Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-06-26
"TASTE" AND
Ex-Governor SeymOur's Address
10 Female Graduates
Last Week.

N. Y. Evening POst.l
In his address delivered on the 10Th
Of June at Wells female college, Au.
rora, New York, Ex-Governor Sey-
mour, among other thoughtful and
judicious suggestions, cautioned the
young women whom he addressed
against a certain very common con-
fusion of words and ideas. Nothing,
indeed, is more frequently met vita
among persons ofboth sexes and all
ages than a disposition to shirk par
ticular lines of duty or labor on the
ground that they have no taste" for
the special work in hand.
Now, it often happens that this
very work is precisely what is most
needed for the symmetrical mental
equipment of the person who seeks to
eyade it. Most young women have,
we suppose, no taste" in the ordi-
nary ~parlance, for mathematics; and
yet every man Of experience well
knows in how trying and lamentable
a manner his female acquaintance
are often disqualified for the business
of life, and even prevented from
becoming good or economic house.
keepers, because of their lack of even
a smatterinO of exact science. Ex-
Seymour's perception of
this difficulty finds expression, in a
measure, in the following passage:
But some Of you may feel that
while certain minds may be interested
in the subjects of which | have spok-
en-, they do not suit your taste, and
cannot, therefore, yield to you the
pleasures they give to others. | wish
to warn you against this word TASTE.
in the sense in which it is generally
used. 1t may be that some are CITED
with aptitudes in certain directions
beyond others that some have facul-
ties for learning, for arts or for sci.
ence, that give them peculiar advan-
tages in their pursuits. But | think.
from my knowledge of men, that this
is overestimated. AS a rule, God
dispenses his tayors in an impartial
way. In most cases, the superiorities
Of persons in their pursuits, which
are attributed to natural endowments.
are due to acquired knowledge. The
deep interest they exhibit grows rom
their intelligence, and not from any
aesthetic considerations. When | am
at my farm by those who feel
no sympathy with nature, and say
that they have no taste for country
life, l make up my mind that they
do not like it because they do not
know enough about the world around
them to enjoy its beauties. But | see
that they not only feel that they have
justified their dislike, by saying that
is not to their taste, but
that there is a CLEAN of self
satisfaction in the idea they cherish.
that there is something in their
makeup which lifted them up above
that kind of life. We find them. that
this word taste is not only used to ex-
cuse ignorance, but worse than all to
hide our own detects from our ewes
1t is not necessary we should tell
others that they feel no interest in
certain topics, because they lack infor-
nation, but it is wise to tell ourselves
that We want intelligence with respect
to things which give pleasures TO
others and not to us. AS a rule, in
difference shows ignorance. We must
be honest in self-dealing. Self cheat
ing is the most common form of fraud.
1t is a good rule, when you find
that subjects of importance or objects
Of value are matters of indifference.
TO conclude that there are some things
which you do not, but which YOU
to know. Do not gloss over
your defects by charging them to
your taste, to your mental makeup,
when they arc owing to your neglect.
Young women, or young men either,
who are strong enough to follow this
good counsel will be surprised in due
time to find how they grapple with
things distasteful, and the mastery of
them will widen the horizon of their
knowledge and how it will even en-.
nance their capacity to enjoy what
to them to be best within the
scope Of their natural powers.