Spring 1852 — Delivered to a “class of ladies” in a Sunday School basement, New York City

 

It is our duty to-day to examine our manner of life, with particular reference to its action on our physical well-being. We have seen the standard of excellence which Providence intends us to reach; we have considered the laws of life by which this excellence may be attained; and it now remains for us to ascertain how far our customs, which are the actions of our intelligent will, conform to the plan of Providence, and how far we live in direct opposition to the Divine laws. Let us review these great principles of action, that we may judge the customs of society in the light of their requirements.

The perfection of our human nature, in its double capacity of body and soul, ready for strong and healthy action, can only be attained by the gradual unfolding of this nature, according to the Divine order of growth. This order requires that the material development shall precede the spiritual growth; that during youth the mind shall grow through the physical organization; that our education of the mind shall always be subordinate to our education of the body, until the body has completed its growth.

We have seen that, in order to provide for the gradual development of the body, we are bound to furnish the conditions favorable to its organic growth, by leaving each function in entire freedom to perform its work, and by furnishing those materials that are necessary to this work. Moreover, as the child grows, the necessity arises for uniting mental with bodily training; we must provide for the growth of the mind through the body, by making the exercises of the physical nature, the expressions of ideas and emotions.

Now we shall find, on reflecting upon the method in which we educate our children; in examining the details of their daily life, from early infancy to the period when they leave our roof to enter on a new phase of existence, and undertake the weighty duties of the adult age — that the whole scope of education is diametrically opposed to the true principles of growth, and that with every advancing year of the child’s life, there is an increasing violation of Nature’s law.

Let us consider first our system of school education, which embraces the most important period of youthful life. The large majority of children enter school about the age of 7 years — they leave at the age of 16. Now this period embraces, you will remember, all those remarkable changes of bodily organization which occur, from the establishment of second dentition, to the attainment of puberty — a period of rapid growth — when the body is enlarging its range of action for the powers already established, and acquiring new functions of immense importance to the individual and to the race, and when consequently the body makes incessant demands upon the vital energy, and requires the most favorable circumstances to perform its work well.

Thus at this period of life, the entire change of the milk teeth, for a more numerous and powerful set, indicates the increasing power of digestion, to meet the more varied and substantial food now required by the body. The growth of the mind and the wants of social life, necessitate greater freedom of action — long walks, greater exposure to change of weather, to the roughness and accidents of the external world; therefore all the textures of the body must increase in size and strength. And the physical changes which precede the age of puberty, are in progress for years, before the actual appearance of the new functions established at that age.

Now what do we do, at this period of special physical growth? We completely ignore the body; we substitute mental for physical training; we entirely change the order of nature, and oppose the most formidable obstacles to the proper growth of the body.

For, to ensure this proper growth, the appropriate nourishment of every physical function must be supplied in abundance. Thus a constant supply of fresh air is essential, and large amounts of exercise in the open air, with plenty of simple nourishing food; the body never grows so well, as in the companionship of the trees and flowers and streams of a healthy country district.

