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B Jj WOMEN D HIGHER EDUCATION. H fa So; -e higher journals and professors H V in the East and across the sea are discussing the B !l question of university training for young women. H Some declare that American women are over- H educated; that a higher education has a tendency H to prevent women from becoming wives and moth- H ers; that the giving to women perfectly trained H ' minds in the schools causes them to exchange H n the simple, natural grace which attracts men to H J thorn for the mere grace of Intellect which B J$ causes an unconscious self-consciousness, which BB'! '$M I impels them to reason on masculine lines mak- Wttk' 'ISH (!) ing tliem often hail fellows, but such fellows B !,H,' 'I ns mGn do not -00-c or -n wives axi& therefore VAV nM i ' the highest destiny of such women, to be grand B f wives, superb mothers and home queens, Is B thwarted. B It seems to us that all that smacks of a her- B editary taint. For thousands of years women were B treated as inferior creatures, playthings at first B . ! and then slaves. When at last after the cere- B mony had been repeated for many centuries at B marriages, that a man and his wife "are one B flesh," some generous souls took up the idea that B ."! if they were one they must be eqnal, and some BB n of the fetters were broken from the souls of jB C women. Then it was found that the exalting of flB ,'lt ! woman had a double reward the woman was BAB it' i more loveable than ever and man himself became H '! ! exalted. Now as to education. It is true that BmBJ 4 ) some Avomen avIio are fairly educated do not be- B M'' '! come first class wives and mothers, but they B i j i i would have been worse wives and mothers had H they not been educated. It Is true that we see B some women who seem to be holding out their B&Vf j' arms to grasp the etherlal, the intangible and H tj j the incomprehensible, but no one ever saw a BVB n, j thoroughly educated lady who was that way. BaBJ m ! fj That kind are simply living illustrations of how &BH iM dangerous a thing a little knowledge is. When a BSmI i n man engages a governess and instructor for his BVf i children he invariably wants an educated lady BBflilrl t t0 fl11 the bIH dTld if his wife Is a clu11, unlet" KMili 1 tared woman, the chances are ten to one that HHfgfffjii she will be jealous of the governess before a II! II II month passes. BbMh f " '8 rue t"iat some women never ought to fH'iiy ' 1 receive what is called a higher education, but BBlnuli C llie 6ame Is true of many men wno P88 through ssSSHwM colleges and universities and the reason Is the sflKafffll same in both cases. Such people do not waste BBwIft ; several years in school because they are thirst- Bh ,! ing for knowledge, but because it is the fash- BByS'h ionable fad and when they go out into the world PflHy It takes them years, often, to find out what they SBwllif arc adaPted to do- But that is the fault of par- HBH hP rntB flr8t and next the 8Cl10018- BHi (im But when a man or woman knows what he or she wants to do in what way can a thorough educational training harm them? As to the wife and mother feature, no training can chill a woman's wo-man's instincts. Most women dream of being wives and mothers and no school training can drive away that dream unless it is a religious training which induces women to smother that dream under a pillow of faith and hope that by the sacrifice a fairer heaven will receive them. But, really, the whole question rests on a basis of justice. Many women can never marry; mar-ry; thousands and tens of thousands of women have to earn their own livelihood. What equities equi-ties attach to the case which justifies anyone in saying that there should be limitations to a woman's wo-man's equipments if she should ever find it necessary nec-essary to support herself? An education makes a real woman more thoughtful, more considerate, a better wife, mother moth-er and citizen. If some one in woman's form is foolish and flighty an education may, if possible, possi-ble, cause her to be more disagreable than she would be without it, but the fault is away back behind the schools, and if through her education such a woman rejects marriage, the world is a gainer and the schools should be thanked. |
