370 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Domestic Department. 



Female Education. — Shame on us, that we, who 

 boast of haviiifi; raised woman, in the nineteenth cen- 

 tury, to the position in life which she ou<^ht to hold, 

 so educate her tliat not one of her powers, physical 

 or mental, can ever attain a full and healthy action. 

 Better go back to the days of our great grandmother, 

 and be content with Dilworth's Spelling-Book, and 

 Assembly's Catechism; — nay, better go to far earlier 

 days, when neither catechism nor spelling-book de- 

 tained the damsel from the distaff or the loom, than 

 real", for the coming generation, a race of nervous 

 wives and sickly mothers. 



When the boy runs merrily after his ball, or chases 

 in the race, or leaps over the bound, the girl must 

 walk demurely in the garden, because, forsooth, 

 running, and leaping, and jumping are ungraceful 

 in the girl. When the boy runs freely over the hills 

 or through the woods in the summer, or coasts down 

 the hill or skates merrily over the pond in the win- 

 ter, the girl, untrusted, unbefitted, walks pensively, 

 by the side of her teacher, to the village, or takes a 

 two mile airing in the sleigh, once a week. She 

 never pitches the quoit, never throws the ball, never 

 slides down the hill, never roams through the woods, 

 because, save the mark ! these are deemed unfem- 

 inine. In fact, she never thoroughly exercises her 

 body at all, and, in consequence, soon becomes unable 

 to endure any kind of physical fatigue. 



" Fit only for boys," said a principal of a large 

 female institute to me, the other day, when I remon- 

 strated with him on the importance of these and 

 other like exercises for the girls. For boys, indeed ! 

 And has not a girl a physical system to be developed, 

 and matured, and invigorated ? Has she not fatigue 

 to bear, obstacles to encounter, hinderanccs to over- 

 come, enterprises to carry out, duties to discharge ? 

 Has she not the burden of life to carry, and its toil- 

 some road to travel for herself? In her own sphere 

 does she not require, through life, all the energy, 

 strength, and endurance of which her system shall 

 be capable ? It matters not whether she is to live in 

 the midst of fashion, or to move quietly in the circles 

 of country life, or to find her lot on missionary 

 ground, or to struggle against unforeseen adversity, — 

 all that can be made of her during her years of edu- 

 cation, physically, morally, and intellectually, she 

 will need. To every woman, whatever situation she 

 may occupy, life is a fact, stubborn, earnest, real, to 

 be shaped and moulded by her own efforts, or to be 

 borne and endured by her own fortitude. Happy is 

 she who is prepared for it, not by her own desiiairing 

 efforts in after life, but by the judicious, careful, and 

 thorough discipline of early education. — i\''. Y, Com. 

 Advertiser, 



The late Mr. Colman, in his letters from Europe, 

 speaks with admiration of the interest the wives and 

 daughters of the farmers and landed proprietors of 

 England manifested in every thing that appertained 

 to agricultural improvement. They composed more 

 than one half the audience at society gatherings, 

 were every where jircsent, and showed an amount of 

 knowledge on all subjects connected with domestic 

 economies and agriculture, (and that, too, without 

 •'o'erstcpping the modesty of nature,") that rendered 

 them not only the most interesting of teachers, but 

 the most cliarming of companions. No tine points 

 in a celebrated milker escaped their commendation, 

 nor defects their practised eye ; they were amateurs 

 in the flavor of cheese, and discrirainatin'r critics on 



the merits of butter — able as well to arrange a 

 bouquet with the most exquisite taste, as with statu- 

 esque fingers to mould butter in its most attractive 

 form. This is as it should be. Knowledge of every 

 thing but evil is the highest civilization, and we 

 hope New England women will not be backward in 

 following, to a greater extent, the admirable example 

 of their elder sisters. — Mass. Ploughman. 



Woutl/s Department. 



Murderers of Parents. — This kind of murder 

 would seem the most brutal and criminal that can be 

 conceived. Murder is a crime of the darkest dye. 

 It finds no apology with God or man. Yet for a per- 

 son to destroy his dearest earthly friend seems worse 

 than murder. That children and youth are ever un- 

 grateful and unkind to parents, is unpardonable — 

 that they bring down their gray hairs to the grave 

 by their impiety and recklessness, is inhuman, and 

 more than beastly. Yet the Bible speaks of and 

 rebukes such sins — " murderers of fathers, and mur- 

 derers of mothers ! " 



In the first place, a violent destruction of life is 

 not necessary to constitute murder. John says, 

 " Whoso hateth liis brother is a murderer ; " that is, 

 has the spirit of a murderer. Children sometimes 

 do more than this, however. They bitterly destroy 

 their fathers and mothers by their conduct. How, 

 then, may this be done ? let us here enquire. 



First. A young man may murder his parents by 

 the choice of his companions. 



Good parents feel the deepest solicitude for the 

 moral training of their children. They know that 

 the society of the idle and irreligious will corrupt 

 and ruin their children. Indeed, they know that 

 they are alreadj' contaminated, when they seek such 

 companions. The " plague spot " on their character 

 is thus revealed. The parent shudders at tlie thought 

 that his child has chosen the vile and profane for 

 companions. He knows that he has entered the 

 path that conducts to ruin, and sees him, in fearful 

 anticipations, about to be ingulfed in the awful 

 abyss. Especially does this thought sap the life- 

 blood of the parents, when the child has ceased to 

 listen to kind admonitions and anxious warnings. 

 Then it is that anguish fills his heart ; early gray 

 hairs cover his head ; deep furrows plough his fore- 

 head, and a premature grave receives his body, worn 

 out by the care, grief, and anguish caused by the an- 

 ticipated profligate life of a wayward cliild. 



Second. A young man may murder his father 

 and mother by immoral and unprofitahlc conduct. 



This is often done by the anticipation of such a 

 result. But how much more heart-rending and 

 dreadful, that the beloved child is actually contam- 

 inated ! that his innocence has gone, his heart is 

 hardened, and he has become an abandoned prod- 

 igal ! Were an assassin to plunge a dagger into the 

 l^arent's bosom, it would be kind in comparison with 

 the murderous influence of such coixduct of their 

 child. They remember his innocent infancy and 

 childhood, his fondness for his j)arcnts, his obedience 

 and gratitude, and all that endeared him to his loving 

 parents. They see him now, O, how changed ! He has 

 cut himself away from home influences, become pro- 

 fane and dissipated, and is hastening on to certain 

 destruction. What a terrible termination of a par- 

 ent's fond hopes ! How much worse to bear than 

 death by any other means ! 



Youthful readers, are you becoming the murderers 

 of your fathers and mothers ? — Aurora of the Val- 

 ley. 