The great object of the child’s life is school — pure intellectual training. The best part of every day, generally from 9 to 3, is spent in the school-room, where the mind is forced to long and unnatural exercise; and in order to meet the tasks imposed upon it, it must either rouse itself to a constant exertion, that would be difficult for an adult, or it must rest contented with half understanding its studies, and learn by rote; a habit which is injurious to the best qualities of the mind. And this unnatural exercise is carried on under circumstances which would almost seem expressly calculated to injure the body as much as possible. The imperfect ventilation of our houses, which renders it extremely difficult to preserve a purity of atmosphere, even in a private family, makes it quite impossible to keep the atmosphere of our school-rooms fit for human lungs to inhale; it is difficult in summer-time, with all the windows open, to maintain an entirely pure air where so many human bodies are congregated for hours together; but during the greater part of the year, the windows must be shut — for several months the rooms must be artificially heated, generally with stoves, and often red-hot. Under these circumstances, the essential constituents of the air are exhausted more rapidly than they can be supplied; the atmosphere is laden with human exhalations, and becomes a slow poison to those who breathe it — the lungs continue to take it in, but it can no longer perform its office of fully purifying the blood — the blood is unable to supply the normal stimulus to the brain, and the child is forced to make more difficult efforts to perform its studies well. We all know the unpleasant effects we experience in a crowded lecture-room, or in a close railroad car, and how very difficult it is to keep the mind in a condition of active mental exertion under such circumstances; yet we are adults, and require the fresh air, simply for the maintenance of our healthy physical condition — whereas the child has, in addition, the requirements of rapid physical growth to be met. A playground is very seldom connected with the school; once or twice during the six or seven hours of school-time, the child may go down for five minutes into the yard — there may be half an hour’s intermission in the middle of the day-but there is no provision for amusement; the children are exhausted by the morning’s efforts, they lounge about and eat their luncheon, and are not, for the most part, inclined to take bodily exercise.

There is another serious evil, besides the close air of the school-room; it is the injurious position in which a great part of the time is passed, leaning over the desks in study or writing. This position is exceedingly mischievous; the chest, which should expand freely to receive the air, to strengthen its muscles and grow, is cramped and contracted by this stooping attitude, and the pressure against the desk; the shoulders, which should be thrown back at an equal level, are thus drawn forwards, and the right one thrown upward by the action of the arm in writing, often retains this position, and we have the narrow chest and crooked shoulders so commonly seen in school-girls. The seats are hard, generally without backs; the body is wearied by a constrained position, exhausted by mental efforts; the muscles of the back cannot maintain with vigor the upright position; they seek to relieve themselves of the weight of the head and back by awkward attitudes leaning on one side, resting on the desk, curving the back. This effort continued day after day weakens the muscles, often distorts the spine, and produces other bodily deformities — for it must ever be borne in mind, that they are the young, not adults that we are educating — growing bodies, soft and pliable, that give way to undue pressure, and cannot resist evil influences with the power of older years.

Now the object for which the children are thus brought together, and subjected to such serious physical evils, is open to grave objections, not only from the exclusive attention which is paid to the mind, but from the method by which the system of teaching addresses itself to the mind.

The instruction given at school, is almost purely intellectual; the senses receive little regular training; their power is used in very moderate degree to aid the mind — yet they are the first teachers of the young. Grammar, history, definition, composition, call for simple intellectual exertion — the natural sciences are very slenderly illustrated by sensible examples, and the poor engravings in the text books are often the only illustration they receive. The most abstruse subjects, that tax the attention of the strongest mental powers, are presented as studies for the young; girls of 13 or 15 are called upon to ponder the problems of mental and moral philosophy, to demonstrate the propositions of Euclid, to understand the refinements of rhetoric and logic — admirable studies, truly, but they are the food of mature minds, not suitable to children. “The Logic of the Schools,” once signified the acutest efforts of powerful Intellects — in our day it has a very different meaning!

There is no end to the list of “English branches,” which the child has to “go through” during the few years of school training; the enumeration would have frightened our most studious ancestors; they did not understand what is meant by “going through the English branches;” they in their simplicity supposed that there was some use attached to every study — that it must be acquired thoroughly, and be made either a means of mental discipline, or an object of investigation and discovery. But it would puzzle the most ingenious observer, to discover the good use of most of our children’s studies. If the object be mental discipline, there is no surer way of defeating such an object, than to attempt to give the mind a superficial view of a subject too difficult for it to grasp to confuse it with a multitude of disconnected studies — to hurry it from subject to subject, so that the simple studies more suited to the young mind, are imperfectly acquired, and soon forgotten. Thus the greater part of the time devoted to the so-called cultivation of the intellect is really wasted; and it is no uncommon thing, to find the young girl who has gone through all the English branches, quite unable to write a lady-like note, or read aloud a single page with right emphasis, ease and accuracy.

