The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-24
WHAT GIRLS SHOULD STUDY.
Mrs. Julia Ward HOwe's Opinion Re-
gardinG Modern Education.


gardinG Modern Education.
So much is heard nowadays regarding
the fake" and true" in education tina.
the opinion of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe rel
Rtive to the training of girls is interest,"
:ng. She says:
The concession Of the higher education
TO women marks, more than any other
measure, the progress of the last fifty
years. 1t implies on the part of society
a tacit confession of the injustice so
long done them in their exclusion from
the opportunities Of an Instruction cor
responding TO their natural ability and
best aspirations. Saints, heroines ana
martyrs many of them unrecognized as
such. have helped to form the ideal of
Womanhood which has led TO the present
happy era, and which still points beyoad
IT to new efforts, to new achievements for
the good of the race.
While in the plan of education the di-
versities of talent and of circumstances
should receive our consideration, we
must not forget that the cardinal points
of training are properly the same for ALT
Every girl should be taught to look upon
herself as a member of a civilized Chr s.
tan community, and as such bound to
hold the interests of such a commun ty
dear and sacred. She should early learn
that no woman lives to herself alone. AS
the natural guardian of the home, she
IS bound to have in charge it's dearest
and most intimate sources of wellbeing.
If she nlarries it should not be with
q view only to the personal suiting Of
tastes and circumstances, but with an
earnest desire to fulfill the duties and to
deserve the dignities which belong to
true matronhood If she has children
she must train them from the start as
servants of the state and as members of
the church universal
To the individual the great values of
life unite in thought and affection Each
Of these has its mean and is heroic siie
and the facile sympathies of youth can
lie led in either direction. The respon-
sibility implied in this statement is so
mcmentOus that one may we'll tremble
in assuming it. Margaret Fuller. in the
early days of her maternal experience.
was heard to eXclaim: God be merci-
full to me. a sinner!'' This we may in
terpret: How shall I, a faliitle being,
dare to undertake the guidance of this
immortal soul?" Thus much we may say,
that in this guidance the selfish use Of
talents and advantages should always
give place to the generous and helpful
holding of both.
Having done our best to prepare the
Youthful mind for acquisition N the NOR
al departments of learning, let us ask
according to what order and method we
treasures. I speak with diffidence, hav-
ing been bred in the old-fashioned ways
of sixty years since. But according to
my best judgment I should say: Lam
guage first, in order that thought, as 1t
develops, may find its pure and appro-
PIRATE expression. Fortunate do I ac-
count those who are born to the possess
son Of the English tongue. Let each
erdeavor above all things to speak it
With clearness and precision. I doubt
whether there exists another Occidental
tongue in which so much may be ex-
pressed in words of one syllable. Half
educated people are apt to seek indirect
modes Of expression, Of which a certain
euphuism is the result. Worse than
this do I account the more common con-
fusion Of who" and whom which
the smallest understanding Of grammar
should render impossible. For exam
PIE. one would never say, Il saw a man
"whom'' would do this" Yet many
say. 81 say a man whom I Thought
would do this the grammatical offense
being as great in the second Of these for.
mulas as It would be in the first
People with still smaller appreciation
of language are anxious to adorn the
minds of their children with smatter-
Ing of foreign languages And so these
children are torn from the bosom of their
mother country, and carried into strange
grand Inheritance of their native tongue
and become aliens to its true significance
Next, Logic, not the technical dialectic
of the Scotch and German schools, but
q discipline which shall point out the
true sequence of facts and ideas. This
always with reference to real life IN
which the greatest failures often come
from an irrational mode Of reasoning. I
once knew a lad in whom the promise
of intellectual attainment appeared to be
only moderate. learned, however, that
in his class one day the question had
been asked, How shall we measure the
strength Of a chain which has one weak
link?" This youth at once replied, "The
chain win only be as strong as Its one
weak link" This changed my opinion Of
his mental capacity, and my later view
has since been amply justified.
History next. in order that the pupil
may learn to reverence the past and be
d prepared to receive and value its vast in
hertance.
Then bellies lettres-the poets. drama
lists essayists. ancient. medieval ami
modern. the grand tictions which embody
the ideals of the noblest minds, pictures