30 MR. stone's address. 



and mothers, — and better to qualify them for usefuhiess in ev- 

 ery path within the sphere of their exertions. The true object 

 of education, is not to lead woman from her own proper sphere, 

 but to qualify her for the better discharge of those duties which 

 lie within it. By being enabled to see more clearly the pecu- 

 liar obligations which devolve upon them in their various rela- 

 tions, and to discern the boundary between their duties and 

 those of the other sex, they will be restrained from indelicately 

 passing the barrier which the Almighty himself, in the pecu- 

 liarities of physical as well as mental constitution, has estab- 

 lished between them. Females are not called upon to lead ar- 

 mies, make and execute laws, or to preside over public safe- 

 ty." But they may be called to equally important and respon- 

 sible duties. They " may be called upon to preside over the 

 domestic circle, — to regulate families by their wisdom, and to 

 guide and enlighten the youthful mind. In the proper perfor- 

 mance of these duties, they will need all that clearness of rea- 

 son, and solidity of judgment, to which a thorough and well 

 conducted education may conduce. No law, human or divine, 

 forbids that the female mind should seek to penetrate science," 

 or that she should be accomplished in any of the arts that con- 

 stitute a polite education. 



Mr. Colman, in his " European Agriculture," has described 

 an English lady of highly cultivated intellect and rare accom- 

 plishments, who, living in the midst of gilded halls and hosts 

 of liveried servants, was as familiar with the dairy and the en- 

 tire system of husbandry, as she was with the elegant luxuries 

 of life, and whose visits to the barn and piggery were as unre- 

 strained as to the library. Now this beautiful Ideal may, to a 

 certain extent, be realized by every farmer's wife and daugh- 

 ter. I maintain, there is entire congruity between a cultivated 

 intellect and polished manners, and the performance of the 

 commonest duties of domestic life — between, if you please, a 

 knowledge of the Latin classics and making a cheese — of the 

 piano and the spinning wheel — of embroidery and making a 

 pudding — of algebra and darning a stocking. That woman is 

 worthy of admiration, as she will always command it, who 

 combines a thorough knowledge of the details of house-keeping 