How can it be otherwise, when the young mind has to apply itself, during the limited term of school — study, to such a list of subjects as the following: Grammar, Ancient and Modern History, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany, Astronomy, Mental and Moral Philosophy, Physiology, Rhetoric, Composition, Elocution, Logic, Algebra, Geometry, Belles-Lettres!

The teacher is not to blame for this wretched system of cramming. He is compelled to present as formidable an array of knowledge to be acquired at his school, as his neighbors do; and most patiently and earnestly he may strive to aid his pupils in the acquisition. The evil is in the system itself, which substitutes names for things; which fails to recognize the necessity of adapting the kind of instruction to the quality of the mind. This formidable array of names, and superficial amount of instruction, is required by the community, and he is compelled to meet the demand; this system is radically wrong — no effort of the teacher can make it right.

But is this formidable amount of English branches the only burden laid upon the child? We have not yet spoken of the accomplishments! accomplishments to be acquired with great labor, to a superficial extent, and laid aside directly the serious duties of life commence. French, Latin, Italian, perhaps Spanish, German, and Greek — I believe Hebrew is not introduced in this country — vocal and instrumental music, piano, harp, guitar, drawing, painting, and various kinds of fancy work, swell the increasing list. Now many of these pursuits are beautiful and useful in themselves, and would refine and elevate life if acquired at the right time, in the right way. But as studied at present, added on to the burdens of the young school-girl, their acquisition is not simply useless; they consume much time, and thereby become highly injurious, by increasing still further the efforts of the mind, and preventing the slightest attention being given to the necessities of the body. The school-hour closes, the child returns home; not racing merrily along, with shout and frolic — the little girl must not slide on the ice with boys — she must walk properly through the streets; she dines, and then there are lessons to be prepared for the next day; if she be a docile, obedient child, some hours will be spent in this preparation — if the instincts of nature are too strong, she will neglect the lessons, wander about the house, perhaps join in a game of play; and the next day she will suffer the penalty of a reproof from the teacher, for imperfect lessons, and the loss of her place in the class.

Perhaps the child is sent out to take a walk, on her return from school; but what is there attractive or invigorating in a walk through our streets? Can there be a more melancholy spectacle than a boarding-school of girls, taking their afternoon walk? there is no vigor in their step, no pleasure in their eye; the fresh air is certainly good for their lungs, but the unattractive exercise is of most questionable benefit.

There is little that is interesting to young girls in walking out without an object, they cannot play in the streets; their dress would be inconvenient; the mud and the carts, and the passengers, would prevent it. Children playing in the streets are nuisances; though we may watch with pleasure the lively movements of a group of boys, who have taken possession of a slippery pavement with their sleighs and skates, and though we would not for one moment dislodge them from their only play-ground-still they are out of place — and the unfitness would be still more striking, if the players were a group of girls, for there is an ideal of beauty in womanhood which may not be neglected, and our natural perception of fitness is always more outraged by coarse arrangements for girls than for boys. Our public squares do not afford the necessary opportunity for exercise. They are very few in number; they are public thoroughfares. Thus a quiet walk through the streets is the only resource for the young girls, and who can wonder that they find it more amusing to gaze in at shop windows, or lounge on the door step with young companions, or sit in a rocking-chair with a novel, than to take exercise in a dull street-walk. There is an entire neglect of all provision for the exercise of children in our city, that must not be overlooked by mothers. The ground has become so valuable, that the houses are crowded together; and with very few exceptions, the yards are laid out on the minutest pattern; exercise could not be taken in them, for they are the embodiment of dullness, shut in by brick walls; no room to run, hardly space for a swing. The old Dutch frame houses, that formerly stood in pleasant shaded gardens, on the little hills that diversified the island, have almost all disappeared; the island is fast becoming a dead level, and those pleasant gardens with the wholesome breath of their trees and grass, have been dug away, with a short-sighted view of the greater profit to be derived from a row of brick houses. It is much to be regretted that some of those fine old gardens had not been retained for the benefit of children!

