49 



REMARKS ON AN IMPORTANT BRANCH OF 

 FEMALE EDUCATION. 



Although the following remarks connected with this topic of 

 universal interest may contain nothing strikingly new, yet the per- 

 son who states facts, and observations drawn from experience, adds 

 to the common stock of data from which the man of wider intellec- 

 tual views and greater faculty for generalization may deduce a lead- 

 ing principle. 



It must be felt by all who have a share in educating girls that 

 there is extreme difficulty in holding any intercourse with them on 

 the subject of love, restricting the meaning of that word to affec- 

 tion between the sexes. It may excite a smile to see this topic 

 gravely brought forward; but truly there is little to provoke 

 mirth, and much to cause sorrow, in the contemplation of those 

 bitter and unavailing regrets, the undermined health, and the im- 

 paired tranquillity, which are the lot of so many women, owing 

 principally to the defects which prevail in this branch of education. 



Every one who approaches this subject feels instinctively that 

 there is awkwardness and difficulty in treating it ; and this very 

 feeling gives a key to some of the prevailing errors that exist there- 

 upon. Let us examine the cause from which this difficulty arises. 

 Is it not that we have confounded right and wrong ? that we have 

 attached an idea of shame to that of which we need not be ashamed ? 

 that our zeal for delicacy has led us into a habit of mystification, 

 which does not promote the interests of true modesty ? 



It must always be desirable to define the boundaries between 

 right and wrong ; the narrower the line is, the more it requires to 

 have light thrown upon it, and it is a shallow and futile expedient 

 to turn away from an inevitable difficulty, instead of facing it. 

 Yet is not the former the course generally resorted to in the case 

 of which I speak ? Perhaps the best way of finding what would be 

 right, is, to ascertain what is wrong. How then are girls trained ? 

 When their increasing perception and natural curiosity lead them 

 to inquire concerning what they see and hear, the answer, in a 

 multitude of instances, is " Never mind, my dear, it is no matter to 

 you," or " You must never ask such questions, they are not proper;' 

 or. worse, they are told some absurd falsehood, which, however, 

 rarely deceives them. Any one who has been accustomed to hear 

 girls read aloud will know that it is surprising at how early an age 



VOL. V. — NO. XVII. G 



