292 Education. 



What, then, is the conclusion of the matter ? It 

 is, that women, as well as men, are rational be- 

 ings ; that they are made not to be the servants, 

 but the companions of men 5 that, for this purpose, 

 where it is practicable, their minds should be cul- 

 tivated with care, liberally imbued with know- 

 ledge, and so strengthened and polished as to fit 

 them to shine not only in the routine of domestic 

 employments, but also in the social circle, and 

 in the literary conversation. Every man who 

 understands the true interests of society, will 

 desire to see females receive the best education 

 which their circumstances will afford. And every 

 one who considers the importance of enlightening 

 and forming the minds of the young, and who 

 recollects that this task must, for a number of the 

 first years of life, be almost entirely entrusted to 

 mothers, will perceive the propriety of having them 

 more accurately and extensively informed than they 

 commonly are. But when women carry the idea 

 of their equality with the other sex so far as to in- 

 sist that there should be no difference in their edu- 

 cation and pursuits 3 when they contend that every 

 kind of study or occupation is equally fit and desir- 

 able for them to pursue as for men -° when they ima- 

 gine, and act on the presumption, that they have ta- 

 lents as well suited to every species of employment 

 and enterprize, they mistake both their character* 

 their dignity, and their Jiappiness. The God of na- 



• It is by no means the intention of the writer to say, that the profound 

 investigations of mathematical or metaphysical science are unfit for all fe* 

 males. Where persons of this sex are so situated, with regard to property 

 and employment, as to render investigations of this kind convenient and 

 agreeable, there appears no rational objection to their engaging in them. 

 But when females devote themselves to studies of this nature, to the neglect 

 of religious and moral improvement, which are indispensably necessary for 

 every sex and age ; and to the omission also of geography, history, chemistry, 

 and some of the more attractive branches of natural history, if they do not 

 depart from the province of their sex, they certainly have a singular taste 

 as to what is most useful and most ornamental in females, situated as they 

 arc in society. 



