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XXIV.—THE GOVERNESS QUESTION.
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^«»» " Governesses again? we really thou...
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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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.
( 163 )
( 163 )
Xxiv.—The Governess Question.
XXIV . —THE GOVERNESS QUESTION .
^«»» " Governesses Again? We Really Thou...
_^«»» " Governesses again ? we really thought that siibjeet worn
threadbare . What do they want ? What a set they are ! Always dissatisfied ; "really the airs of governesses are intolerable , nothing- is
_g-ood enough for them , " etc ., etc . Ladies ! you of great pretensions , and you of no pretensions , tliis
paper is not addressed to you . When Molie ' re was asked if he hoped by his Tartuffe to put down hypocrisyhe replied : " I don't
expect to lessen the number of TartufFes , but , I hope to lessen the number of their dupes . " In like manner this paper does not
address ladies who employ governesses : if the Christian religion , and that precept which pervades the whole scripture through"
What-, soever ye would that men should do unto you , do ye also unto them /' has not taught them common humanityno mere remonstrance
from an obscure individual will avail . Whether , the majority of ladies do treat a governess as they would like to be treated if a
reverse of fortune befell them , shall be left to their own consciences . This paper is seriously and solemnly addressed to parentswho
, , not having the means of giving * their daughters any fortune , seem seized with an epidemic madness to make them governesses , offering
their children to Moloch , —if not passing through , fire , it is purgatory ! We believe tliat some confused notion of gentility ( a very
useful word , though now proscribed ) has much to do with this inhuman mania , by which their daughters' future existence is virtuall
blighted . Whatever gentility may once have attached to the pro y - fession of governess has long since vanished , and it is impossible to
name any occupation , not positively disreputable , which confers so little respectability , —respectability in the worldly sense . There is
no trade , however humble , which does not give some position to its possessor . What is the position of a governess ? she has none .
While engaged in a family , except in cases too rare to be worth mentioning , she is infinitely less considered than the servants she
has no companionship whatever ; very frequently , not a syllable ; is addressed to her from week ' s end to week's end by tlie members of
the family , as if she were in disgrace . " My governess sits in the school-room when lessons are over , " is the almost universal epilogue ,
while concluding an engagement . Of course ! after a whole day ' s arduous teaching , the mind at full stretch , what relaxation can a
governess want ? The servants have their hall , and social pleasures ; the governess is condemned to solitude , and must listen with aching
lieart to the merry laugh she may hear below , for even her pupils are generally absent in the evening . Solitary confinement has been
thought too severe a punishment for criminals , but is good enough for a governess ; and though her habits and manners are to fonn
the habits - and manners of the young " , they are uufit for those
vol . j . v . m 2
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1859, page 163, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111859/page/19/
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