The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-07-28

THE DAUGHTERS OF
ITALY.
+ James Jackson Jarvis, writing to the New
York Times from Florence, says; Inc tai
+ iaus are gradually changing their OLD naolIs
in regard 70 matrimony, and permitting
more liberty of choice 10 their children III
enga-ements. which they have hitherto
looked upon solely IL q most parental matter
Of fact light and calculation, irrespective OF
any desire of those most interested IN the
matter. \ lady of rank OF an ancient con
servative family, al are most Of the noDlitF'
related recently her experience OF family
discipline, which Is worth repeating as an
exhibition Of Tuscan aristocTatlc discipline
and domestic life that Is, or has been, the
rule. rather than the exception here. Tier
father placed her in a strict convent III the
country for her education at seven years OF
aye and she was kept there until she was
seventeen During this time she was never
allowed 10 90 out OF the grounds even Tor eN-
ercise but, with the other girls, had 10 take
her cou-titutionals in the prescribed way,
under constant surveillance, inside the wall;
The building was very cold IN winter ana
corresp0ndingIv hot in summer, the diet al
ways the sane-very sparse and lnnutri-
trious-the mind being starved as vel as
the body, the chief intellectual exercises
being of the mOnastIc, ascetlc character,
and empiovmeuts embroidery and needle
work. Al gayety was vigorously suppressed.
Such was the effect OF the low diet and
rigid. monoton0us discipline that the girls
of weak constitutions succumbed, and
either died or were irremodIably crippled IN |
mind and body for life. Her sister, who |
was immured with her, being OF a sensitive,
serious temperament, took her lmprlson-
mentor it was nothing else-so much to
heart that she died of sheer chagrln and
hardship. The pupils were never permitted
for any reason to visit their homes. They !
were especially taught 10 view the male sex |
with suspicion and adherence.
The old man allowed within the convent /
Enclosure was an aged gardner. Him they /
were instructed never to look at, but to |
turn away their eyes whenever he appeared. I
He was called by them the ugly old AMI, /
NAL" such was the training given to /
girls, whose choice OF occupations III life I
was limited to two-eIther 70 become nuns |
or marry whoever was selected tor them by |
their fathers, for their mothers counted Tor /
nothing in these arrangements. Being OF
a light hearted, courageous temperament,
nv informant survived, after fashion,
until she was nearly seventeen, when her
father sent for her and asked her If she
wished to become a nun. NO, she re-
piled Then" said he, you must take
husband" Soon after, her father told her
he had selected as her spouse a middle aged
man, reputed TO have fortune, whom she
had seen once or twice, but did not know.
On her mothers mild remonstrance that
he was too old, his character not good and
the child too young, she was told to be
silent that the wishes of women had nOth~
ing to do in this affair he was master, and
would marry his daughter as suited him
As for herself, she had not the slightest idea
of the duties of a wife did not as she ex-
pressed it, even know what man was, for
her mother had not enlightened her on any
thing connected with the RESPONSE blliCies
and position she was made to assume
When she LETT the house to go to the church,
her father bluutly said 70 her: "NOw you
no longer belong to your family; you be-
long to your husband. You must obey him
everything; you are to exercise no will of
your own in anything. Do you hear p
These words We her most painful sur
prise and shock. At the altar she did not
know what to say when asked if she took
this man to be her husband, and had to be
prompted to the words she mechanically re-
peated, so little comprehending their mean {
ing that after going to her husband ) home,
when it came time for the family to retire, {
she become 50 nervously alarmed and shock {
ed at the idea of having To live with q {
strange man and share his room that 1t was |
agreed she should be permitted to return to {
ler mother for time, who might try to re- !
eoncile her to her new condition. After
brief visit she was persuaded TO accept the 1
now inevitable lot, but, rs might have been :
orseen, the result was lamentable. Her |
husband soon showed himself to be brutal,
tyrant and speudthrift, and she {
eft him to live by herself and take charge /
If the education Of her only child, a son,
living solitary, isolated life although fitted J
1v her talents and spirits to grace any circle. G
4 striking case but not uncommon IN Italy, 5
or a capable woman'S life blighied by per |
licious system of education and false ideas /
If marriage.
One of her schoolmates seduced by the t
rtful counsels of the nuns, in opposition to t
Ter parents wishes, decided on joining their o
auks She had not long been with them, 5
.fter taking the veil when she bitterly re- h
,ented, and took it so much to heart as to a
hortly die of melancholy and disappoint e
nent | should not cite the above instances +
f misdirected training Of Italian mothers e
f they were particularly exceptional I'm e
they serve both toillustrate and y
ccouut for a state of things as regards ltal-
an women or society, which demonstrates
he necessity of a clearer comprehension and
ecOgnition of ''woman's rights" in educa-
ION and maurlmOny than as yea extensively
bounds in Italy. The innate intellectual ?
apacity of the sex only needs more liberty 5
II expansion to make them quite as charm
ne by their instruction and intelligence as =
hey 10y their graceful manners and po- e
lite speech.