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224 JEMALE EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE CLASS...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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-=Ss5 »-- Nearly Half A Century Lias Ela...
middle classes , though , man in his estate approaches raore nearly _thq lot of the laborerwoman would be an aristocrat ; must needs
spend her time in visiting , and receiving visits , or in equally vain make-shifts to kill the time . Like the lady of rank , she is above
engaging in industrial pursuits ; and she even pities the lot of her sex in the laboring ranksthat women must share in these the lot of
, man ; but she forgets that for woman to find happiness in a life of easeit is requisite that man in the same rank be equally exempt
left from alone , toil . during Unlike the the day lad . y Her of rank husband , the lad , her y of suitor the middle , her b class rother is ,
her friend—in place of accompanying her in her visits , or in her other efforts to occupy a day of _leisiire , is busy at his desk ,
engrossed in his industrial avocations . Herein lies the drawback at present characteristic of woman ' s position in the middle ranks .
In place of conforming to the condition in which her lot is cast , she strains after a false station . Her education , ideas , and manners ,
have reference to a condition different from that she really occupies . She is brought up , and still demeans herself , as if she belonged to a
different sphere from that of man in her own rank ; and , as a natural consequence , there can be little in common between them—the
one trained for industry , the other for a life of fashion—the one for the world , the other for the drawing-room . * * * We are far from
regarding the position of woman in the laboring ranks as _satisfactorjr ; —but in the better grades of these ranks , there is in the position of
woman much to call forth approbation , and even envy . The families of the honest cotter , of the sturdy yeoman , of the trustworthy
and enterprising artisan , present in the relation of woman to man almost all that could be desired : —similarity of education _, of training \
and of experience ; and ,. as a consequence , harmony of taste , unity of purposeand all but equality in intelligence and judgment . We
, would desire to see these blessings realised also in the middle rankswhere undeniably they are at present most wanting—blessings
enhanced , as in these ranks they would be , by superior education , and an enlarged sphere of duties : but it seems impossible to realise
such a change in the middle ranks , unless woman abandons her present aspiration , after a mode of life , desirable only were it
attainable by her in common with man ; and , at present , like other idle dreamsserving only to cheat her of the good really within her reach .
The allurements , of fashion which now fill her fancy , the elaborate training she now receives in the accomplishments of fashion , should
henceforth be reckoned at their proper worth ; and her education and her pursuits be more adapted to the condition in which her lot
is cast . Above all , in so far as circumstances permit , she must take part in the industrial occupations suited to her rank ; in like manner
as already do her sisters of the laboring ranks . We do not mean that every woman of the middle ranks should participate in industry ,
natural any more an than d proper every lim woman its to _s uch emp laboring loyment— classes especiall ; there y in the are
224 Jemale Education In The Middle Class...
224 _JEMALE EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE CLASSES .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1858, page 224, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061858/page/8/
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