St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-06-02

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The System Viewed From a
Parental and Non-Secta-
rian Standpoint.
Evil Consequences in the Fe-
male Portion Of
Society.
Uniting Our Girls for the
Duties of Wives and
Mothers.
NO. III,


at large. 1t may well be said that when
our American women abandon the hlgh
offices of wife and mother the race IS
lost.
All nv readers will agree, l think,
that if the baneful effects of our pres
rnt system of education are visible on
the male portion of the community they
must be still more apparent on the fe-
male portion of society.
The following description, written by
lady herself, contains more truth
than poetry, and may be applied to tens
of thousands of the WON en- of to-day:
"How is it that there is not more ma
ture in the present age, and less sOphls-
tication in society, and that mothers do
not teach their daughters to tit them
selves for wives and mothers? for they
all seem to be setting traps to get nus
bands. Why, the young women OF the
present day are quite ashamed should
they be ignorant of the name OF the
last new opera and its composer. but
would feel quite indignant if they were
asked whether they knew how to make
good soup, or to broil beefSteak, or
mend stockings. Above all, you can
notice in the young woman OF the pres
ent day madness beyond description
for dress, for balls, theaters. water
ing places and all kinds OF
worldly amusements; you can see
to appear ladies. They 60 and spend
the whole day at the perfumer's. where
they purchase their compilations; at the
goldsmith's and the milliner's. where
they get their figures. Some time ago,
the father of one of these women had to
pay a bill for $4,000 at the mllliner's.
for his daughter. The chief mental
agony of the masses of the young
women of the present day seems to be.
who shall have the finest dresses. They
do nothing from morning till night but
read novels, and look at their white
hands, OF the passers-by in the street.
They all seem to be SenselesS creatures,
for their capaciOus brain scars no higher
than dress, fashion, pleasure,
COMFORT OF LIFE.
s'Were it not for their vain daughters
hundreds of parents at this moment
would have a happier countenance, and
not that careWOrn, wretched look that
we so frequently see when honest peo-
pie get in debt, incurred by living be-
yond their means. We're it not tor the
eXtravagancy of young women, young
men would not be afraid to marry, con-
seuuently would not be led into the
temptations they had in the single state,
for marriage is sure step towards
morality, and consequently tends to the
decrease of crime"
NJ. w. HaZen writes in very plain
English, in the journal of Education of
March II, 1881, published in Boston:
I'm their moral aspect, however, the
public schools are more vulnerable.
owls fhof undermining
their very foundations. 1t is not a
question of Bible or no Bible, Of CathO-
lie or of Protestant influence, but rather
of such immoral tendencies as make
the public schools dangerous to the
family to the state and the nation. This
is not stating the case too strongly. In
the constant association of all classes OH
the school play ground, our boys and
girls are exposed at the most suscepti-
Die age to the worst possible influences.
When the low and vile mingle with the
better class of children, it is the uni
versal result that the worst influences
prevail. lii passing the school grounds
in almost any city, and is shocked at the
that are heard on every side. 1t is i'm
possible for parents to counterfeit
THIS EVIL INFLUENCE
weeds always grow faster than
wheat. Besides, in many cases par
ents do not know of anything like the
extent of the evil until it is too late.
This is the great fault of our schools to-
day. This, unless remedied, will de-
strOy either the schools or the nation"
The Boston Daily Heard, some years
ago, contained the following startling
editorial: Year after year the chief Of
police publishes his statistics OF prOstl-
tuition in this city, but how few of the
citizens bestow more than a passing
thought upon the misery that they
represent? Within few months la
gentleman, Professor AgassiZ, whose
scientific attalnmentS have made his
name a household word in all lands, has
personally investigated the subject, and
the result has filled him with dismay.
In the course of his inquiries he has
visited both the well known houses
of pleasure and the private establish
ments' scattered all over the city. He
freely conversed with the inmates, and
the life histories that were revealed
were sad indeed. To his utter sur
prise, large proportion of the 'soiled
doves traced their fall to influences
that met them in the public schools"
If space permitted. l might quote
HATTIE Tying Griswold in "Old and
New. 1OI MdlCll, lod@. dloo tuo
author of Satan in Society,"" and
many other splendid authorities in the
same line.
Warren Johnson. state superin-
tendent of common schools in Maine.
reports to the legislature decrease of
1868, between the ages of four and
twenty-One years, from the census of
1858. The total decrease from maxi
mum of 1860 was nearly 10000. He
then asks: Are the modern
FASHIONABLE CRIMINALITIES
of infanticide creeping into our state
community" DIR. Nathan Allen, of
Lowell, Mass, at a meeting Of the
Social Science association, Boston, de-
clared that 1.-The increase of population
for twenty-five years has been mainly
to be largely made up of tine foreign
element, and in the smaller villages,
chiefly American, the stock has hardly
increased at all. We find there are
absolutely more deaths than births
among the strictly American children;
so that, aside from immigration and
births Of children Of foreign parentage,
the population of Massachusetts is
really decreasing"
Another fact developed by report is
that, whereas, in 1765 nearly One-half
of the population of Massachusetts, was
under fifteen years of age, it is believed
that at the present time not more than
one-fifth of the purely American popu-
lation is under that age. In an equal
number of American and foreign fam
lilies the births will be nearly three
times as many in the latter as in the
former. The New York census of 1865
shows that out of $685. 1856 married wom-
ell 137,745 had no children, and 333, 900
only had one or two"
Is not the prediction of DR.. M. B.
Wright, to the Medical Society of Ohio,
in 1860, in danger Of being fulfilled?
"The time is not far distant when chill