118 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



from eight years old, that the chief end of women is to get 

 a beau, and convert him into a husband. Therefore, every 

 action must be on purpose, must have a discreet object in 

 view. Girls must not walk fast, that is not lady-like ; nor 

 run, that would be shockingly vulgar ; nor scamper over 

 fields, merry and free as the bees or the birds, laughing till 

 the cheeks are rosy, and romping till the blood marches 

 merrily in every vein ; for, says prudent mamma, " my dear, 

 do you think Mr. Lack-a-daisy would marry a girl Avhom he 

 saw acting so unfashionably ?" Thus, in every part of edu- 

 cation those things are pursued, whose tendency is to 

 excite the brain and nervous system, and for the most part 

 those things are not " refined^'' Avhich would develop the 

 muscular system, give a natural fullness to the form, and 

 health and vigor to every organ of it. 



The evil does not end upon the victim of fashionable 

 education. Her feebleness, and morbid tastes, and preter- 

 natural excitability are transmitted to her children, and to 

 their children. If it were not for the rural habits and 

 health of the vast proportion of our population, trained to 

 hearty labor on the soil, the degeneracy of the race in 

 cities would soon make civilization a curse to the health of 

 mankind. 



Now we have not one word to say against " accomplish- 

 ments " when they are real, and are not purchased at the 

 expense of a girl's constitution. She may dance like 

 Miriam, paint like Raphael, make wax fruit till the birds 

 come and peck at the cunning imitation ; she may j^lay like 

 Orpheus harping after Eurydice (or Avhat will be more to 

 the purpose, like a Eurydice after an Orpheus), she may 

 sing and write poetry to the moon, and to every star in the 

 the heavens, and every flower on earth, to zephyrs, to 

 memory, to friendship, and to whatever is imaginable in the 

 spheres, or on the woi'ld — if she will, in the midst of these 

 ineffable things, remember the most important facts, that 

 health is a blessing ; that God made health to depend upon 



