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engaged in vice and folly . The female character has been observed to improve since that time , in proportion as the treasures of useful Knowledge have been placed within the reach of the sex .
I wish to imply by what I have said , not that great stores of information are as necessary to women as to men , but that as much care should be taken of the formation of their minds . Their attainments cannot in general be so
great , because they have their own appropriate duties and peculiar employments , the neglect of which nothing can excuse ; but I contend that these duties will be better performed if the powers be rationally employed . If the whole mind be exercised a * id
strengthened , it will bring more vigour to the performance of its duties in any particular province . The first great objection which is made to enlightening the female mind is , that if engaged in the pursuit of knowledge , women neglect their appropriate duties and peculiar employments .
2 nd . That the greatest advances that the female mind can make in knowledge , must still fall far short x > f the attainments of the other sex . 3 rd . That the vanity &o universally
ascribed to the sex is apt to be inflated by any degree of proficiency in knowledge , and that women therefore become forgetful of the subordinate station assigned them by law , natural and divine .
. To the first objection I answer , that such a pursuit of knowledge as shall lead women to neglect their peculiar duties , is not that cultivation of mind for the utility of which lam contending . But these duties may be well
performed without engaging the whole time and attention . If . " great thoughts constitute great minds /* what can be expected from a woman whose whole intellect is employed on the trifling cares and comparatively mean occupations , to which the advocates for
female ignorance would condemn her ? Those cares and these occupations were allotted to women to enable them to smooth our way through life ; they were designed as a means to thia end , and should never be pursued as the end itself . The knowledge of these necessary acts is so easily acquired , and they are so easily performed , that
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an active rabid will feel a dbmal vacuity , a craving after something nobler and better to employ the thoughts ia the intervals of idleness which must occur when these calls of duty are
answered , and if nothing nobler and better is presented to it , it will waste its energies in the pursuit of , folly , if not of vice , and thus continually perpetuate the faults of the sex .
Some will perhaps say , " if household occupations are insufficient to exercise the mind , the wide fiehl of charity is open to the employment of its energies . '' It is so . But how inefficient is benevolence when not
directed b y knowledge I And how comparatively faint will be the exertions in the cause , when the views are bounded , the motives narrow and even selfish , ( for ignorance is the mother of
selfishness , > and charity pursued more as a present employment , than with the desire of doing permanent good to the erbjects of this shallow beiievow lence I How different is this from the
charity of an enlightened mind , ef a mind which , enlarged by knowledge , can comprehend extensive views , can design not only the present relief of misery , but can look forward to the
permanent improvement of its kind ; which , understanding the workings of the mind , and . able to profit by the experience of others , can choose the best means for the attainment of
certain ends , and thus by uniting knowledge and judgment with benevolence , caa make its efforts doubly efficient ! But even if the calls of charity be answered , and feminine duties performed ,
yet much leisure remains for other pursuits : and what should these pursuits be ? Surely ,, such as will make social intercourse more delightful , such as will furnish innocent
recreation at home , such as will cheer the hours of dulness , and furnish pleasant subjects for the thoughts to turn to ii * times of sickness or of sorrow . It must be allowed by all , that one of woman ' s first duties is to qualify herself for being a companion to her husband , or to those with whom her lot in life is cast . She was formed to
be a domestic companion , and such an . one as shall give to home its charms , as shall furpish such entertainment that her husband need not be driven abroad for amusement . This is one of the first duties- jequired . fjr < m a < wa %
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78 On Female Education .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1823, page 78, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1781/page/14/
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