Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-07-29
CoNTAoloh OF MANNERS
Advantages of Brinsin: Children of Differ
 ont Social Circles Together.

At large public meeting tho other day several of the speakers urged the value of public school discipline, pointing out the ad- vantage of bringing children of different social circles together in school as in lifc; and the permanent good arising when the child of the professional man, for instance, Is beaten in his studies, as sometimes hap pens, by the child of the day-laborer. All such allusions invariably brought applause from very well educated and generally Weil-to-do audience, writes Thomas Won't worth Higginson in Harper's Bazar. But it was observable that these arguments all began and ended with boys. Not word was said by any speaker about the ad- vantages or disadvantages, if any, of giving to girls the same discipline; and this omis- sion seemed rather to vitiate the argument. AS tho education and even the employments of the two sexes are plainly coming nearer together-contraryt to what used to be pre- dlcted as the result of advancing civiliza- tion-it would seem that the problem of ed ucatlon must be in thls respect much the same for both. Yet there are undoubtedly many parents who, while able to sec ad- vantages of more public education for boys, draw the line there, and demand for their growing daughters what is called a ''select school"
 My own impression is that this distinction es K apply to public school education for boys must reach girls also. In tho first place, girls need, even more than boys, to learn at school tho qualities and merits of those in a d1heront social circle, because if they do not learn 1t then, they may never learn it. Men learn it all through their lives, because al- most every department of business brings into contact and comparison those trained in very different spheres. Women not en- y in, hno tunity for this contact; their homes include but two grades-employers and employed; and outside of their homes 1t is only some rare occasion of church work or charitable work which brings women into that easy intercourse with those out of their own set which is so familiar to men, If Jane Maria does not learn at school that the daughter of the coal-heaver or the washer woman may be as good scholar and even have as good manners as herself she may never have another opportunity; whereas her brother may make the same discovery in college or in business. So far, then, the need of this free early intercourse would seem even greater in case of the girl
 The answer to this would be that the risk 0f contamination in morals or manners will also be greater in case of the girl. Is this 80 certain 1t is useless to deny that in certain large cities populated largely by lately arrived foreigners there may be some ground for this fear; but 1t must not be carried far. It must always be remembered that fortunately for our civilization, the race and religion most largely represented among these very foreigners happen to maintain o high standard of feminine purity; and that, therefore, as to the most important essentials, the danger is less than one.might suppose. If it be said that in case of a girl there should be absolutely no danger at all. 1t can only be answered that no such security has ever been discovered, since the conventual system of education certain ly does not effect it. Even as to manners, the most exclusive private school may still ieave much to be deslred. The more exciu- sive it Is, the more certain it is that some very rough material will be sent there to ba made into shape. have heard an anxious parent deplore that the occasional outbreaks of her little girl in the direction of rude ness and slang were generally traced to the carefully selected children of the city school, and not to the offspring of country blacksmiths and farm laborers with whom she played at their summer home.
 lremember to have discussed this matter many years ago with a gentleman whose official duties obliged him to take an n- terest In the public schools. He shook his head over them q good deal, thinking that
 
 good, and that the general mixture was dan- gerous. Yet it turned out. as suspected, that his own daughters could have taught other schoolgirls more real mischief than they would have learned from them, d. though these young ladies had been reared In French seclusion. It is the general ex- perience, probably, that the freedom of American manners trains those who grow up under 1t, and that there is nothing moro dangerous than to be transplanted into it from foreign convent As to the general proposition that bad is more contagious than good, it is probable that much depends on the temperament of the observer. It is to be noticed, however, that the greate, tmitativeness of girls Is, on the whole, an aid to civilization. Any one can see in public school that the presence of few girls better dressed and better hammered than the rest is 0 great stimulus to the others and source of immediate imitation whereas boys care comparatively little fol such things. The longing desire for "gooo form" exhibits itself in girls of eight ol ten, whereas boy of the same age would with tho greatest composure wear torr hat and patched trousers into the presence of a feudal aristocracy.
 On the whole, where home influences are thoroughly good and child's nature is still transparent, so that the parent can keep watch over it, there seems to be little danger to tho manners and morals of boys pr even of girls, from any ordinary public school. Early sins arc less contagious than we are apt to suppose, and they cer sainly do not go so deep. Any one who will review his childish associates, and con sider how many of his most perilous com panions have turned out irreproachably will surely take moro hopeful view. The only boy in my native town with whom ] was expressly forbidden to associate, for lear of moral contamination, has since died an eminent clergyman; and the only mem OCT of my college class who ever reached the State prison would have been recog. aized by unanimous vote, at our gradua iion, as the most trustworthy and thor. oughly respectable member of the class. Jenny Lind's Grave.
 From a private letter received few days ago from an American in London we get the following: "One day strolled into Malvern cemetery. I was anxious to see the grave of Jenny Lind. A large granite cross of simple design marks the last resting place of the glorious sopg-