A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at SchoolBeecher, Catharine Esther
General
A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School
Beecher, Catharine Esther
Home economics
It is this view of the subject, which has often awakened feelings of
sorrow and anxiety in the mind of the writer, while aiding in the
developement and education of superior female minds, in the wealthier
circles. Not because there are not noble objects for interest and
effort, abundant, and within reach of such minds; but because
long-established custom has made it seem so Quixotic, to the majority,
even of the professed followers of Christ, for a woman of wealth to
practise any great self-denial, that few have independence of mind and
Christian principle sufficient to overcome such an influence. The more a
mind has its powers developed, the more does it aspire and pine after
some object worthy of its energies and affections; and they are
commonplace and phlegmatic characters, who are most free from such
deep-seated wants. Many a young woman, of fine genius and elevated
sentiment, finds a charm in Lord Byron's writings, because they present
a glowing picture of what, to a certain extent, must be felt by every
well-developed mind, which has no nobler object in life, than the
pursuit of its own gratification.
If young ladies of wealth could pursue their education, under the full
conviction that the increase of their powers and advantages increased
their obligations to use all for the good of society, and with some plan
of benevolent enterprise in view, what new motives of interest would be
added to their daily pursuits! And what blessed results would follow, to
our beloved Country, if all well-educated females carried out the
principles of Christianity, in the exercise of their developed powers!
It is cheering to know, that there are women, among the most intelligent
and wealthy, who can be presented as examples of what may be done, when
there is a heart to do. A pupil of the writer is among this number,
who, though a rich heiress, immediately, on the close of her
school-life, commenced a course of self-denying benevolence, in the
cause of education. She determined to secure a superior female
institution, in her native place, which should extend the benefits of
the best education to all in that vicinity, at a moderate charge.
Finding no teacher on the ground, prepared to take the lead, and though
herself a timid and retiring character, she began, with the aid of the
governess in her mother's family, a daily school, superintending all,
and teaching six hours a day. The liberal-minded and intelligent mother
cooperated, and the result is a flourishing female seminary, with a
large and beautiful and well-furnished building; the greater part of the
means being supplied by the mother, and almost all by the members of
that family connection. And both these ladies will testify, that no time
or money, spent for any other object, has ever secured to them more real
and abiding enjoyment, than witnessing the results of this successful
and benevolent enterprise, which, for years to come, will pour forth
blessings on society.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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