THE TIM BUNKEK PAPERS. 51 



groundwork of mental discipline. It is claimed here, as 

 sound doctrine, that a girl who studies geometry will 

 make a better pudding and sing a better song than she 

 possibly could if she knew nothing of Euclid ; that Cicero 

 and Sallust, German and Algebra, are only appropriate 

 discipline for the wash-tub and for the cradle. Such a 

 training gives breadth of mind to woman, and a strong, 

 practical tendency to her maternal influence. Children 

 brought up under such home influences, with the usual 

 religious training, cannot be otherwise than well balanced 

 and steady. 



If you have imagined a company of simpering misses 

 gathered at Sally Bunker s wedding, you are greatly mis 

 taken. There was such a charm about their dress, that 

 one hardly thought of it, and, for the life of me, I cannot 

 tell now what any of them wore, save the fresh picked 

 flowers, which so became them that they seemed always 

 to have grown there. The conversation was intelligent 

 and pleasing, like that of most well-bred people. They 

 entered fully into* the spirit of the occasion, and were 

 determined to &quot; see Sally off&quot; in good style. Not only 

 were the parlors at Esq. Bunker s appropriately orna 

 mented, but the pulpit in the meeting-house had been 

 festooned with white roses, as if the sanctuary, as well as 

 the minister, was to receive a bride. That is the way 

 they do things out here. The minister s wife is married 

 to the parish as well as her husband, and is as legitimately 

 a subject of criticism and jealousy. She must do duty, 

 fill her place, conduct prayer meetings, and be an ensample 

 to the flock, as much as the shepherd himself. No one 

 can quarrel with this demand, for it is a legitimate fruit of 

 the system of female education. Woman fills a large sphere 

 out here. She is a man, and something more. The voca 

 tion of &quot; the Women s Rights orators &quot; would be gone in 

 Hookertown, and they would be set down as vain bab 

 blers. 



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