The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-06-16

the, obedience of. ferocious wild beasts.
e IF you desire to lay the surest founda
tion for your daughters happiness, vel
fare and usefulness in this world, educate
her-educate her aoeA. Do that for her
and while you live she will prove con
slant blessing to you, and when you have
gone home to the long rest she will rise
up and call you blessed. Educate hel
'ibht 4 little and that little in Hashy @ac
complishments," !" and you arr. pretty sure
to make q fool of her; educate her mo-
at all, and as the celebrated Jonathan
Swift said; ;i,the devil will be sure to edu
cate her, for you. :.
~ By education the Judgment is strength
ened and rightly adjusted to deal with
practical matters to, best advantage, by
the breadth and variety Of useful .knowl.
edge which the mind encompasses. In
this regard the best state Of the mind is,
of course, to know we'll many sciences
and the next best is to k1aoao as many
sciences as possible, and to know well
that we do not knoao them. Even such
negative knowledge as that would often
restrain Us from presumptious and hurt
,fulconclusions.
SIT wads sfrae monte a blunder free US
And foolish notion"
Now the kind and degree of education
for which We plead has rarely been i'm
parted to. women in this or any other
country. Young women are not kept at
our colleges long enough after their
minds are sufficiently matured and prop
.erly trained to. pursue. 8 thorough course
of moral and intellectual philosophy and
the higher mathematlcs--the very
branches Of science peculiarly adapted TO
train and develop the human mind to its
utmost capacity. Our girls usually get
but little more than peep at these great
sciences in our "Female Colleges" aud
take their diploma and their departure
With some smatteriDg of Latin, French,
polite literature, and more or leas---
usually the less")-pro6ciency in mu'
Sic, painting and drawing. No wonder
that many Of them soon come to be re-
garded with pity or even contempt BY
the husbands they marry. They have
only learned enough to make them con-
ceited, and to unfit them for their natu-
r..l place in the family, and for the real
business Of that life which they essay to
lead.
But some one may exclaim: "What
use have girls or women for knowledge
OF moral and intellectual philosophy and
the higher mathematics and natural
sciences?" We reply that the kind of
"nsen to which such an interrogator OBJ
viously has reference is accomplished in
a knowledge of spelling, reading and
ciphering. And these are truly the keys
OF literary knowledge. But the great
uue of going beyond these rudiments in
a system of liberal education is, to train
and develop our mental faculties, to un-
shackle and liberalize the mind in its
entirety, and to enable us to think wisely,
observe closely and reason correctly.
Then women need this culture as much,
or even more, than men need it; for
theirs is more complex and difficult
part to act we'll in the great drama OF
real life. And women need especially
the more liberal allowance of all the in.
formation that may, be obtained from
books, because their domestic life and
the proprieties of their nature cut them
of from various sources of valuable in
formation which men enjoy through their
freer personal intercourse with the world.
Comparatively few men have direct
practical use, in their business occupa-
tions, for that higher book-learning o1
which we have spoken; but all who have
il know that it gives them lofty want.
age.ground. And their greatest benefit
from it is the mental habitude begotten
In them by the strenuous and persistent
efforts and strict discipline to which they
were subjected in acquiring the knowl'
edge. For knowledge achieved by self
imposed, pains taking, protracted efforts
carries along with itself arl unfailing re-
ward in enhanced intellectual power. II
gives both strength and pliancy to all the
mental faculties. It is no answer what
ever to this assertion to say that many
individuals, without such discipline ane
learning, have displayed splendid powers
cf mind. All that can be 6tly and truth
fully said relative to the point is, tha
without such educational advantage th'
weaker who have had them would, un
questionably, have been still greater
iveakli1gs without them. And every ont
is under the highest moral obligations to
his Maker, his country and himself te
cultivate to the utmost his own and hi
children's mental endowments, of what
ever grade they may be.
Feed the mind on only light bellies
lettres literature, and you are as certain
to weaken and dissipate it as you woule
be to derange and impair the physica
health and constitution by subsisting en-
tirely on sugar plums. Every nobl
structure is reared on appropriate ant
stable foundation. characterization find
its appropriate place only after the stronl
framework has been erected. Men d.
not paint their houses until after they
are built. And this common.seus
course of procedure should be better OBJ
served in the matter of education. LIE
our daughters be subjected to gra.ver ant
more exacting mental exercises, and the.
will become the more accomplished ant
efficient leaders of our glorious Christian
civilization; for they will thence learn t.
perform to greater perfection the bene6
cent part of wise, good angels in thei
own households. Well.ordered, happ,
and intelligent families constitute tn
true leaven of national virtue ard pros
perity.
And now word or two. if you please
in regard to very serious hindrance t
the due progress Of girls, even in tina
scanty schooling which is usually allowed
them. It is pretty generally s!dmitte
among thoughtful boys themselves, q
we'll as their parents and friends, tha
while they are engaged in the pursuit Q
their education it is not well for them t
20 much into fashionable or formal sc
ciety where they meet the opposite se1
To do so is almost sure to distract tn
mind of the young and divert them fror
earnest application to their textbook
But very many fond parents purposel
lead or permit and encourage thei
| douohtars whi]a schnol. uir1s In receiy