74 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Mar. 



CabicB JBcpartment. 



I 



A GOSSIP WITH THE LADIES. 



The people and Legislature; of several States are 

 talking pretty seriously about Agricultural Schools 

 and Colleges. Let us talk a little on a subject of 

 equal importance — the education of the fair daugh- 

 ters of our land for the responsible duties of life. 

 It may be said, and truly, that the females of this 

 land are better educated than those of any other coun- 

 try, and that the studies pursued in our female semi- 

 naries are of a more solid character than those of 

 similar seminaries in Europe. We grant all this ; 

 and still we say that the system of female education 

 is defective — more than this, destructive to the health 

 and consequent happiness of thousands, — making 

 the "sweet home" a home of anxiety, disease and 

 wretchedness, and filling many an untimely grave. 

 You may consider this rather a severe and random 

 assertion ; but it is too strictly and too fearfully true. 



Travel our country over. Look at the young 

 mothers of our land. Are they pictures of health 

 and vigor, or of infirmity and disease? Does the 

 bloom on the cheek denote that the blood is playing 

 healthfully through the veins, or does the sallow com- 

 plexion and shrunken features show that the purple 

 tide pursues clovvly and unwillingly its sluggish 

 course ? Does the sparkling eye exhibit the buoy- 

 ancy of the feelings — is the joy of the heart shown 

 through these windows of the soul ; or is the melan- 

 choly, sunken eye, the index of a sad heart ? Mr. 

 CoLMAN, in his European tour, was surprised at the 

 health and consequent buoyancy of spirits of the 

 English women — the mother the equal of the daugh- 

 ter in health and vigor. On the contrary, the wan 

 and faded appearance of American women is remarked 

 by all travellers. The celebrated Dp. TocquEviLLE 

 spipke much on this subject. Miss Beecher says — 

 " .\n English mother at thirty or thirty-five, is in the 

 full bloom of perfect womanhood ; as fresh and 

 healthful as her daughters. But where are the 

 American mothers who can reach this period unfaded 

 and unworn Y' 



How few reach this period of age without suffer- 

 ing from head-ache, tic dolereaux, diseases of the 

 spine, and other nervous diseases so common to the 

 women of this country. We might show the extent 

 of this evil more fully ; but, as it will be admitted, 

 we think, that the health and beauty of American 

 ladies are but short lived — that they are peculiarly 

 liable to nervous disease.-, destroying their own ha])- 

 piness and the happiness of their families, — and 

 finally life itself — it will be more profitable that we 

 should point out the cause and the remedy. 



The cause commences in the cradle, and too often 

 ends in the grave. In infancy, the mother is afraid 

 to have a little of heaven's fresh and balmy air breathe 

 upon her child. Before the child is of proper age it 

 is sent to school — its mental faculties taxed to their 

 utmost capacity, and but little time or opportunity 

 given for the development of the powers of the body 

 by air and exercise. It grows up like a house-plant 

 that has been deprived of light and air — weak and 

 puny. The seeds of future suffering, perhaps early 

 death, planted in its frame. 



The child is become a young woman ; and never 

 having been accustomed to out-door exercise, she 

 has no relish for it, — indeed, custom and fashion arc 

 opposed to it. A romp on the green — laboring witli 



the hoe and spade among the weeds and flowers, 

 would be decidedly vulgar, and show a want of refine- 

 ment. Walking a mile or two every day would be 

 an outrageous imposition — father or brother must 

 "harness up." The young lady must sit in the 

 rocking-chair and read silly novels, exciting lln^ 

 imagination at the expense of the heart and health — 

 attend halls, and "dance all nigljt" for exercise, fecil 

 on pickles, sweet cake, and other indigestible trasli, 

 when tlie stomach should be at rest, and the v.liole 

 body enjoying "nature's sweet restorer, balmy sl^cp." 

 Young women thus grow up with inipaire.l constitu- 

 tions ; and when active life with its cares and respon- 

 sibilities comes upon them, they are unequal to the 

 task, fall victims to their own and their parent's folly, 

 and either drag out a miserable life, or fill an early 

 grave. " The delicate and feeble appearance of many 

 American women," says Miss Beecher, "is chiefly 

 owing to the little use they make of their muscles. 

 Many a pale, puny, shad-shaped girl, would have 

 become a plump, rosy, well-furmcd person, if lialf the 

 exercise afforded to her brothers in the open air had 

 been secured to her during childhood and youth." 



The REMEDY, then, is exercise, and exercise out-of- 

 doors. The health of children must not be sacrificed 

 to books. No over-anxiety of the parent must he 

 permitted to bring on these very evils the part nt 

 dreads. Children love exercise — it is natural for 

 them, and necessary to the development of their 

 bodies — and they will have it, if not prevented fiy 

 their parents. But exercise must not end with child- 

 hood. Our young ladies must walk, ride, and work 

 in the open air. Never mind a little tanning in the 

 sun and wind — health and comfort are cheaply pur- 

 chased even at the expense of a fair complexion. By 

 riding, we don't mean riding in a spring buggy with 

 a cushioned seat — but horse-back.. Saddle the horse 

 yourself, young woman, and ride three or four miles 

 every day. Or you can ramble through the woods 

 and over the farm and fences. And have a garden 

 — cultivate roses and carnations, and phloxes, and 

 shrubs — and take good care of them. It will aftord 

 you exercise and pleasure ; it will teach you more 

 of nature than a thousand novels. 



We had got thus far, and was about bringing our 

 gossip to an end, when we were presented by Messrs. 

 Rapalje & Briggs, of the Genesee Agricultural 

 Warehouse, with a Ladie's Floral Rake, a cut of 

 which we give. We would willingly make a present 

 of it to any of our fair readers who would make a 

 good use of it. 



I'his rake is a useful article for working among 

 flower beds, and as beautiful as it is useful, with a 

 black walnut handle, and might be handled by a lady 

 without mittens. The neat and tasty manner in 

 which Garden Implements for ladies arc got up at 

 the present day, is enough to tempt any lady to try 

 her hand at gardening. 



Mothers, learn your children to love gardening — 

 allot them a patch of ground for their own garden 

 — get them such little implements as will entice 

 them to work. It will do more to save them from 

 years of suffering than all the drugs and sugar-pills 

 in the universe. 



