Last month we shared with you a piece written by students at Fort Wayne
High School and published in a pamphlet of Essays and Addresses for the Vth
Annual Commencement on June 17, 1869. This month we bring you a second essay
from this booklet, appropriate to Women’s History Month.
Affirmative.
By Malvina R. Mahurin.
It is not our intention, to-night, to discuss the subject of
Woman’s Rights, but simply to state why her education should be equal to that
of man. And as there are many valid arguments in favor of the affirmative of
this question, we will only mention two or three.
Then why ought woman to receive an education as extended and
comprehensive as that of man?
First. Because her influence and work are of equal
importance, and because men are to so great an extent what their mothers make
them.
Will any one claim that the formation of character, which is
the chief work of woman, is less intricate and important than the formation of
states, the enactment of laws, and the settlement of political difficulties,
which seem to be the chief work of man? Besides, all men take their leading
characteristics from their mothers. ‘T is they who determine, to a great
degree, the manners, taste, feeling, disposition, and genius of men in all
times.
“Of Washington, it is said, that he inherited from his
mother a high temper and spirit of command, but her early precepts and example
taught him to restrain and govern that temper, and to square his conduct by the
exact principles of equity and justice.”
“The mother of Lord Bacon was an accomplished linguist, and
had studied thoroughly all the philosophic and religious questions of her age.
All her talent and acquirements were employed in the education of her son. From
the education thus imparted, we find the origin of Lord Bacon’s greatness.”
Secondly. The moral and intellectual progress of a nation
depends as much upon the extent and thoroughness of the education of woman as
upon that of man.
Look back through the history of the several barbarous
nations, more particularly those of the East, and you will find, that from the
earliest period to the present day, their progress in education has been slow
and labored. But why this non-progression in these nations, while that of
others has been onward? It is on account of the degrading position which has
been given to women, and the low estimate placed upon them by their countrymen.
Instead of being looked upon as companions and helpmates, they are treated with
contempt and distrust, thus crushing all the gentler feelings of their nature.
Ye sons and daughters of a Christian land, on whom heaven has showered its
choicest benedictions, how little do ye know of the sighs and tears, the
loneliness and desolation of these benighted daughters of the East.
Turning again to the pages of history, and viewing those
nations upon which the light of education shines clear and full, we see each
fresh blossom and fruit of literature, each improvement in art, and each new
link in the chain of science, as so many proofs that the moral worth and
advancement of a nation depends largely upon the position and excellence of
woman.
Then in the third place, we claim that the education of men
and women should be equal, because the Creator has endowed women with faculties
as suceptible (sic) of development as those of men. Do not Margaret Fuller,
George Eliot, Mrs. Browning and Jean Ingelow deserve as much praise for the
untiring efforts with which they have pursued their literary career, as the
most celebrated of poets? And woman, also, has waved high her standard in art. ‘T
is true she has produced no Raphael. Yet France glories in the renown of Rosa
Bonheur, the most celebrated of female painters; for none other has won so wide
a fame: none other built a reputation on so firm and broad a basis. While
France glories in the renown of the great artist, America exults in the fame of
Harriet Hosmer, the sculptress, of whom it has been said that her productions
would do credit to many a sculptor of Rome. Science, too, has its honored
representatives in Mrs. Herschel, Mrs. Blackwell, and Mrs. Somerville. And,
allow me to ask, to whom was all Denmark proud to award the golden medal, for
the discovery of the comet of 1847? It was to Maria Mitchell, one of America’s
fairest daughters.
Then, lastly, we say that women need an extended education
for their own sake. They know not what is before them, and if thoroughly
educated, they will have something on which to depend, when the dark days of
adversity come, and can meet life’s trials and disasters with new energy and
cheerfulness.
“The excellent woman,” says a German writer, “is she who, if
the husband dies, can be a father to the children.” For then devolves upon her
the necessity of caring for and protecting her own. My opponent may say if
woman has an extended an education as man, she will be so absorbed in her own
thoughts and studies, that she will neglect her household duties, become
austere and morose, and instead of throwing around the family circle that magic
charm, which is always associated with home and mother, it will become
repulsive to its members, causing them to seek pleasures elsewhere. But we beg
leave to differ. “For as it is the mother who gives lessons before other
instructors, who preoccupies the unwritten pages of being, who produces
impressions which death only can obliterate, and mingles with cradle dreams
that which shall be read in eternity,” will she not implant in the young mind
those thoughts from which she derived so much pleasure, which have made home
pleasant when no earthly companion was near, and self-communion no solitude.
