The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-02-16
The Higher Education of Women.

We notice that Mr. Hunt has presented
bill in the Senate appropriating funds Tor the
erection OF suitable buildings for the Danyiile
Female University and for its continued sup
port Mr. Walker has also introduced reso-
luton in the same body nstructng the Com
mittee on Education and Public Instruction
to inquire into and report as soon as practical
bic the expedency of establishing in Virginia
a school or college for the higher and more
thorough education of the young women OF
the State. This is a subject which should have
received attention long ago. Every year an
appropriation Of over a hundred thousand
dollars is made to enable young men to secure
the best instruction and fit them tor those du-
ties in life which require more extended ed
ucaton than can be afforded by the common
schools, whilst the young women are forced
to work their way upward as best as they cam
without any assistance from the Common
wealth Virginia has enjoyed the reputation
OF being the home of chivalry, The devotion
of her sons to and their high esteem for the
gentler sex have been the theme of song and
story for generations past. This is all very
well, but in this practical age it is demanded
that we demonstrate that devotion and esteem
in substantial manner. Because of her sex,
nearly every door to independence is closed
to woman Custom has ordained that she
shall enter upon few if any of those pursuits
for which she often has both the brains and
capacity, and which would relieve her of the
drudgery of the needle or the exacting duties
of the school-reom We enyelop her in an
atmosphere of vaporous sentmentality from
which is well-nigh excluded the lte-giving
element-the oxygen of the practical We es-
tablsh her as priestess of that sacred temple
called home, and bring as incense to her altar
chivalrous regard for the ideal, seemingly
! forgetful that fruit not flowers must sustain
| her There are thousands of brave, earnest
woman in Virginia who are daily battling
| against odds, which men would quail before.
| Limited to narrow circle of action she
whose spirit forbids her to eat the bread Of
| dependence, or upon whom necessity thrusts
stern demands, sees no avenue open before
her that is not already crowded. Indeed, the
index finger of custom points to but one re-
sort. She must teach. And even in that sin
gle vocation she pays the penalty OF her sex.
The most uninteresting and tedious duty of
the school-room-the training of the infant
Chassis committed to her charge, and there
she must labor, year in and year out, Tor a
pittance that barely meets present needs,
much less enables her to lay by for the future.
With most of our women, and we use the
word in its higher sense, the first employment
lays ne foundation for promotion. AS soon
as the pupil has mastered the elementary
branches and advances to the higher plane of
scholarship, he is placed under the training
of a man, whose ampler salary is often his
only claim to superiority. The experience
and capacity of the first counts for little or
nothing and confined as she is to her narrow
sphere, there is small incentive for her to be
other than mechanical. Has she not right
to complain of the injustice done her? For
the very same duties which she performs, a
!, man demands and receives from third more
to double the compensation. He will not
work for less, for before him str echeS broad
field efusefulness and endeavor, whilst she, CON
scious of the practicable impossibility ofsecur-
ing other employment, is forced to submit to
, whatever is imposed upon her. We have in this
city striking example of the SPLENDID capac-
, ity and executive ability of woman The
f largest and most prosperous female college in
} the South, has grown from comparatively
insignificant school to its present proportions
under feminine direction and management
Every teacher may not become a Mary Julia
Baldwin, but if an opportunity is afforded
many of them will be able to enjoy the ''glo
rious privilege of being independent" The
. establishment OF free university, in whict
the practical as well as the theoretical shall be
taught, will be a step in the right direction. L
will better equip our daughters and sisters
: for those contests which they should be pre-
pared to meet, and which the mutations o
fortune may at any time thrust upon them
: And when they are equipped, let us see tina
] an equal change is given them.