ON FEMALE ACQUIREMENTS. 209 



tented with part of his heart, I address myself more particularly 

 to the bachelor, in order to induce him to reflect before he again 

 puts pen to paper, to assert the superiority of single selfish existence 

 over that reciprocal interchange of affection, which is one of the attri- 

 butes of the Divine Being ; and I would begin by asking him who 

 first modelled and formed his mind while it was yet tender and plas- 

 tic, and instilled into it the first germs of those intellectual acquire- 

 ments which were destined, by subsequent extension and cultivation, 

 to adorn his life ? Who watched with anxious solicitude his first 

 dawnings of reason, in order immediately to seize and direct them 

 into a channel which was ultimately to tend to his happiness ? Who 

 I ask, did all this but the creature from whom he appears to shrink 

 with apathy and disgust? Again, could any one possessing a spark 

 of philanthrophy, or even of reflecting principle within him, ever 

 make use of the epithet squalling brats, coupled with a feeling of 

 contempt ? Will he not remember that he was once one of those 

 creatures and that the great author of the universe has destined that 

 every human being shall pass through this incipient stage of existence 

 before he can possibly arrive at manhood ? Let him for a moment 

 reflect on the names of Cicero, Homer, &c. ; or, to come nearer to 

 our own time, Milton, Shakespeare, Priestley, Newton, &c. ? and 

 persuade himself that these were once " squalling brats." Let him 

 read the expression of Christ, " Suffer little children, and forbid 

 them not to come unto me : for of such is the kingdom of hea- 

 ven," and then speak contemptuously of this intellectual morning 

 of life. 



When we reflect on the high degree of responsibility thrown upon 

 woman, for it must be allowed that upon her devolves almost the 

 whole of the education of man's earlier years, at which time the 

 greatest attention should be paid to the developement of the reason- 

 ing faculties ; I do think that they should meet with a greater degree 

 of regard than is their actual lot at present: when I say regard, I 

 mean that a greater degree of attention should be paid to their edu- 

 cation. Women are neglected and, I will say, in many cases, wil- 

 fully neglected ; they are, by some, treated or apparently considered 

 as mere secondary beings, destined only for the amusement or 

 gratification of man in his hours of relaxation, instead of companions 

 and associates in his various studies, for which their capabilities 

 render them quite efficient; though, I regret to say, they are seldom 

 or never educated with the latter object in view. Taking this view 

 of the female world, there may be some slight excuse for the bache- 

 lor's feeling a degree of antipathy to marriage : his mind has been 



