The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-13

niger Agent. No. 141 Bull street.
ed natures, it might have been so. Every
glrl was supposed 40 possess what was
called accomplishments" without the
snghtest regard to her tastes or capabil-
tiles. We all had the dancing lesson, ami
IL was certainly the only one m which
any common sense rules obtained for we
were taught to stand and walk properly
ana no doubt the caliSthenic exercises Of
thae DAY, which preceded the dancing les
son, were excellent for growing girls who
never had half enough exercise, and were
generally Kept lying fiat on reclining
boards" or sitting on a stool holding a
back board to their poor little Shout
/ ders.
! The Way Girls Were Taught.
| AS far as remember music used to be
pretty we'll taught, except that whether
| the pupil possessed any ear or musical
! capacity was the last point to be con-
| sidered. But the drawing lessons were DOS
| ltiveiy wicked, such shams and humbugs
| as they were, without even a pretense of
instruction. A successful professional ar
fist would be engaged to teach a certain
| number of girls. Some cousins Joined my
| sister and me and we made up a little
| class of five or six, who appeared once a
! week at our instructors house for a very
| costly lesson. None of us had the faintest
| idea of the first principles of drawing but
! NAAoI diO AlOl SGciu 10 uidLleI. a
OF sketches was offered to us, and we were
| allowed to select anything we liked to
| copy. l, being at once the most ignorant
and the most ambitious, selected a large
water color sketch of an Irish peasant
girl In the traditional short blue petticoat
| and red cloak, carrying a pitcher on
her head and coming down Some
steep steps from spring In a rock Our
master provided us with paper and paints
and we all set to work. From time to
time he glanced over our shoulders and
murmured some criticism, but he never
taught us or told us why anything was
wrong or how to put It right. However,
things went apparently to the satisfac-
| ton of all concerned, until we had fin
ished. ! well remember how bare the
| leg of my peasant looked about yard
longer than the other one, and what a hope
less smudge represented her face. These
various works of art were duly handed
! in to our master. Mine ELECTED a grunt,
Which l fondly hoped mfght mean APP
provSl, and we heard nothing nore-the
| series or set Of lessons being ended-for
| some days, when our drawings were re-
! turned to us Corrected" that is, their
worst defects altered as much as posi-
bic. They we're shown to our family
| and friends as having been done by u.s.
| and we started on a fresh set of lessons
| with exactly the same result. 1 believe
: chose a copy Of one of Turner's land
ing every one how very fond of painting
| was.
| II Is really melancholy 10 look back on
| the quantity of money which used to be
| spent on the early Victorian girls educa-
| ton and how little even the meaning of
! the word was understood.
Somehow this same education, which
] had really never begun, was always sup
! posed to be entirely completed when we
were about II years old, and we were
! then never taught anything more. Schools
| for girls used TO be few in number and
there was a great prejudice against Them
| but really they could not have taught
| less than we acquired at home under gov
| erneSses and masters.
| The Accomplishment of which was
| very proud was the manufacture of wax
| flowers. It makes me even now feel hot
| and ashamed when / think of those roses
| and fuchiasl And the worst of IL all was
! that l really believe that something like
fifty good. solid pounds were spent on
| these awful productions. OF course
wasted much more material than l ever
| used, and indeed the splendid messiness of
1t was its chief attraction. Then our fancy
work! Hideous stitching of colored wool
on canvass often so fine as to nearly blind
one the crochet work was still more hid
eous. 1t is really sad to think of the
waste of time and effort as well as of
money, which all this nonsense meant.
could have. been rash enough to want to
marry US! But the girls of that day in
varlably married and married early, as I
did. We must have been such poor COM
panions for any sensible man, but yet we
all got on very happily. I know of one
girl who amazed her husband by appear
ing before him the first Sunday after their
marriage with her prayer book which she
handed to him with the utmost gravity,
and, standing up with her hands behind
her back, proceeded to rattle off the col
lect epistle and gospel for the day, hav-
ing no idea that she was doing anything
the least unusual
| always maintain that the great pro-
gross and Improvement of this century is
in the development OF the girl, and es-
pecially the American girl. She is so pref
ty, so bright. so clever, so amusing and
so resourceful nowadays. I look at her
with admiration and am afraid, a little
envy. She can wesr what she likes, prac-
tlcally FIR If a fashion does not suit her
she twists and tuns 1t till it does and so
escapes the Cisiieurement which was our
portion And she Is g free. We were hedg-
cd In on all sides by rules and regulations
each more absurd than the other. / felt
myself becoming very reckless and fast
VIII n / was iYiug I'm q hanson cab with
my husband or my brother. As for doing
so without either of those protectors, /
should as soon have thought OF walking
on my head. People seldom went 70 the
theater in those days ana there was as
much solemn preparation for gong TO a