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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JDomcstic Prpartmcut. 



The Influence of Womex. — It was an auspicious 

 era in the world's history, when female intellect was 

 delivered from the bonds of ignorance, and declared 

 susccpti'olc of cultivation, and upon an equality in 

 natural endowments Avitli the mind of man. Many 

 illustrious men have been of the opinion that, as the 

 " weaker vessel," woman was designed to be inferior 

 in intellectual powers, — to be the servant, rather 

 than the equal. However honest these may have 

 been in their belief, and however strenuously they 

 may have advocated, and endeavored to prove, the 

 truth of the assertion, the historj' of modern times, 

 the experience of our own age, most clearly furnish 

 undeniable evidence to the contrary. Although it 

 has been, comparatively, but a few years since a fe- 

 male education was considered essential, there are a 

 host of witnesses, who have distinguished themselves 

 in every department of literature, and in every exer- 

 cise of the mental abilities, to offer their testimony 

 in behalf of woman's right to a thorough and practi- 

 cal education. In the list of American women, we 

 could point to many, whose depth of thovight, beauti- 

 ful imagination, and refinement of expression, at least 

 compete with, if they do not excel, the most extraor- 

 dinary efforts of masculine writers. 



Nor is the proof of this equality alone dependent 

 upon experiment. The Holy Scriptures, in recording 

 the creation of man, give the strongest argument, 

 and in the most explicit terms. As remarked by a 

 learned writer, woman was not taken from the head 

 of man, that she might become his superior, — but 

 from his side, thus indicating her perfect equality ; 

 not the ruler, nor the subject, but the participant in 

 the joys or the sorrows of our race. 



The social state has placed her to preside over af- 

 fairs around the domestic hearth — distasteful to the 

 natural capacities of man ; where the harmony and 

 peace of the family are especial objects of her guar- 

 dianship. But this is not all ; the earliest impressions 

 upon the human. mind, the first tutoring of the world, 

 is confided to her. She is to plant the seeds of virtue 

 or vice — of industry or idleness — in the soul of the 

 infant. The new-born mind, fresh from the hand of 

 its Creator, sjjotless and pure, is to dawn beneath the 

 genial rays of a mother's piety, or to be seared and 

 blighted by her negligence and vicious example. 

 She is to stereotype upon the yielding surface lessons 

 of reverence and godliness : to write upon its first 

 pages, with the pen of holiness, a record of its obliga- 

 tions to its Creator, and its future blessed immortality 

 — or feed the sinful evidences of its fallen nature, for 

 a fuller and more distant development, its pro.ieness 

 to evil. 



IIow important, then, if these responsible situations 

 are to be filled by woman, that she should be educat- 

 ed, fitted and prepared for them ! By education 

 we do not mean every thing that is generally classed 

 under that head ; by no means. The spirit of impo- 

 I ition, by v/liich no profession or vocation is unin- 

 jured, has devised systems and branches, which it 

 were far better if they remain unlearned. Nor do we 

 allude to the most popular method of education, com- 

 bining, as it docs, much that is useless, with a very 

 small portion of available knowledge. It is the edu- 

 cation of the heart, and the corresponding enlighten- 

 ment of the mind with pure, practical, and necessary 

 information. It is that education whi(di is calculated 

 to instruct them in the objects of their creation; in 

 the duties and obligations of the station which the 

 foresight of Infinite Justice has assigned them; and 

 the means by which thej' may act in unison with the 

 designs of the Eternal; promote the enjoyment of 



their own privileges and comforts, and contribute to 

 the happiness of others. 



These are things not to be learned in a day. Nor 

 are they to be found in the resorts of fashionable 

 seekers of amuscnicnt, nor among the gav and the 

 trifling ; nor yet in the institutions of outward ac- 

 complishments, and superficial instruction. All these 

 are most eminent means of disqualifying woman for 

 the duties naturally imposed upon her, and change 

 her destiny from being the most potent power to im- 

 part good, to an e\al destroyer, scattering abroad with 

 a reckless hand the germs of vice, whose fruit can 

 alone be fully recognized in eternity. 



Woman is not only the equal of man — his com- 

 panion and helpmate — and the being to whom the 

 first impressions of infancy are confided — but also 

 the i^reseiwer of the union and the harmony of soci- 

 ety. She it is whose approbation can nerve to fire 

 the spirit of the coldest temperament ; whose frown 

 will disjjirit the most ardent ambition ; whose plead- 

 ing tear will melt the ice-clad heart, and draw from 

 the close embrace of a frigid nature, the warmest and 

 most sympathetic sentiments. 



She is the ruler of mankind — if not by holding 

 the reins of political government, nor by preeminence 

 in evangelical and sectarian power — still, she gov- 

 erns, by the most potent of all sceptres — moral sua- 

 sion. Her power in controlling man is almost unlim- 

 ited ; and while, as a general rule, she is inclined to 

 be mild and generous, she can be worse than tyranni- 

 cal — for her dominion is such, tliat none will fail 

 to acknowledge it, and few will venture to disre- 

 gard it. 



In view of these facts, they who are to occupy this 

 all-important position have no time to spend upon 

 whimsical and temporary accompUshments, and shal- 

 low, imperfect, and unnecessary systems of instruc- 

 tion. So great an end must be difficult of attainment 



— and yet, unless it be arrived at, the design of the 

 Almighty has not been carried out, and woman is 

 perverted from the most perfect creation of Deity, 

 and the most powerful means of instilling \'irtue, 

 into a vain, foolish, and degraded creature. 



In short, the only study of woman should be — 

 herself ! A theme sufficiently complicated to admit 

 of the most i)rofound research, and continued inves- 

 tigation, and important enough to demand the whole 

 of her leisure time and attention. It is not neces- 

 sary, nay, it is utterly superfluous, to crowd her mind 

 with the literature of obsolete ages, and with theo- 

 retical fantasies of speculative brains. She is not to 

 fulfil her duties by theory, but by every day prac- 

 tice ; why, then, withhold from her a tangible, useful 

 education ? She is never to roam over the fields and 

 converse with the inhabitants of the planets or stars 



— why, then, consume her time with the relation of 

 pure sijeculations, and imaginary truths, when she 

 has to acquire so much, which she must either use in 

 her daily Ufe, or feel her unpardonable deficiency ? 

 Whj' instruct her in the polish of an education, while 

 she is ignorant of its elements ? Whj' teach her to 

 execute the most beautiful pieces of elegant embroid- 

 ery, and at the same time leave her unknown to the 

 most simple lesson of domestic duty ? Why teach 

 her to mimic the tawdry colors and motions of the 

 butterfly, and suffer her to remain untaught in the 

 objects and end of her creation ? 



Tliese are solemn inquiries — we feel them to be 

 such — and we address them to those who have 

 charge of the female mind ; and most earnestly rec- 

 ommend a more universal attention to the practical 

 education of young women. They are to be wives, 

 practically — mothers, practically — guardians of 

 young intellects, practically ; and should they not be 

 aware of these facts, and, by a practical, tangible, 

 and available education, prepared for the discharge 

 of these responsible duties ? 



