St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-12-14
What Shall We DO With Our
Girls!
BY SARA DUNCAN.

"Make good wives and mothers of
them" answers somebody's grand
mother, with decisive nod at her
knitting that seems to settle
the whole matter. And so far we all
agree with her. But question the
dear old lady as to her methods of
bringing about this greatly tO-be de-
sired result, and it is very probable
that we must respectfully demur.
"Why, teach them," she would say,
''to be good housekeepers. Instill
economy, enforce darning, elucidate
pickles. Have them help you at home
until they go from their fathers house
to take charge of somebody else's."
"Of course" grandma adds, 81 be-
lieve in education-thOrough educa-
ton. And a nice seminary finishing
off, for music and so forth"
Advice like this is guiding many
mothers of to-day. Whether the re-
suit justifies its adoption or not, the
daughter shows. If this training pro-
duces the highest type of wOmanhOOd
possible, there is nothing more to say.
If not, it is open to improvement.
1t is very generally admitted that
the average girl is as intelligent as the
average boy. SchoOl-days show this.
But the average young woman is not
as intelligent as the average young
man, so far as we can judge from her
acquaintance. Her conversation is
not so exclusively upon the subject of
dress as people suppose. 1t is very
frequently upon the total depravity of
human nature-as illustrated by the
nf ri,I of email
occurrences in the neighborhoOd. 1t
is very often upon the various perfec-
tions and imperfectiOns of her ac-
quaintances but most of all she talks
directly or indirectly about herself.
She appears to be interested i'll few
things that do not Immediately con-
Germ her. Her grasp of any large sub
iect is unstable, her Judgment is al
most invariably warped by circum-
stance, her prediudices are strong, and
feeling will nearly always win the day
against reason. While the fact is not
so patent in her conversation as might
be supposed, there are few cOnsidera-
tions that weigh more heavily with her
than that of dress. Pictures, books,
excursions, health may be dispensed
with, but not an eight-dOllar summer
hat and that degree of elegance pro-
duced by the calamitOus corset. The
average young lady of the great middle
class has her "'home duties," no doubt.
She has her religious duties, still less
without doubt, and she has her duties
to society. But the performance of all
these leaves very wide gap in the
day of an active, intelligent girl. So
she invents other duties. 1t becomes
absolutely necessary that the parlor
mantel shall have a new drape; that
is the tribute she pays to esthetics.
Then she magnilies her domestic labor.
She may not open a book for a week,
but the pudding must not he left to the
servant girl. Her interests are ridicu-
lousy small, but they are so near her
that they obscure others infinitely
broader and better. This is the state
of things effected, to Il very great eX-
tent, by our grandmOther's advice.
1t is beautiful possibility in the life
of every girl, that she may some time
be IA loved wife, a happy mother, and
the wise ruler of comfortable home.
1t is an ugly reality that to many girls,
educated to expect and depend upon
| it, this blissful future never comes.
| Not because they have been neglectful
of the steps necessary to the attain
ment of it, or are in any way unworthy
of it. They have simply frittered
away their energies among tew-pans,
| their talents in the construction of
bric-d-brdc, and their health in dress
ing ''like other girls" tO find them
selves, too late to redress the evil OF
their motiveless lives, members of that
feminine surplus known as the sister
hood of old maids
! 1t is rather absurd to suppose, that
while boys are born with special
''bents" or "tastes" or "talents" which
may decide their future career for
them, every girl should come into the
world with special predilection foI
dish-pans and busters And it is not
fair or right that while boys inclina-
ton NAV find scope and help him in
the occupation that he chooses, his sis
ters must dwindle down within ''dO-
nestle" limits until it is no longer Z;
source of Joy or pride, but only thorn
in the flesh and "A source of lifelong
discomfort. DO not expect that yOul
girls will equal your boys in any bust
ness or profession. Still, give them =
chance. Don't count it "A sin that they
don't take to knitting as you did at
their age. They may be able to de
something better.
But the majority of girls will marry
If we educate them all to self-suppOrt
when will they learn to keep house
/. hear you cry. / don't think that IL
much of AN objection. Shrewdness o
observation, readiness of action, ant