DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



named. Grapes — GrosBleii; Victoria, very 

 fine, and Muscat of Alexandria. 



From J. S. Sleeper, Cherries — Seedling. 

 For tlie committee. J. S. Cabot, Ch'n. 



School of Design, for Women. — While 

 there is so much of mere speculation about the 

 " rights" of the sexes, it is gratifying to find 

 now and then, something actually dune in the 

 right direction. From the following account, 

 by Mrs. Bateham, the School of Design estab- 

 lished for women, in Philadelphia, seems to us 

 to have more value in it than a dozen conven- 

 tions. Give the women of America who have 

 talent and industry, an interesting and intel- 

 lectual occupation, and we shall find the uToiigs 

 rapidly dipappearing. In the instinctive facul- 

 ty of taste, many women are largely gifted, and 

 such schools of design as this would not only 

 give employment to thousands — but elevate and 

 refine their whole social life. Ed. 



Philadelphia School of Daignfor IVomen. — 

 This truly benevolent institution is a branch of| 

 the " Franklin Institute for the promotion of 

 the Mechanic Arts," at Pliiladelphia, and its 

 design is to furnish woman another source of 

 maintenance by preparing her to enter upon 

 the lucrative business of engiaving. design- 

 ing, &c. It was commenced in November, 

 1848, by Mrs. Peter, whose benevolent heart 

 had been pained fur years, by seeing so large 

 and increasing a number of deserving women, 

 exposed to deprivation and suffering, fur want 

 of a wider scope in which to exercise their 

 abilities for the maintenance of themselves and 

 their children. After long deliberation, she 

 selected this department of industry, not only 

 because it presents a wide and almost unoccu- 

 pied field in our country, but because these 

 arts can be practiced at home, without mate- 

 rially interfering with the routine of domestic 

 duty. 



For two years she taught private classes in 

 her own dwelling, and being greatly encouraged 

 by her success, in March, 1850, she presented 

 the cause to the managers of the Franklin In- 

 stitute, rtho reported favorably, and it was 

 taken under their patronage. 



The committee on instruction having had re- 

 ferred to it, by tlie Boardof Managers, the pro- 

 ject of Mrs. Peter for the establishment of a 

 School of Design fur women. reported as follows: 



It cannot be a matter of doubt even to the 

 most careless observer among us, that there 

 is, in our city, a groat want of ways in which 

 female industry may be profitably employed; 

 and that this evil is increasing is evident from 

 the yearly accession to the demands upon our 

 public and private charities for the support of 

 and their families, who apply for such 

 with the greatest reluctance, and would 

 lly earn for themselves if the means of 



profitably employing their labor were counted 

 out to them. In the severe commercial crises 

 which affect our country from time to time, 

 many families are suddenly reduced from com- 

 fort and even affluence to poverty, and the evil 

 alluded to is much increased since no small 

 share of this suflering falls upon widows and 

 single women. 



The person, therefore, who points out a new 

 field for the employment of female indu.stry, 

 must be looked upon as a public benefactor: 

 and any mode by which such a field may be 

 rendered ascessible to neces.sitous women, re- 

 commends itself strongly to society as a power- 

 ful agent in the advancement of our civiliza- 

 tion, and the relief of suffering. 



It is, however, very desirable that whatever 

 mode may be devised for the employment of 

 female industry, should be of such a nature 

 as to allow it to be exercised at their own homes, 

 or at least without crowding them together in 

 work-shops: and especially without forcing 

 them into contact with the opposite sex — prac- 

 tices which are too frequently destructive to 

 female delicacy, (a quality not less valuable 

 to the community than beautiful in itselQ even 

 when they do not lead to habits of actual im- 

 morality. 



Now, one of the distinguishing peculiarities 

 of the female sex, whether it be an intrinsic 

 difference in their intellectual nature from that 

 of man, or only the result of a difference of 

 education, and a habit of clo.se observation, is 

 the vcrj' general possession by them of a more 

 refined and correct taste, and a power of deli- 

 cate discrimination, especially in regard to the 

 effects of form and color — effects whic-h strike 

 almost every one among us, but which few, 

 except women, are able to analyze and pro- 

 duce at will. Heretofore little, if any attention 

 has been paid to the cultivation of this peculiar 

 faculty ; and even in our most elaborate systems 

 of female instruction, it appears to be consider- 

 ed as very subordinate in importance to other 

 branches less fitted to the peculiar capacities 

 of their minds. 



On the other hand, amidst the very rapid ad- 

 vances which we liave made in manufacturing, 

 it must be admitted that our improvement in 

 the arts of design has been by no means com- 

 mensurate with other successes; and, while 

 the quality of our materials, and the cheap- 

 ness of their production are enabling usgradu- 

 all}- to exclude foreign productions from our 

 market, we are still compelled to depend al- 

 most entirely upon foreigners for our designs 

 and patterns; thus exhibiting ourselves rather 

 in the light of successful imitators of others, 

 than as original inventors. Thus the designs 

 of our articles of furniture, and the patterns 

 of our dresses and other stuffs, are rarely any- 

 thing more than servile imitations of those im- 

 ported from France and England, which the 

 different habits of life among us, as well as the 

 different climate of our country, render more 

 or less inappropriate to our use, while the ex- 



