Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1886-10-16


ing any mental strain, and that the best
type OF young womanhood can never be
developed and perfected in the musty,
sitting air Of school-room or study.
In other words, it is laid down as q prop
osition incontrovertable that the world is
the home OF man and the home is the
world of woman. This theory or sem
timent or doctrine has such vast NOM
Der of respectable and intelligent advo-
Gates that progress against it is but slow
indeed. There can be no doubt that the
modern young lady possesses some char
acteristics and cultivates some customs
which are not admirable, and which place
her at disadvantage in comparison with
the young lady Of twenty years ago; and
it is the endeavor to account for this fact
which has made it comparatively easy to
find Endorsement for the theory that ed
ucation is responsible for the mischief.
Rut is it so? Let us look at the circum-
stances surrounding the mother of to-
day and the duties devolving on her,
and let us see whether it be not true that
very high order of education is absc
lutely necessary to proper discharge OF
those duties.
Nowhere in the wide world is the edu-
cation of children left 80 completely to
women as in America. In this country
the fathers are but little acquainted with
their children. Du1ing the day they
scarcely see each other, and although in
the evening when Spa comes home he
may pet or scold the little ones, he hard
~ ever takes the trouble and the time to
train OF educate them. Mothers in
America are the only home educators;
they tame the wild boys and hold in
check the lively girls; they alone listen
to the real and imaginary troubles of the
children, controlling their studies and
perfecting their manners. It is the
mothers in America who mould and shape
the minds and character of our future
citizens. The sons, who, in time to come,
will uphold our standards of liberty, art
and science, imbibe their ambitions, con-
Vctions- their very manhood the
mothers. Now; since the social condi-
tions of the country are such as to lay
upon women the grave responsibility Of
being the sole educators of the
future men, is it not desir-
able that women should be fully equip
ped for the discharge Of this great duty ?
Womsn's heart, her sentiment, her
mind, rules the conduct of man. It is to
her we must look as we always have
looked for the elevation and publication
of society; and nations worth can best
be judged by the intellectual. condition
of it's women. The high-school graGu-
ate has only reached a normal mental
development, and there is nothing in
her requirements that are even sugges-
tive of "blue stockingism." The small
percentage of women who devote their
time to delving among moth-eaten itera-
ture are admired neither by men nor by
women, yet all advanced thinkers have
occasion to rejoice at the rapid intellec-
tual progress of the nineteenth century
woman. She assures to mankind steady
mental and moral promotion, for the
educated women is as much the superior
of the ignorant one in moral nature as
she is in her capacity of fitness for dis
charging all the duties of the home
Domestic drudgery is a thing of the
past.
saving inventions have taken
from the women many of her former bur-
dens, and her days are no longer divided
between the cook-stove, the spinning
wheel, the cradle and the needle. Her
education can in no wise impair her ef-
ficiency as a house keeper. House.
hold duties have become comparatively
light and they leave ample time to the
average woman for the cultivation of her
mind. Time is far better spent in sing
ing, painting and reading than in shop
ping and gossiping. Envy, jealousy
and all other like traits which have es-
capped Pandora's box, are chiefly found
in uncu]tivsted and illiterate women, and
nothing corrects or obliterates valgarity
more effectually than education. The
claim that the health of our girls is un-
dermined by the long extended period
Of school life, and to become robust and
remain healthy, she must avoid pen and
books, is fatty contradicted by observa-
ton and experience. Such arguments
emanate too often from the studies of the
philosophers and the preachers. If those
learned gentlemen would take their eyes
from their books and would study for q
time the lessons to be found in the bust
ling streets, they would find their theo-
ries negatived by the many pale-faced
servant girls, countless sickly factory
lasses and innumerable decrepit seam
stresses. By observation they would
discover that hard physical labor affects
the bodily health of women even more
than mental exertion. Nervousness has
become q universal sickness, which has
taken hold of men as well as women, and
has it's origin, not in books, but solely
in the foolish haste which is displayed
in all walks of life.
Let us cease grumbling, then, at over
grown schoolgirls and as soon as posi-
bic Danish from our minds the imaginary
fear of over education. Tie larger the
attendance st our high schools, the bet
ter for the future happiness Of mankind.
For to the honor of the sex be it record
ed. that the brilliantly cultivated, we'll
educated modern woman retains all the
excellencies of character which some
men think can only be found in the tame,
illiterate, hard-working '1old-fashioned"
wife and mother.
Remarkable Rocks.