The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-04-06


back to the mummy toilets in the early
autumn, and is the dearest, the most
helpless, chrysalis throughout the wear
till summer comes again. But if climb
ing is not the business of every day,
exercise surely is, and you by ordering
her costumes, by paying for them,
have conspired to put this as certainly
out of her reach as though we had in
cased her in a neat upright sarcopha-
gus, set, for purposes of locomotion,
on wheels.
look at Tom, now" (Tom and
Bessie are the Juniors of our establish
ment, contemporaries by year.) 1.-THE
boy refuses to wear an overcoat or car
ry an umbrella the winter long. And
why? Because the young animal re-
fuses to be hampered in any way; he
must have the freedom of his arms. |
see him on his road home from school,
with sachel of worn books at his
back, making every step of the way a
gambol, a defiance, taking in deep
draughts of fresh air, shouting and
hallooing; and then overtake Bessie,
on her way home, carrying seven, eight
neC books pressed close to her breast
with one tired arm, holding up her
skirts with the other, as she crosses the
muddy street-for you have taught your
girls to be dainty, my dear, if you do
dress them in defiance of comfort and
health. Whenever L see this sharp
contrast feel that there is indeed no
hope for the girls. Give our daugh-
tiers trial! chance for the girls!' the
word is passed from every thorough
fare where men have hitherto stood
guard. A chance! Can they, will they
ever have it till they have new clothes
philosophy? .......
Tell me honestly, my dear, when
Tom was in petticoats in the nursery,
and Bessie toddler of year older, in
the rare momentin their lives when they
had cO-education, was there any differ
ence between them as regards health
and strength?''
"N-no, certainly not" said my wife
-" except that Bessie was the health
Ter of the two, and the first to get well
always of the baby ills they had to-
gether."
Precisely; so l thought. And at
six years old youput Tom into knicker-
bockers and sent him to school, while
Bessie, | think, had lessons at home
until she was nine?"
Eyes"
"Well, my dear, it is as much my
fault as yours; but doesn'tit strike you
that the co-education that ends at six
and then seeks to begin again at six
teen is not altogether fair one? From
the day that Tom went to school, what
was his life? Five hours of solid work,
varied by the incessant undercurrent of
restless activity, even under the alert eye
of DR.. Brownies himself. A recess of
hearty play, if it be but for ten minutes,
is utilized to its utmost capacity. Out
of school, what does the rascal do? He
is off to baseball or cricket, you know,
before his dinner is fairly swallowed.
How or when his lessons are learned
puzzles me; but they are learned-by
early lamp-light, it may be, so that he
may have the evening clear to 90 to a
debating-club at "a boys house To
Judge from the character of the debates
when they are held at mig house, there
is quite as much wrestling of bodies as
of brains. By the sounds overhead, in
Toms own room, it is q conclave of
prehistoric cells, with heavy boots on,
winding up with pillow-fight as an ap-
propriate motion to adjourn. All of Sat
urday, you know, is devoted to hare
and hounds in the Park, or to that
nascent boat-club on the Schuykill that
is to lead the river one of these days.
Positively every moment of Toms life
when he isn't asleep, or at school, or at
table, is that of the young Nemean' he
styles himself.
"Can you 90 back with me, dear,
through the days of Bessie's training?
1t is my fault as well as yours, remem-
Der, if it has gone wrong. Before she
went to school she had her daily lessons
with you, and that they were with you
made the sweetest of all starts on that
grabbed road. Then she had her music,
two hours of daily devour at the piano
For play, what had she? the dolls in
the nursery. For exercise? walk with
her bonnie at noon-a stately walk,
varied by observations on the part of
that officer to be sure and keep her tiny
petticoats fresh and her dainty gloves
spotless, like a lady! By the way she
carried her doll with her on these tri-
umphal professions, and due attention
must be given to holding it straight and
keeping It's fiounces in order. We could
not let the poor little arms go unbur-
dened even in this hour of sunshine and
fresh air!
"Then you and wanted year of
Europe, and the home lessons were done.
We turned Bessie over to Madam
Blanks school, and made ourselves
easy, knowing that the creature COM
forts of home were safe with Debby
Ann. We come home again, and things
90 on in their now-accustomed groove.
Bessie, like Tom, hasn't a minute to
spare. Her school-hours are no more
than his; but she has a wider range,
certainly, in the curriculum, with her
nine textbooks and her score of exer-
cises. Probably she will never learn
concentration as he does; but for that
Madam Blank is to blame, who sows
crop after crop upon the virgin soil
without waiting for the first sign of
harvest. Poor child, when she is jerked
violently from q French idiom to a
chemical combination, from the Pyra-
mids of Egypt to the ninety-ninth prop
esition, from the 'gurgite vasto' to
penealoUy of the Patriarchs, how can