lettres.
she ished Oft with q smattering OF Nj