Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-12-19
What Shall We Do With Our Christ
BY SARA DUNCAN.

them," answers somebody's grandmother,
with a decisive nod at her knitting needles
hat seems to settle the whole matter.
And so far we agree with her. But
question the dear old lady as to her
methods of bringing about this greatly TO
be desired result, and 1t Is very probable
that we must respectfully demcr
why. teach Them" she would say, "to
be good housekeepers. Inslill econo
my, enforce darning, elucidate pickles.
Have them help you at home until they
60 from their fathers house to take charge
Of somebody else's."
"Of course" grandma adds, II believe
in educaion-thorough education. And
a nice seminary finishing off, for music
and SO forth"
Advice like this is guiding many mothers
Of TO- day. Whether the result justifes its
adoption or not, the daughter shows. II
this training produces the highest type OF
womanhood possible, there is nothing
more 10 say. If not, it Is open to
improvement.
1t is very generally admitted that the
average girl is as intelligent as the average
boys. 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. II
is very frequently upon the total depravity
Of human nature-as illustrated by the
servant girl. 1t is of various small
occurrences in the neighborhood. 1t is
very often upon the various PROJECTIONS
and imperfectons of her acquaintances
but most of all she talks directly or
indirectly about herself. She appears TO
be interested in few things that do not
Immediately concern her. Her grasp of
any large subject is unstable, her judgment
Is almost invariably warped by circum-
sance. her predjudices are strong. and
feeling will nearly always win the day
against reason. While the fact is not so
potent in her conversation as might be
supposed, there are few considerations
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 produced by the calamitous
corset. The average young lady of the
great middle class has her "home duties"
no Coubt. She has her religious duties,
still less without doubt, and she has her
duties to society. But the performance OF
all these leaves a 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 Il new drspe; that is the tribute sh,
pays 10 esthetlcs. Then she magniii, S
ner domestic labor She may not open "a
book Ter Il week s4t he pudding must not
BIZ left TO the servant girl. Her Interests
ne ridicuiously small. but they are So
near her that they obscure others intinitei,
broader and better. This is the state OF
things effecled, 10 a very great extent. by
our grandmother's advice.
1t is II beautiful possibility in the life of
every girl. that she may some time be It
loved wife. happy mother. and the wise
rul.r of Il comfortable home. 1t is an
ugly reality that to many girls, educated
to expect and depend upon it, this blissluI
future never comes. Not because they
have been negleclful of The steps necessary
to tho attainment of it, or in any way
unworthy of it. They have simply
frittered away their energies among stew
pans, their talents in the construction OF
brio brac, and their health in dressing
like Other girls" TO find and themselves too
late 10 redress the evil OF their motiveless
lives, members of that feminine plus
known as the slsterhood of old maids!
1t Is rather absurd TO suppose. that
while boys are born with sp cial 'oenls'
or TASTES" or "talents which may decide
their future career Tor them, every girl
should come into the world with IL special
prediction for dish pans and busters!
And it is not fair or right that while II
BOYS inclination m y find scope and help
him in the occupation that lie chooses, his
sisters must dwndle down within .domes-
lic' limits until it is no longer source of
JOY or pride, but only thorn in the flesh
and source of lifelong discomfort. Do
not expect that your girls will equal your
boys in any business or profession. Still,
give them chance. Don't count it sin
that they don't take to knitting as you did
at their age. They may be able to do
something better.
But the majority of girls will marry.
Ii we educate them all to self support,
when will they learn to keep housep
hear you cry. don't think that is much
of an objection. Shrewdness of observa
ton, readiness of action, and that compre-
hensive quality known as "common
sense" are quite as essential in any
business or profession is they are in
domestic life, and are just as likely TO be
acquired behind the counter, or in the
study, as at home. AS to experience,
Gail Hamilton says that any moderately
bright girl can learn to keep house in six
months; and believe her. Six months
Of daily thought and practice, with the
near prospect of putting it into active
service, would make a better house,
keeper of girl who had never seen a
preserving kettle, than ten years of The
meaningless occasional trifling in the
kitchen which good many girls call
their experimental knowledge of house,
keeping. That your daughters truest
usefulness lies in happy marriage, it
would be absurd 10 deny. 1t is equally
true that, in shutting your eyes to the fact
that she may never marry, you do her
grle GUS wrong And it is most notably
tue that by guiding her into that business
or profession which will make her honor
ably independent, develop her faculties,
enlarge her interests, and widen and
deepen her thought, you will do lar
greater service 10 her and her possible
husband and children than BY all the
cookery book instruction and rag cal pet
lore yCu could possibly instill IS s.