he
affectation that has sometimes accompanied learning in females, has led
not a few men to abhor the very name of a "literary lady."

A good education will so expand her mind and mature her judgment, as to
rescue her from the dangers of these fatal extremes. A refined intellect
will not consent, with the women of Persia, to dwell in the harem; nor
subscribe to the Hindoo doctrine, that "the female who can read or
write, is disqualified for domestic life, and is the heir of
misfortunes." Neither will such a one aspire to the baubles of office,
pant to join in harangues to the crowd, or to compete with man at the
ballot-box.

Woman has rights; but how shall she truly understand them? Not through
ignorance, not by being half-educated, or miseducated. It can be only
through a liberal culture of all her faculties. So trained, she will
ever bear in mind "that knowledge is not to elevate her above her
station, nor to excuse her from the discharge of its most trifling
duties. It is to teach her to know her place, and her functions, to make
her content with the one, and willing to fulfil the other. It is to
render her more useful, more humble, more happy."

"Such a woman will not seek distinction, and therefore she will not meet
with disappointment. She will not be dependent on the world, and thus
she will avoid its vexations. She will be happy in the fulfilment of
religious and domestic duty, and in the profitable employment of her
time."

Woman should be educated according to her Constitutional Temperament and
Susceptibilities. If, in any respect, her endowments be, as they
certainly are, superior to those of man, then let there be but a
secondary degree of culture given to these faculties. Has she naturally
a nicer perception of beauty, or propriety, a more correct taste than
man, then do not bestow your chief care on the developement of this
quality. Is she less gifted with strength of intellect, with calmness,
or comprehensive understanding than man, employ the greater efforts to
supply this defect. Let the solid preponderate over the merely
ornamental. Plant not the pliant osier, but the firmer elm. Instil
principles of severe reasoning, and form habits of connected thought. Is
she rich in imagination? Madam de Stael tells us she is, that this is
the chief of her faculties, and that "her sentiments are troubled by her
fancies, and her actions dependent on her illusions." If this be so,
then strengthen her judgment. D