St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-10-31

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II q lt9Ji&& vacations pleasures
u >SSlgNE1M for the tolls and trials
II sEl&fsh of the school-room
I'LL N1'&lL these be melancholy
g@[CrA l>[W days, says the St.
NM Nl WI Louis Republican.
: "\$@ The high school and
seminary young ladies
ARE especially dismal over the change from
'freedom and sayety to slavery and gloom; |
and when they querulousy ask what is the
good of girls going through all this? the
question is echoed by many social, jour
nalistic and pulpit philosopher. 1t serves
as a text fol, many and many lay sermon
on the evil tendency-not to say degener-
acv-of the age, and thrilling pictures are
drawn to demonstrate the banefnl effects
which are to follow upon the
modern practice of bestowing Jun
WOmanIy'' education upon our girls.
We are soIemnly warned that accordingly
as we develop in them a taste for learning
we undermine the home and invite disaster
to the entire social fabric. We are told
that inaslnuch as our boys and our girls are
to occupy different spheres in life their re-
spective educatiOnS should differ accord
ingly-that however valuable it may be in
the Life of a commercial man, high-schOol
education is neither essential nor desirable
in model wife and mother; that girls
physical nature is such as to ncapacitate
them for enduring any mental strain. and
that the best type of young womanhOOd
can never be developed and perfected in the
musty, sitting air of a SchOol-rOom or
study. In other words it is laid down
as a proposition incontrovertbIe that
the world is the home OF nan and
the home is the world of woman.
This theory, OF sentiment, CT doctrine
has such a vast number of respectable and
intelligent advocates that progress against
it is but slow indeed. There can be no
doubt that the modern young lady possesses
some characteristics and cultivateS some
customs which are not admirable. and
which place her at a disadvantage in COM
parisOn with the young lady of twenty
years ago; and it is the endeavOr to account
for this fact which has made it compare
lively easy to find Endorsement for the
theory that education is responsible fOr the
mischief But is it so? Let US look at the
circumstances 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 absolutely neceS-
sary TO a proper discharge of these duties.
Nowhere in the wide world is the educa-
lion of children left so completely to women
Is Ill AilleIlCd. LII IllS GUILTY. lll0 ldlll0TS
are but little acquainted with their chill
dren. During the day they scarcely see each
other. and although in the evening when
pa comes home he may pet or scOld the
little ones. he hardly ever takes the trOu
bic and the time to train or educate them.
Mothers in America are the ely home ed
ucatOrS; they tame tile 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 per-
fecting their manners. 1t is the mothers
in America who mold and shape the minds
and characters of our future citizens. The
sons, who. in time to come. will uphold
our standards of liberty. art and
science. imbibe their ambitions, convic-
tiOns-their very manhood from the moth
erS. Now, since the social conditions of the
country are such as to lay upon women the
grave responsibility Of being the sole edu-
Gators of the future men. is it not desirable
that women should be fully equipped for
the discharge of this great duty?
Let us cease grumbiing, then, at over
grown schoolgirls, and as soon as possible
Danish from our minds the imaginary fear
of over education. The larger the attend
ance at our high schools, the better for the
future happiness of mankind. For to the
honor of the sex be it recorded that the
brilliantly cultivated, well-educated modern
woman retains all the excellencies of char
acter which some men think can only be
found in the tame. ilIterate hard-work-
ing, old fashioned wife and mother.