Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-23
TIE TECHNICAL EDUCATION OF WOMEN.
tcontinued From Fenth Page.l

signed to each employment. The num- Der of hours spent in school would be too great if devoted altogether either to lit erary pursuits or hard work, but not too great for girls of this age when divided between the two sorts of occupa- tions In fact school day thus spent is far less hurtful than that of most of our older pupils in high schools and col leges. who spend six hours daily in the school room, and devote from three to four hours in preparing their lessons and practieing their music.
 There are about ten different profess sions,--trades or handicrafts, as we would call them, taught in these schools. Among these are bookkeeping. including everything else necessary to commer- cial education; painting on porcelaine wood engraving; artificial flower making designing patterns; painting window shades and other Industrial and decora- tive arts. Millinery and dress making are taught, and in such a way as to make them fine arts. During a very n-
 teresting visit paid to one of these schools in Paris, in 1878, the writer was shown many beautiful articles made by the pupils. For instance, silk fan, worth, perhaps originally about 50 cents, had, by an exquisite painting of nymps and goddesses, been transformed into an article of luxury worth from $5 to $10 The articles shown to me were to be sold at a bazaar held once year for lHe puIpOSG OI diu!lS lfe lu1lS Ol ll6 school by disposing of the work of the pupils. People who feel an interest in the noble work which these schools are doing often help them by giving orders to be filled by the more advanced pupils. The visitor was shown a set of window shades in Japanese style, which had been ordered bysa prominent member of the government for his own residence. These articles are usually much more artistic than those furnished by the regular l1 Tl.s tn. ,,f fact that all the work of the school is done under the constant inspection and criticism of the ablest and most artistic masters that Paris can furnish; for the directors of this enterprise have found it the best policy to get the very best possible instruction for the pupils, no matter at what cost. Cheap instruction would necessarily be second rate and second rate teachers would produce sec ond rate artisans, injuring permanently the character of the schools. The price of tuition in any one of the handicrafts taught is 10 francs, that is $2, month"; if the pupil takes also the literary course the charge is about $2.50. Scholarships have been founded by benevolent in diViduas, and many pupils receive the whole or part of their tuition free
 Now 1t is not asserted that schools just such as these are what our country needs; for every land has it's own peculiar wants. This account has been given to SHOW HOW Dtl1 COulllfy lesS uGdIL Nilll lhiS difficulty, in hopes that it may contain some suggestions worthy of attention II would be hardly feasible to establish schools wholly of this character outside of a great city; but might not technical departments be added with good results to many of our existing high schools and colleges for girls? All the crafts taught in the schools at Paris would not be available here; but others could take their shorthand, writing, print ing, book binding, the finer kinds of con fectionery work, wood carving, could be added to the list.
 The expense of such an experiment would be the sole obstacle; no private in- stitution would be able to undertake 1t. But would it be unreasonable to ask the state or nation to assist in a work so much needed? In every state of the union the state makes large provision for the literary education of it's young men by means of state universities. In not one does it makes any such special provision for its young women; at most they are permitted, and this only in some states, to share in the advantages prepared for the young men. Technical education for young men, in at least two pursuits, is provided by the nation al immense cost in its naval and military academies. The state also provides for several kinds of technical education for young men by means of agricultural and mechanical colleges and normal schools To the latter. alone, in most cases. women are admitted. Neither the nation nor the state has ever made any special pro vision for either the literary or technical education of its women. There is man. ifest injustice in this, in regard to those women who are, like men, expected to be self supporting. Naturally less strong physically and mentally than men, they would, with difficulty, be able to com pete with them in the race for a liveli- hood, even should they begin with the same previous preparation; with such odds against them as they have under the present system, 1t is not strange that so many women make failures when they attempt this competition.
 The proposition that the state or the nation ought to make provision for the technical instruction of these of its women who must be self supporting is not a new one. It should be matter of pride to Alabama, that one who be- longs especially to us, one in whose fame we take a just pride,-our own senator, General Morgan,-was the first man in the United States to raise his voice in favor of this simple piece of justice to the women of his country. No one had ever proposed before, so far as 1 am aware, that even few of the crumbs that fall from the national table should be thrown to woman. In an act brought forward by him in 1881, but unfortunate ly never passed it Is proposed as a condi- tion on which alone the money obtained from the sales of the public lands shall be given to the agricultural and mechani- cal colleges of the land, that each of these shall be required to annex depart
 ments in which various branches of skilled labor may be taught to women. The act was not passed but in this world every failure is step toward suc- cess, and in this proposition we see the first sign of an interest on this subject which will doubtless finally be trans lated into action.
 Then we may hope to see the growth of a healthier state of feeling, not only among men, but among women them selves, in regard to the nobility of labor. An Englishman once said that the differ ence between the Scotch and English uni versailles is that the Scotch teach young man to make a thousand pounds year. and the English universities teach him how to spend that amount. This IS pretty much the difference between girls schools as they now are, and girls schools as they would be with these technical departments added. When this is done it is to be hoped that the girl who saves her father every year thousand dollors of a salary once paid to his bookkeeper will not be less es-