Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-06-19

In the present female mind there
is disproportion. In this, the intel
lect has been neglected, while the
moral and social elements have been
cultivated. Thus our women have
been mentally weakened and de-
formed. They are less womanly than
they would have been had their in
tellects been properly cultivated.
Their judgments lack harmony, and
their lives are marked by a cores
ponding deficiency. Their minds are
one-sided, and have prominent irreg-
ularities. They are not too moral
and affectionate, but are not sufficient
ly intellectual. Had the amount of
culture that women have received
been equally applied to the several
powers of mind, it would have con-
ferred more beauty and dignity of
ClldIuCtCI ttilu lllGs
Sound Judgment, pure life, and
moral dignity are the results of bal
ance of power and culture in the sew
eral departments of the mind. The
opportunities offered to women for
the cultivation of their moral and re-
ligious natures are eminently favora-
BILE. If their intellectual faculties
had cultivation equal to that of their
moral and religious natures, they
would be embodiments of nobler vir-
tues than theyare. Notwithstanding
the good that women have accom-
plished they have not done enough.
Their power is not yet equal to its
need. Their virtue is not mighty
enough. Their religion comes short
in the work. Why? Because they
lack intellectual development. l do
not say, throw out all culture except
intellectual, for [ am an advocate of
every kind of culture thatwill elevate
humanity. The women who do
works of pratical benevolence are ed
ucating their moral powers in the
school of earnest and glorious life,
they are laying the foundation for a
noble and useful womanhood. We
cannot over-estimate the utility and
power of woman's moral and reli-
gious character; for without it the
world would sink into irrevocable
despair and degradation.
Why should women be educated
That their minds may be enriched
and beautified, their thoughts eleva-
ted and purified, their imaginations
famed in the pathway of virtue and
holiness, and the whole woman en-
nobled and perfected till she come
forth the poets ideal,
"The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength and skill,
\ perfect woman, nobly planned,
To warn, to comfort, and command"
This then is the grand object Of fe
male education. Issuch education o.
practical value? Do women come
forth from our schools and colleges
better prepared for exercise in the
walks and callings of life? Where
there is light, there is apt to be right
and the training of the mind mustde
velop the powers in woman essential
to success in her life work, wherever
her lot may be cast.
These principles are SO happily il
Illustrated in the lives of so many wo-
men, that an assertion of the power
and benefit of educational training
and culture to woman, is accepted a.
automatic. Woman is inspired by
intuitions of a higher order than mar
can ever experience. 1t is said tha
the intuitive judgments of women are
often more to be relied upon than thu
conclusions which men reach by al
elaborate course of reasoning. This
no one will dispute. A woman o
true intelligence isa blessingathome
in her circleof friends, and in society
If she be a woman of the true type
and have enough education to origi
nate and express true, and noble
thoughts, she will strengthen RICH
principles in the virtuous, incite tn
selfish and Indifferent to goodactions
and will give, even to the frivolous
taste for food more substantial thai
the gossip with which they seek t
recreate their minds.
Education will better prepare VIC
man todultivate purity, bcnevolcncc
integrity and piety, which are tn
virtues that so nobly and beautiful,
adorn the character Of every tru