stockings, nuno chillren, or superintend a kitchen. ‘When we claim for woman, therefore, the full benefits of education, we would have it borna in mind that sho in to be educated consistently with the duties she will bo called on to perform, and thase duties, as we have already said, are to checr our Gresides, to educate our “children, anil to regulute our houschold economy.
Bat before we pasa to these dutics in detail, it will be necessary to advert to one fact which should always be remembered in the education of woman, She is destined to become the object of the love of the stronger sex, and those qualities which are to win that love, must appeal rather to the faste than to the judgment. tis an every day remark, in the experience of both sexes, that they respect such a person, but can never fove him or her. And the reason is obvious—their intellect may be convinced, but their foncy is not subdued. Love, the holiest and purest passion of the heart is but anotber development of that longing for the beautiful, which is found in every soul, and which responds slike to a fine tandscape, a melodious song, or a lovely countenance. We seek to gratify the thirst for the beautiful in the being of our love, decking her with attribates unseen to every eye but our own, and eleva- ting her, through the aid of our imagination, into more thon earthly loveliness. Some seck this ideal beauty in the countenance, others in the mind, others again in both united; but in whatever form we picture it to ourselves it is THE BRavrcrut for which we still aspire. Its, therefore, necessary, in the education of tho softer sex, to bear this in mind; and thus the accomplishments, which some wholly despise, are not without their uses. This would be ead world indeed if we were deprived of the admiration of the beautiful; and even our love would wither away if it did not daily find food for this admiration in some reat or supposed quality in her we love.
Woman, therefore, should be educated with an cys to being, not only a useful, but a graceful and accomplished Being. And these accomplishments should be regulated by this lose for the beautiful. In dancing, the poctry of motion; in music, the poetry of sound; and in the other accomplishments which the eex study is to be found the secret by which eo many of us are first fasci- nated, and alwaya charmed, But accomplishments, it must till be remembered, are intended only to adorn the structure—and that however alluring they may be to a young lover, they form the least meritorious of the quatities which @ wife should possess. They are not to ‘he neglected, nor are they to be cultivated overmuch. At present they form the staple of @ fashionable education. Can anything be more shaued? Asif the eole object of 8 women’s life was to allute @ beau—as if playing on the harp, or dancing with grace were to be the occupa- tions of the wite,
157
It should not be so, The reel duties which a woman ‘will bo called on to ful6l are, after all, those of the help-mate and the mother. To cheer our firesides by ber smiles, by her little kindnesies, by the thousand graces of her manner is the part of a true wife, aa well as to order the houachold ecanomy and educate our children. Bat to do the latter, woman should herself be educated. She who is to teach the youthful mind its firvt lessons should be something more then a plaything, should possess a minit stored with the richest treasures of knowledge. It is almost incredible how many of our principles in tater life, can be traced back to impresstona reccived in childhood. Many an ignorant mother hes laid the foundation of a child’s unhappiness in adult age, by instilling into its mind false prejudices, or giving the character a wrong cast in early youth. “Just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined,” is a saying fatl of truth; and we commend it to the serious consideration of every mother, of every true woman, of every teacher sho is engaged in educating the young.
‘A woman should possess general information on every subject of daily life; but it is not neceasary that she should be scientifically educated. The truc rela- tions of life are of more importance to her than mathe tmutics, astronomy, or the dead languages. ‘The ordering of a household shonld be taught to her in preference to conic sections, or the theory of the earth, The graces of mind and manner which endear her to her friends, are of more value to ber than the abstrusest learning in chomistry, or the full eormprehension of the controversy about the Greek fe. Yet, if after having acquired thia knowledge, and adorned herself with these accomplisle- ments, there should remain leisure to her, we do not object to her pursuing science in any or every depart- ment. But first, let her bo taught those things which appertain to her sphere in society. How many are educated on this system? Alaa! but few. Woman ie now taught only those things which make her a pedant oratoy. Wenecdarcformin femaleeducation, T,
I know a grove
Of large extent, hard by a castle huge,
Which the great lord inhabits not: and ¢0
‘This grove ia wild with tangling underwood, And the trim walks are broken up, and grass, ‘Thin grasa and king-cups grow within the paths, But never elsewhere in one place f knew
So many Nightingales; and far and near
In wood and thicket, over the wild grove
‘They answer and provoke each other's songe— With skirmish and capricious pasaagin
‘And marmurs musical, and swift jug-jug,
And one low piping eound more sweet than all— Stirring the air with such an harmony,
"Phat, should you close your eyes, you might almast Forget it waa not day. Connence.
�
