Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-10-26
WHY WOMEN FAIL.
Mood OF Special Training for Ordi
nary Occupations.
81 wonder anv man nli We

| nary occupations.
81 wonder anv man ali We
| Should ever rear dau ghter."
Even SO long ago as the date OF this
old opera. we unfortunate women were
felt to be an inconvenienc and per-
plexity, and the recent correspondence
on the subject of ''Our Daughters" in
daily paper has clearly proved that
u quiverful of daughters is by no
means regarded as an unmitigated
blessing.
Some of the correspondents wr ote
as though drowning were trife too
good for the unlucky surplus-some
eight or nine hundred thousand-for
whom there are no husbands availa-
BILE. think it is time that some wo-
man should protest against the CON-
monty received idea that all English
girls are brought up to regard mar
riage as the end aud aim of their ex-
as a helpmeet for the man. it is true.
But that was when there was only one
man. and even then Providence grant
ed her a separate soul and an individ-
uality of her own.
Now that there are more. far NOR Q.
English women than there are Englis h.
men. it is surely time that we shout d
look things in the face and recognize
the fact that there are too many Of us
10 be disposed OF matrimonially. With
a sentiment that was partly compos Ell
of chivalry. and partly arose from re-
)uctance to place women on the same
intellectual footing with themselves.
men have for centuries kept us back,
supported us by their own labors. and
surrounded us with every comfort pos
sible to the + efforts, denying us only
the delicious luxury Of independence.
Legally. we were classed with children
and fools. Until n few years ago, wo-
men with husbands had no property Of
their own. Every thing belonged to
the male partner in the unequal bar
gain. The laws concerning US were
framed upon the suppostion that we
were unfit to deal with property.
But of late Il juster and more equit-
able state of things has come about,
thanks to the kindly exertions of some
few men. who perceived the injustice
of treating women as though they
were idiots. But men Mt large are now
beginning to reap the harvest they
themselves have sown. Had daughters
been given half the chances bestowed
as matter OF course upon sons, the
present generation OF girls would be
at least as self-supporting as Their
brothers. But fathers have not yet
4, Lnt,.
daughters could and would make Their
way in the world quite as we'll as the
sons. The cutlery as 10 what they
shall do with their daughters is merely
the natural consequence of what they
have done with them hitherto. The
ordinary father thinks he has done al !
his duty by his girls f he has then
well-educated at some fashionable
school. where every girl is taught ex
J actly the same things quite apart from
her special capacities or her individual
tastes
The sons are brought up to pro,
LESSONS, as a matter OF course. Money
is lavished on them; so much money,
in fact, that the father is often unable
to execute the insurance on his life
that would make some provision fol
bis daughters in the event OF his death.
We all know what happens when tn @
bread-winner dies No need to de-
scribe the m series endured by girls
who have always been sheltered in a
; happy home. and who find themselves
thrown on the cold world without any
equipment against its rgors.
But fathers are now beginning 10
awake to the exigences of the case.
Sensible men realize that the educa-
ton obtainable at the ordinary fashion
able schools is no education at all in
the true sense of the word. 1t is a law
ing on rather than a bringing out.
What a girl needs is that whateve +
talent lies with n her shall be brough /
forth, developed and cultivated to its
very highest pitch of perfect on. What
is her favor te pursuit, next to novel
reading, tennis playing and consumin g
sweetsp Every girl has some special
aptitude. and in it should be recog-
nized the germ of future independ-
ence.
Even the So called stupid girls can
do some one thing better than other
things. and the full battery OF educa-
ton should be direc ted straight upon
the one point. instead of being fruit
lessly wasted upon the inevitabl plan o
water-color drawing and the usual
smattering of continental languages.
Why on earth should every girl learn
music? Nine-tenths of those wao do
are absolutely destitute of the musical
sense. 10 them it is unmitgated
drudgery. and of what possible use is
1t to any one elsep Who has not suf-
fered from them and their dreadful
'practicingP' 1t is pure waste to teach
them. and the mseres endured by their
| wretched instructors can never be esti-
mated The false notes that jar upon the
sensitive. musical ear; the heavy, soul
less touch; the repetition OF precisely
the same mistakes. notwithstanding
constant corrections these things must
make the life of music teacher hard
| al IL III. Il L.,