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    WOMEN IN ITALY. 39

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    - A And Very That Striking Of Land Diffe...

    such acquirements to women , was strikingly embodied in a remark made at the to baths me one of day Monte , by the Catini wife . of Discovering a respectable 1 that government she was official quite .

    unacquainted with the mysteries of the alphabet , I asked her how it not happened attained , that to a , knowle being d the ge of daug the hter arts of of reading a schoolmaster and writing , she . " had Oh ,

    to my know father how said to , " read she rep and lied write , " that and it for was all quite the good useless it did for , a it woman would .

    be folly for me to be at the trouble , of learning-, and waste of time on his part to be at the trouble of teaching" me . " In towns , girls in

    the humbler walks of life , may chance to get a slight tincture of the elements of learningbut in the country , the girl who can read a

    page , or write a line , , is quite a phenomenon . In no country in Europe are the corrective influences of education

    bl more Amongst y of prevalent required the men Italian . , an to Life gentleman ep elevate icurean is short the , tone , and let moral of forthwith us thoug tone enjoy ht of , it and ere society while his feeling boy we than hood may is lamenta in , is is Ital well the y - .

    ended cry he enters on a career which having pleasure almost solely for life its aim of , , Ital soon y , vice destroys presents the energ itself ies to the of mind sight and under bod a y . veil In too the features thin social to

    hide from the least observant eye its offensive and repellant . From the men . belonging to the higher classes of society in Italy , a laxity of of moral the princi er p classes le has extende of the d land to the particularl women . y The in drawing Tuscany - ,

    exhibit rooms with lamentable upp frequency , faithless , -wives and false husbands . Few are , the Italian irlswhoentering as matrons into the dissipated

    it circles well of be Italian otherwise soci g ety under , , escap the , e its circumstances baneful influences ? To . resist How the could

    cona tag crowd ious effects of worshi of example of , to wrong make , requires a stand for strength right in of the mind midst ; and of ppers

    h strength avefrom of the mind practice flows of , not the from piano the , the education conjugation that of French Italian verbs ladies ,

    and , an initiation into the mysteries of cross-stitch , tent-stitch , and the minds other void sim , and of ilar life idle species recourse hands of , nothing fashionabl is had but to the e evil female excitement , results industry naturall of gratified . y From . To vanit empty fill up y _,,

    to indulgence , in gossip and tattling * . Finding their value estimated absorbing solel passion y by the with standard Italian women of good in all looks classes , dress of society becomes , from an _,

    the if she young had onl peasant gold girl chain , who to told wear me to she the would contessa be or perfectl marc 7 iesa y _hapxDy , who

    indulges her y passion a for finery to the , utmost limit of her means . Weakfrivolousand vain , —a negligent mother and , too often , an .

    unfaithful , wife— , the Italian lady of the present day presents a p midst icture of to our the condemnation eye , little pleasant , we must to contemp deal charitabl late . y But with still errors , in the of '

    character that are evideaatly the creation of external influences . The _,

    Women In Italy. 39

    WOMEN IN ITALY . 39

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1858, page 39, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091858/page/39/