Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-07-16

DEAR MADAME; / wish you would say
word TO girls about approaching their
mothers. II pains me very much 70 sec the
careless and inconsiderate way in which
many girls Of the present day shirk oil care
and responsibility, and though not oil work,
too much Of it, and leave very heavy bur
den to their mothers They do not stop to
think what they would do without them. 1t
seems to me II my mother had been spared
70 me, should never have been 10th TO con-
der her before myself.-E.
The impulse of the mothers heart Is
70 do every thing for the child, give
every hing to the child, sacrifice every \
thing for the good Of the child, even |
health and life itself. This divinely inn
planted impulse is right, but like other |
Impulses it should be subjected to the |
gui5 OF reason. 1t is very easy to |
do too much for n child, and to leave |
too lthd for him 90 do, both for himself |
and foro'hers. This is stating the case
very mildly, for there is no doubt that
the sooner child is thrown on his own
resources for amusement, for self-help,
and tho sooner be is required TO do what
he can TO help Others the better it is for
the child We do not advocate any risk
Of overtaxiug the small powers, but
simply the education Of them, the devel-
opment of them ~ rapidly AS Circ1m-
stances permit, Our boys we expect
will have to meet the trough and tum.
BILE" of the world, but our girls we hope
may be shielded from it, and the ten
dency of modern life Is to bring themu up
so ignorant Of practical matters, and so
helpless as to self-support and as to tax
ing charge of domestic affairs, that
really it is difficult in many cases TO see
what earthly things they are good for.
As soon as they can lisp they are put in
TO a kindergarten, may be, and then
kept at school till they are sixteen or
seventeen, the "extras," music, draw
ing, and other accomplishments, con-
suming every hour not devoted to the
regular studies, so that really and truly
they haven't time TO learn to sew, to
wash dishes, to sweep, to make bread,
to do laundry work.
But the question is perfectly legiti-
mate whether or not as much genuine
culture of intellect, judgment and vo-
lition in girl of thirteen say is gained
| by learning how 10 get 'a good meal of
victuals - entirely by herself as in
learning how to solve quadratic equa-
tions or in getting safely over the peril
ous " ass's bridge" in EuclidP And is
there not so much real culture for hand
and eye and taste in making q dress or
a shirt perfectly as in q course of draw
ing lessons? At school the girl always
has teacher or fellow pupil at hand
TO help her over hard places, but if she
is set TO make batch of bread herself
and attends to it from the time the
sponge is set till the loaves are taken,
sweet, fragrant, golden-brown, from
/ 1,n hn nln nig-
try, caloric, perseverance, delicate ma
nipulation, self-reliance, neatness, and
acquires skill and the habit of carrying
her work in her mind, as one act of neg
lect or forgetfulness at any point of
the process may spoil the whole. Be-
cause mothers do not see in the stated
and slIillful performance by their daugh-
ters of household services q certain and
valuable culture which can not be ac-
quired at school, they are willing to do
themselves what in justice and Kindness
to their daughters they should require
of them.
Our girls are taught too much and
they learn too little. They are taught
a thousand useless things, and the time
thus wasted might be used to good pur-
pose. A girl who can climb trees, who
can dance hours without fatigue, or
"a very dangerous pastime, by the way),
who can take long walks, who can
skate, and row-can sweep, and scrub,
and make bread, and wash, and iron, if
she is encouraged to do so. These are
the accomplishments she must possess
in order to make happy home, though
she may have half dozen servants at
her call. Those who have sufficient
curiosity to investigate this subject will
find that many of the most famous
women in literature and art were as
skillful in those accomplishments con-
sidered specially feminine as they were
with the pen or pencil or ohisel.
Whose is the faultp That young lady
who has been required from childhood
TO bear her proportion, ever increasing,
of household care and toll, will not shirk
upon her mother the work she should
do. She will not come to a home of her
own incapable of performing every office
required of the wife and mother to make
that home neat, orderly, comfortable
and happy. In thus training daughters
mothers confer upon them and upon
posterity the most permanent and indis-
pensable of all blessings.
"We don't mind paying wages to SER
wants, and boarding them and paying
for all they waste" said a gentleman
the other day, "we don't mind paying
milliner's bills for our daughters and
bills for tuition of all sorts, and innu-
merable bills for other things; it isn't
the money we care for, but the fact is
our girls can't do any thing useful no
matter how much we spend on them !;
they don't know how to do any thing
useful, and they are the greatest suffer-
ers themselves from this state of things
What can be done to make our girls of
some accountP
Mothers who are convinced OF the
necessity of a practical domestic educa-
ton for their daughters will " find way
or make way +" for accomplishing this
most desirable end, even though they
ignore and disregard the customs of so.
called polite sOoietys-N. Y. Tribune.