Christian literature for children; Women -- Social and moral questions; Young women -- Conduct of life
Woman should be educated according to her Constitutional Temperament and
Susceptibilities. If, in any respect, her endowments be, as they
certainly are, superior to those of man, then let there be but a
secondary degree of culture given to these faculties. Has she naturally
a nicer perception of beauty, or propriety, a more correct taste than
man, then do not bestow your chief care on the developement of this
quality. Is she less gifted with strength of intellect, with calmness,
or comprehensive understanding than man, employ the greater efforts to
supply this defect. Let the solid preponderate over the merely
ornamental. Plant not the pliant osier, but the firmer elm. Instil
principles of severe reasoning, and form habits of connected thought. Is
she rich in imagination? Madam de Stael tells us she is, that this is
the chief of her faculties, and that "her sentiments are troubled by her
fancies, and her actions dependent on her illusions." If this be so,
then strengthen her judgment. Does she love God, inspire her with a
boundless philanthropy. Thus will she be a true companion and undisputed
equal of man. Excitableness and acute sensibility will be beautifully
tempered in her by the spirit of sound knowledge and good sense. The
whole character shall be fitly framed together in Christ and in life.
Let the education of woman be commensurate with her influence. Is it
true that, in the complexion of social life, she is mistress of that
which decides its hues? Then let her be trained to wield this fearful
power with skill, with principle, and for the salvation of social man.
Does she sometimes bear the sceptre of a nation's wellbeing in her
hand? Cato said of his countrymen, "The Romans govern the world, but it
is the women that govern the Romans." The discovery of this very
continent testifies to the political influence of woman. Who favored the
bold genius of Columbus? Do you say Ferdinand of Spain? I answer, it was
Isabella, prompting her partner to the patronage he so reluctantly
bestowed. Her influence unexerted, the Genoese mariner had never worn
the laurel that now graces his brow. Will you leave this all-potent
being illiterate, to rear sons debased by ignorance, and to become dupes
of the demagogue?
Look at the Domestic circle. Not more surely does the empress of night
illuminate and beautify the whole canopy of heaven, than does woman, if
educated aright, irradiate, and give its fairest tints to, her own
fireside. To leave her uncultivated, a victim to ignorance, prejudice,
and the vices they entail, is to take home to our own bosoms a brood
that will inflict pangs sharper than death. For the love and honor of
our homes, let us encourage the most liberal culture of the female mind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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