An old English writer says that upon the cultivation of the
minds of women, depends the wisdom of man. If, then, so great is the responsibility
resting upon her, how is she to be fitted for the high and holy office? Only
through education, the handmaid of religion. Inadequate and incomplete will all
efforts of man be to accomplish this high, this great end, until education
shall descend from her lofty abode, take from her girdle the key of the
storehouse of knowledge, unlock the hitherto impassable doors, and summon
women, as well as men, to follow her footsteps.
Negative.
By Emma Eckels.
In taking the negative of this question, we are aware that
we may seem opposed to what is apparently a benefit to our sex; but if you will
listen to the few arguments which we may advance, we will endeavor to convince
you that this is not the fact.
The great and paramount object of all education, whether for
males or females, should always be to make them intelligent and useful,
virtuous and happy. We admit, then at the outset, that to be highly educated in
the different branches is mentally a great advantage to woman. This, however,
is only one phase of the subject. The inquiry naturally arises, does it enable
her any the better to perform the duties that devolve upon her? Does it teach
her how to make her home attractive? Does it make her more lovable? Nay, does
it not rather cause her to become so wrapped up in self, that she neglects to
make the happiness of those around her the foundation of her own comfort and
well being? Does it not enfeeble her physical system and unfit her for duty?
Does it not cause her to become discontented with her lot, and desirous of
public life; longing to fill those places that are more conspicuous, in order
that she may the better satisfy her vanity?
In the next place, we would infer from her more delicate
constitution and the more sensitive nature with which she is endowed, that God
has not designed woman to engage in the sterner warfare of life, and that she
was intended to perform the higher duties which are consistent with her
organization. If, then, she is not destined to perform the same labor as man,
why educate her equally with man? But, admitting that woman is physically, and
in every respect, capable of filling public offices, those of the contrary
opinion may say that in order to hold those positions one should be educated,
and hence the reason why woman should be so well versed in the higher branches.
We admit that a person holding any responsible trust, should have a thorough
knowledge of such things as will the better enable him to perform his duty.
But, notwithstanding this, there are men, such as George Washington, Patrick
Henry, Henry Clay, Thomas Corwin, Abraham Lincoln, and others, who have held
the highest and most honorable posts of public duty, and whose education has
been very limited. Then, if man can hold responsible positions without being
thoroughly educated, why may not woman, when all accord her more natural tact.
Again, the argument may be addressed that woman is the great instructor and
educator of man, and hence her own education should be thorough and
comprehensive. We admit this is a very forcible argument if considered in one
light, but where is the mother that has ever taught her children the higher
mathematics, or the classics? Rather does she not discipline the attributes of
their moral nature—their hearts, their souls, all that pertains to the immortal?
It is the mother’s place to teach her little ones to love the ways of truth,
and to venerate their Maker, not to teach them the sines and cosines of
trigonometry, or to tell them of the gloomy, far-fetched legends of the ancient
Greeks and Romans.
It is frequently the case that educated persons require
quiet, and their minds are so occupied with the rendering of dead languages and
the investigation of scientific subjects, that interruptions make them cross
and impatient; and if a mother were to spend her time attending to the studies
which are agreeable to her taste, and should experience this peevishness and
evince it towards her children, will they not be driven from the home circle to
find solace among street companions? And will not the household duties and
practical training of the young (since that department has been allotted to
her) be almost, if not entirely, neglected, and her children be left to learn
lessons of disobedience; to practice arts of deception, and to build, upon the
foundation of contempt for a mother, a character of insubordination and
iniquity? What a sad report will that mother have to submit to her Creator in
the great day, and will not the shadowy form of neglected duty rise up in
judgment against her? Then, too, different persons are called to fill various
positions in life, and the numerous employments which must necessarily be
performed require different branches of education, and so man, occupying a
different station in life from woman, should have a different education.
Could every one be versed in all the branches of learning,
both theoretical and practical, it would then be reasonable to talk of woman having
as extended and comprehensive an education as man; but this not being the case,
we think that a woman’s education, in order to be a good one, should be such as
will fit her for the noble mission which she ought to fulfill in this world.
