The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-03-31
FOR FEMININE READERS
A OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES BRANCH OF
FEMININE EDUCATION.
New York Women Are Talking of n
acknowledgements of the
Housekeeping Art-New Hats.

Night schools with a broad curriculum,
classes and lectures on all sides and on all
conceivable topics, meet the wants Of
many, says a writer in Golfers Weekly,
speaking Of women who must work for a
living. But financial obstacles may arise.
In order to pursue the courses of reading
ordinarily prescribed. money must be forth
coming for books. unless a good public
library be at hand. There is a course OF
reading. however, which may be pursued
for an amount so trifing that any one de-
sirious Of undertaking it may obtain the
necessary funds at a small self-sacrifice.
Now that 1 have preached the subject, 1 am
almost afraid to discuss it because it will
seem so commonplace and disappointing.
But the plunge must be taken. The course
of reading referred to is-the dictionary and
the grammar book.
1t is a lamentable fact that MANI thou
sands Of men and women are entirely ig-
norant of the use, abuse and meaning Of
hundreds of our everyday words. To the
business man this is a most annoying de-
feet in an employe. 1t is also a fact that a
young girl will aspire to be a s~tenographer
and typewriter when she cannot spell cor
rectly six consecutive words, and when she
uses 81 seem and II done in her daily
conversation. Of she desires to be specially
elegant, she says, Il have saw.') AS to the
difference between the value Of a colon and
that of a semicolon, it is Greek to her. She
also has a hazy idea as to definitions, and
will put into her letters any word that
seems TO strike her ear. A stenographer,
to be of real value, should know instructive
ly which is the only possible word Tor the
occasion, no matter what lit sounded like
But 'extant' will be made extent, or
preclude be turned into conclude or
~"excludei' Should the dictator say in
scription," it is quite likely to become sub
scription' or "c~Onscription' or "descrlp"
ton" whichever the person taking the die
tatiOn happens to have thought you said
Suppose, however, a young girl has no
desire to be a stenOgrapher. Well, then,
even as a plain clerk she is far more Valua-
BILE for having a wide knowledge of the uses
and definitions of English words. More
than one clerk has been termed stupid
when she was merely ignorant of the DELI
nitions of English words. "Diagonally
conveys no impression to her, for she has
always said ''criss-cross' or bias" Not
only to the stenographer and clerk is this
knowledge Of English words valuable. The
nurse or companion to an Invalid, Tor IN
stance, finds it among her duties to read
aloud. What torture for the nervous or
the sick to listen when the reader is so
ignorant of the force and meaning OF the
printed words that they might as well be
in a foreign tongue!
BY all means let our girls acquire adj
vanced education. Let them learn French,
Greek, higher matbematics-tackle all the
''ologies,' the arts and the sciences at the
same time, but not until they have a we'll
g~rCunde knowledge of the spelling, def1n1-
tons and grammar of their mother tongue.
A certain young society woman was the
despair of her French instructor. He was
puzzled at what seemed extraordinary stu
Didity on her part. but, madame, he
demonstrated. that is the verb, not the
noun, and must be spelled So" But, pro-
~fessor,' replied the student, opening wide,
innocent eyes on him. what is a verb? l
do not know the difference between the
twoi' What hope would there have been
for this woman, sweet, charming. lovable,
entertaining as she was. had she been
thrown on her own resources!