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WOMEN IN ITALY. 37
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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Transcript
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
- A And Very That Striking Of Land Diffe...
As may be supposed , in a country where the intellectual faculties of women are rated at such a low degree education is a matter tends to its self
_tliat is but little attended to . Thus error ever perpetuation disgrace necessity or . of As shame knowing a system as far any as of thing she tutelage is , concerned as i exemp gnorance , ts she a is is woman taug considered ht from nothing the no ,
evenamidst the wealthy classes of society , calculated to strengthen her , faculties and improve her mind . Beneath the thin varnish of
dense accomp in lishments the ordinary that branches an Italian of lad knowled y possesses ge , may , ignorance be found the . I most was
intimately acquainted with two young ladies in Florence , perfectly well educated according to the Italian idea of that term , —they
good p sentences layed morning the in piano the , good Eng tolerabl lish nig y ht language well , and , sp half . oke - But a- French dozen with more imperfectl all these equall y accomp y , could elaborate lish say
ments , of which they were extremely proud , neither of them could write without lines , or in any but the large round unformed characters
of a child . History they were ignorant of , and the profoundness of their knowledin geographymay be imagined from the fact which
oame out in the ge course of conversation , one day , that neither of them knew of the existence of their own celebrated Italian lake of Como .
my Geograp experience hical , to knowled be classed ge would somewhat seem indeed amongst , from the the unfeminine results the of
branches of learning in Italy— " Which is , London or America , furthest off ? " asked a lively Florentine lady of me one day . I
rance severer gave her imp was the lied the desired by test the to information which question my , , but gravity with greater a secret was put grew wonder , when my at wonder after the a i , gno and few
moments of apparent meditation , she exclaimed , " Whafc a very large At a City America earlperiod must be of ! my " residence in Tuscanythe mockery
of the mis very -called y system of feminine education in Ital , y , became to me most strikingly apparent . Though the most favorite schools for
Florentine girls are those conducted hy nuns , and carried on _wdthin the precincts of the Conventthere are establishments of the same
, kind to be found in Florence , unconnected with the religious institutions of the country . To an annual examination of the girls
belong acquainted after my ing arrival to with a school in the Florence of Italian the latter , language when descri I . was ption Thoug as , I yet h was doubtful but invited imperfectl shortl of my y y
ability to understand a scholastic examination carried on in an unfamiliar tongue , I accepted the invitation , and _reiDaired accordingly
at the time indicated , to the appointed place . Great _preparations had been made for the occasion , as if to invest the coming exhibition
with a character of importance and dignity . Across the end of the roomwhere the examination was to be held , extended a stage
hour gaily , decorated appointed , with a grave bright looking colored man drapery appeared . Upon to take this stage his place , at the in
Women In Italy. 37
WOMEN IN ITALY . 37
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1858, page 37, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091858/page/37/
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