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Untitled Article
end t And how would you deal with the no less formidable instrument of pain ? What is your own physical , intellectual , and : moral state , as specially fitting ¦ you for this office ? What is the measure of vour own
self-control , without a large portion of which no human being ever yet exerted over the infant mind any considerable influence for good ? There is no philosopher , however profound his knowledge , no instructor , however varied and extended his experience , who would not enter upon this task with an apprehension proportioned to his knowledge and
experience ; but knowledge which men acquire only after years of study , habits which are generated in men only as the result of long " - continued discipline , are expected to come to you spontaneously , -to be born with you , to require on your part no culture , and to need no sustaining influence . 4
But , indeed , it is a most inadequate expression of the fact , to say that the communication of the knowledge , and the formation of tha habits which are necessary to the due performance of the duties of
women , constitute no essential part of their education : the direct tendency of a great part of their education is to produce and foster opinions , feelings , and tastes , which positively disqualify them for the
performance of their duties . All would be well if the marriage ceremony , which transforms the girl into the wife , conferred upon the wife the qualities which - should be possessed by the mother . But it is rare to find a person capable of the least difficult part of education , namely , that of communicating instruction , even after diligent study , with a
direct view to teaching ; yet an ordinary girl , brought up in the ordinary mode , in the ordinary domestic circle , is intrusted with the direction and control of the first impressions that are made upon the human being , and the momentous , physical , intellectual , and moral results that arise out of thoge impressions ! I am sensible of the total inadequacy of any remedy for this evil , short of a modification of our domestic institutions . Mere information . g ^^^ p ^ B B ^ p S ^ 4 ^ F ^* " *^ ^ ^ w n w ^^ r ™ -m ^ r -v ^— - ^ v ^^™ ^^ - - ¦ ~^ ~~~ — — — — ' ~ - *— — —~ — — ~~ — — - ¦ - — ^* ^ p ^ ~^^ ^ m ^ —^» v ^^* v ^ p ^ h ^^ r ^ p - ^^ r ^ m V B ^ B V P V V V H
^^^ ^ ^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^* ^* ^* ^*^ ^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ' ^^^^* ^ however complete the communication of it , can do little beyond affording a clearer conception of the end in view , and of the means fitted to secure it . Even this little , however , would be something gained ; and the hope of contributing , in some degree , to the furtherance of this object , has supplied one of the main motives for undertaking the present work . Meantime , women are the earliest teachers ; they must be nurses ; they can be neither , without the risk of doing incalculable mischief , unless they have some understanding of the subjects about to be treated of . On these grounds I rest their obligation to study them ; and I look upon that notion of delicacy , which would exclude them fromknoyvledge calculated , in an extraordinary degree , to open , exalt , and purify their minds , and to fit them for the performance of their duties , as aljke degrading to those to whom it affects to show respect , and debasing to the mind that entertains it . ' p . 5—11 .
yVe will not comment on the silly affectation denounced in the last sentence . The author has rightly glanced at its origin . The false delicacies of the one sex have their source in the grossnesses of the other . This , and not mental inaptitude , is , the great difficulty in the way of that amelioration which shall give
Untitled Article
The Philosophy of Health . 157
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 157, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/13/
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