
KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 265 

gaudy monarch of birds. On the roof-shaped hay- 
rick, a whole flock of pigeons were dozing in a line, 
with their heads tucked comfortably under their 
wings ; and the noisy Guinea-fowls shrieked wildly 
below. What a snug picture of home comforts to 
excite all the enthusiasm of romantic young advo- 
cates of “love in a village!” 

WOMEN AND NOVELS. 

*Tis Epucatron forms a WomAn’s mind,— 
Just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined. 
POPE. 

I DO NOT THINK, my dear sir, that any 
one will call you “illiberal,” yet must I 
break a lance with you on the subject of 
some remarks of yours, at page 190. You 
there say, that the lamentable existing “ de- 
formities in the minds of females are in a 
great measure attributable to the unrestricted 
perusal of Novels and Tales of Fiction.” I 
really think this is an incorrect judgment of 
yours; and it requires some explanation. 
Had your remark been confined to the 
class of romances and similar masses of im- 
possible absurdities to be found in the CHEAP 
PUBLICATIONS of the present day, your con- 
demnation of them would have been more 
deserved. Inmy opinion, you should blame— 
not the novels, but the style of education, 
which not merely permits but encourages 
their perusal. We should then arrive much 
nearer to a radical truth. . 
The reading of the low class of books to 
which I allude, is not the cause of the 
deformities of mind which you and all who 
love the sex somuch condemn. It is merely 
one of the effects of the imperfect education 
of the female mind, so paramount in the 
present day. A woman’s mind would, if 
properly cultivated, soon discard every 
species of common-place trash— sending it to 
the tomb of all the Capulets. 
I am not a novel reader, or a novel 
writer ; but I freely admit having oftentimes 
derived not only pleasure and amusement, 
but much valuable information and instruc- 
tion from the perusal’ of some works of 
fiction. They are written by persons of no 
inconsiderable pretension to education and 
talent ; and amongst them, that great moral 
philanthropist, Crabb, may be numbered. 
From such writers, nothing objectionable can 
well emanate; and their works cannot have the 
demoralising effects you attribute to them. 
On the contrary, I feel sure that (as an 
auxiliary to education,) lessons of filial 
tenderness, and guides to the development 
of the human mind into channels that could 
not fail to lead to love and respect—are to 
be often found firmly portrayed in the 
majority of good novels; when any such 
lessons would be sought in vain elsewhere. 
You, natural philanthropist as you are, 


would say “Nature is the best teacher ;” 
but be reasonable, my dear sir. Tell me what 
sort of figure a natural (strictly natural) 
young lady would cut in the world, in the 
present day. No, no; if we cannot have 
them what we wish, it appears to me to be 
wiser to train them into that path which is 
best calculated to carry them through the 
world with credit to themselves and advan- 
tage to those about them. 
To do this satisfactorily, let the mind of 
the fair sex—and not their figure, be made 
the first object of cultivation. I would try 
to make them believe that 
“Comforts, yea! joys ineffable, they find 
Who seek the prouder pleasures of the mind.” 
I would see them taught to “ think ;” then, 
rely on it, their own judgment would very 
soon prevent them from reading any work 
owing its origin to a mind less cultivated or 
less elevated than their own. They could 
not enjoy such a work; nor need you fear 
turning them loose into any circulating 
library. They would not be long in culling 
the flowers, and leaving the weeds. 
How this much-to-be-desired improvement 
in education is to be attained, is, I admit, a 
matter of no ordinary difficulty; for one evil 
has grown upon another until it has become 
almost insurmountable. The fact is, “ accom- 
plishments” are so much sought after, that 
even in the education of those intended to 
become ‘‘teachers,” little else is thought of. 
Do we ever hear of a mother in want of a 
governess who troubles herself to ask any 
thing of her qualifications —beyond music, 
French, and, perhaps, drawing? All else isa 
matter of indifference; if not deemed abso- 
lutely needless. Thus it may not be unfairly 
assumed, that by far too many of those who 
usurp the title of governess in the present 
day know little or nothing of the branches 
of education which would assist their pupils 
in the formation of their minds,—storing 
them with those rich fruits which would 
tend to render them cultivated beings, 
instead of, as now, mere dolls. 
The desire on the part of the middle 
classes for “‘ private education”’ (so called), 
is one of England’s besetting sins. We must 
be “‘apeing our betters.”” The value of emula- 
tion is lost sight of in the desire to be able to 
repeat, after my Lady Noodle, “we have a 
private governess.” But where, may I ask, is 
the value of emulation to be found, better 
than at a seminary ? Take any twenty of the 
men who have become known in this country 
for talent,—no consequence from what class 
you select them, whether in politics, medicine, 
law, or literature. Now, you will not find that 
any one of them owed the development and 
cultivation of his talent to a private tutor ; 
but simply to that emulation which, whether 
at asc hool or ina college, is unavoidable. 
