Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Proper Education for Girls

Fulton Journal
November 2, 1883

Give your daughters a thorough education. Teach them to cook and prepare the food of the household, Teach them to wash, to iron, to darn stockings to sew on buttons, to make dresses. Teach them to make bread, and that a good kitchen lessens the doctor's account. Teach them that he only lays up money whose expenses are less than his income, and that all grow poor who have to spend more than they receive. Teach them that a calico dress paid for fits better than a silken one unpaid for. Teach them that a healthy face displays greater luster than fifty comsumptive beauties. Teach them to purchase and to see that the account corresponds with the purchase. Teach them good common sense, self-trust, self-help and industry. Teach them that an honest mechanic in his working dress is a better object of esteem than a dozen haughty, finely dressed idlers. Teach them gardening and the pleasures of nature. Teach them, if you can afford it, music , painting, etc., but consider them as secondary objects only. Teach them that a walk is more salutary than a ride in a carriage. Teach them to reject with disdain all appearance, and to use only "yes" and "no" in good earnest. Teach them that happiness of matrimony depends neither on external appearance nor on wealth, but on the man's character.--Ex.