The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1890-07-05
THE AMERICAN woman.

THE AMERICAN woman.
She Il Beginning to Realise that LifsS
Main Object II to Develop Soul.
Although as yet but small proportion
Of American girls 30 to college, ns ..ne
will deny that the standard of education
for women has been greatly raised Of
late.
Twenty-Five years ago girl must be
taught to do worsted work, whereby she
might perpetuate the most monstrous
and awe-inspiring ''cruep Tin more
senses than one) dogs and cats and the
most impossible flower pieces; she must
acquire such proficiency upon the piano
IS to enable her to render the Battle
Of Prague" the ''Maiden's Prayer" and
the bird Waltz" she must be taught
water-color painting, the results Of
which still exist in many houses and are
enough to give the observer nervous ex-
haustion for month after being brought
face to face with them; she must learn
French enough to use certain we'll
known idioms and quotations In not too
inapt way, and she must be able to
write long and gushing letters to dearly
beloved friends in . flowing, delicate
hand. But that was about all the aver
age fashionable girl was thought to
need. More might make her masculine.
The brave girls VINO have been in .
sort pioneers in the acquisition Of a col
1egiate education have changed all this.
They have proved that . woman may
retain all her charms of manner and
dress and grace and refinement. all the
light and airy Vaccinations Of the old
school, and yet have mastered the more
grave and serious parts OF education.
The demands of society now require
that woman shall have more than q
superficial knowledge Of the affairs of
the day. She must do more in the way
Of reading than simply glance down the
columns Of her evening paper. She
must keep up, at least partially, with
the scientific, political, educational and
literary movements of her time. II she
paints, she must do 1t extraordinarily
we'll, or keep her efforts hidden. II she
plays or sings she must have good
voice. q good method and good tech
nique, or even her best friends will not
suffer that accomplishment to be pas
raded before them. She should read
and speak in several languages.
The girl OF the period, too, must learn
to row and drive and ride, to play tennis
and. II she is very fashionable, must be-
long to an athletic club. She must learn
to develop and keep healthy her body
as we'll as her mind. A larger capacity
and q broader understanding are de-
on all sides.
Twenty-Five years ago the inane young
woman who could smile sweetly upon
all occasions, who had sloping shoulders
and small waist, who knew not too
much Of any subject, who had no capac-
ity for thought or ideas, who possessed
only mediocre mental attachments and
. thin veneering Of refinement but who
was always dressed elegantly and aimed
above all things tobe 'lady-like," was
the ideal being held up as an example
by all mothers for their daughters emu
lation. How is it now? Do intelligent
mothers cling to this idea? Not at all
Even the mother who had but q super
fetal education Of her own sees that If
her daughter Is to compete with girls of
her own age, she must be educated in
every possible direction.
In these days of cooking schools and
parlor lectures, girls do not marry and
go to housekeeping without knowing
beefsteak from . sausage, or without
having mastered the science of bread
making. 1t is fashionable now for a
woman to ''look we'll to the ways Of her
household.
1t is not to men alone, either, that
must be able to talk. Witness
the many women's clubs in this city
The New England Women's Club, the
Class, tho Castilian Club and
The Woman's Press Association, for in
stance. At these 1t is always in order
10 hear bright and lively discussion of
the topics OF the day. Women, when
with other women, have ceased to con-
fine themselves to their children's or
their own ailments, their domestic
troubles and petty neighborhood gossip
IS subjects of conversation.
In short land heaven be- praised for
til women's minds are broadening.
Women are beginning to realize that
the main object of life is to develop q
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