The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-05-05

COLLEGES For NJ

49, AOOAO4 OA IN AAAO0S ~ w. C1
is a proverb that l believe in. Even
the great Duke found it difficult to
give an account of the battle of Water
loo. How much more must this be
the case with humble workers like
ourselves who are only subalterns in a
movement, of which the magnitude
can scarcely as yet be accurately
measured! I must, therefore, own
that 1 write ON the subject of Ladies'
Colleges with some reluctance.
In my younger days, if I had been
told that a young lady belonged to a
Ladies' College, should have preferred
occupying the stiffest of upright chairs
in a thorough draught, to sitting by
her on the most comfortable of sofas.
And even now, 1 heartily wish we
were in a state of society where no
such things were needed. My ideal
woman is always gracefuland beautl-
full. better with her hands than her
head, but best of all with her heart.
She has many admirers, but is con
slant to one, whom she marrleS at
fve-and twenty. She has at least five
children, all healthy and good like
herself. She can cook and sew, and
dance, and sing-she is very likely
accomplished and we'll Informed. She
is not a bore, because she has "
overworked her brain, and is really
interested in all she knows. She is a
grandmother at sixty, and sings John
Anderson my 10" at seventy-fve. |
need hardly say that my pattern woman
is religious, but not at all controversial.
She cannot argue, but she LiUes.
Such is my own, and I fancy many
other persons ideal. Meanwhile what
are the facts? Our modern young
woman finds herself in a very IN
patriarchal state of society. First Of
all, she is likely to live up to and
beyond twenty-five or even thirty with
out having any matrimonial chances
at all. Secondly, she is happily) far
harder to please than her great-grand-
mother. Among the educated classes,
the average person Of either sex is far
more fastidious, far more inclined to
insist on some approach to elective
affinity in marriage than was for
merly the case; and the comparative
lateness Of marriage adds to the diff
Guilty. People in former days hardly
knew they had characters any more
than many of the poor do at this day.
Now, we take great interest in our
w characters; have them told by
our handwriting, or go to some ~ to
have our bumps" felt. A n of
incongruity or incompatibility is a
definite, recognized evil in marriage.
Any woman cannot put up with any
man, and Uice Uers0, save perhaps
when they have the misfortune to be
Royal personages: People still marry
for lOUe, at least as much, if not more
than they did; but it may be doubted
if love is quite as blind as he used to
be. Perhaps on that account he may
be all the more constant!
The money difficulty is ever increas-
ing-not only on account of the much
talked of overcrowding, but because
of our luxurious habits. Never was
celibacy so caressed and chOye as to-
day. Single women, no less than single
men, have their lives made too COM
Portable. Everywhere one sees little
suites of apartments and clubs spring
ing up, nice little sets Of tea-things and
coy c~ontrivances for making a single,
or at least a dual life, as easy and self
indulgent as possible. Our high civil
ization does not smile upon family
life.
Meanwhile, how many young women
grow, or rather fade, into middle life
without ever having fully developed
what was in them! What half-melan-
choly, half-ludicrous tales ladies' doc
tors could tell us of hysteria, melan-
cholia, all the long train of evils which
come from "fulness of bread and
emptiness of employment" How
petty are the interests by which many
women's lives are bounded Again
and again the questionmeets us "What
are we going to do with our young
women?'
Among the alleviations to the pres
ent "congested state of things, I
think Ladies' Collegesmay not unfairly
be reckoned as holding an important
place, not only as finding occupa-
ton for unmarried women, but as
affording-may n dare to say it,
excellent training for wives and
mothers. Why should stupidity or
ignorance be taken as a qualification