etimes, among fishes,
even her mate. So is it in regard to the mental differences between men
and women. Few persons will deny that the difference of sex which runs
through creation, colors every part of life; and yet the difference is
so delicate, and so varied, that I have never heard any broad statement
which was not liable to sufficient exceptions to destroy its value. I
have again and again asked teachers of mixed schools, What difference do
you find between the proficiency of the boys and girls in their various
studies? Where differences have been pointed out, they have often been
just opposite in different schools, one claiming mathematics, another
languages, another grammar, or logic, as specially adapted to feminine
taste or capacity.

So, in human education the first attention should be given to bringing
out the broad, healthy powers of human nature, not to increasing any
peculiar attributes. "How much of life," asked Margaret Fuller, "is the
life neither of man or of woman, but of Humanity?" Every mother should
seek to lay a firm foundation in this common ground of Humanity, out of
which the special flowers will grow more rich and abundant.

Especially should all premature recognition of sex be avoided; nature
should be allowed to develop slowly and quietly. Sex must be recognized;
the names of brother and sister, the slight difference in costume are
sufficient, but in play and work, and especially in dress and manners,
the early distinctions between the sexes tend to produce mannishness on
one side and effeminacy on the other. The girl's dress may be a little
different in form, but why should the boy wear stout gingham or warm
flannel, and she be clothed in fragile muslin, or expensive silk? Why
should he be able to climb fences or leap ditches without risk to his
clothes, and she be kept in perpetual bondage by her ribbons and her
ruffles? Look at a boy's simple round straw or felt hat, with a plain
band about it, and pity the little girl with her delicate chip and a
wreath of artificial flowers. Is it because the girl's physique is more
delicate and complicated, that she is thus denied the natural and
healthy exercise of her powers, and burdened with a load of finery under
which the strong man would halt and stagger? The more delicate the
organization, the smaller the lungs, the more absolutely important is
perfect freedom of dress and motion, and the more essential is life in
the open air. If we must kee