There is then for the school-girl, after the long hours of unnatural confinement, no opportunity given for the healthy action of those bodily powers which are, as we have seen, of the first importance to the young, whose neglect is the source of prolonged suffering and incapacity. There is no relief to the overtaxed mind — no excitement to the body whose powers have been so completely repressed. The child wakes in the morning, to dress and take her breakfast, and hurry off to school again. And often the toilette is hastily performed, the duties of cleanliness and order neglected, and the breakfast quickly swallowed, in defiance of the necessities of the stomach, in fear of being too late.

The food given to children is generally unsuited to their age, both in quality and quantity; we do not draw the necessary distinction between the youthful and adult natures, and though I would not vindicate the wisdom of our own food, there can be no doubt that such articles as coffee, hot bread, mingled butter and molasses, rich or highly spiced dishes, pickles, wine, pastry, are far more injurious to the young than to the old. Their food should be of the best quality, and wholesome unadulterated articles should be carefully selected, but it should be a plain description of food, well, but simply cooked.

They should be cautioned from eating food too hot; and from swallowing it hastily and half chewed — these habits injure both teeth and stomach; they may be entirely prevented by a little care, and the opposite habit regularly formed, will be a powerful safeguard from dyspepsia in later life.

Neither should children be allowed to eat large quantities; they require, as I have elsewhere shown, more food proportionally than the adult — and this should be given to them at regular but more frequent intervals.

We greatly injure children by neglecting these rules. In the ordinary school-hours, the child remains for seven hours without any proper meal, for the luncheon taken to school, is often hastily put up, or consists of some improper article; the pickles and candy that children frequently carry to school with them, are hardly more wholesome than the chalk, india-rubber, and slate-pencils, that they chew in such large quantities.

Thus under the combined influences of confinement and close air, of unsuitable food, and injudicious mental excitement, the school-days pass; under such influences the child changes from a girl into a woman; such is the foundation laid for the important duties of adult life!

If we were to sit down and carefully plan a system of education, which should injure the body, produce a premature and imperfect development of its powers, weaken the mind, and prepare the individual for future uselessness, we could hardly by any ingenuity construct a system more admirably calculated to produce these terrible results. The stimulus applied to the young minds, the emulation excited, the very interest which they take in many of their studies, become a powerful means for weakening the body — if the minds were not so much exerted — if the children were lazy or disobedient and would not learn, the same amount of mischief could not be done; but by their very conformity to rules, by striving to please their teachers and parents, and maintain an honorable position — they fall completely into the snare, and sin against nature, in exact proportion to their obedience to society!

It is in the boarding-school that this ruinous system of education attains its full force for it is only there that the entire lives of the pupils are delivered up, for the time, to this one idea of so-called mental development. It is expected by the parents, that their children shall acquire so many branches and accomplishments in a given time; they are willing to pay high for the knowledge, but they will be much disappointed if the children do not display the worth of the money. To fulfil this expectation the teacher must utilize every moment, for the day is too short to get through the formidable list of studies. The time is laid out with the utmost regularity — early and late the child bends over her books or sits at the piano; the short time appropriated to exercise, is an interruption to the great business of the day, and is an unpleasant duty to all parties for no child ever liked a boarding-school walk. The stimulus of rewards and punishments is freely applied, to urge on in the necessary direction — this stimulus is increased by the display of special exhibitions or examinations. The whole interest of the child is concentrated on its studies, for the distractions of home do not exist ­— the atmosphere of affection is not there, and if the moral tone of the school is good, study becomes its one idea.

I shall not speak of the frivolity and immorality which frequently exist in boarding-schools, though undoubtedly this association of children under such unnatural discipline, is calculated to weaken the moral sentiment, and produce a mental re-action in favor of weakness and folly. There is little religious influence exerted upon children at school. A formal prayer morning and evening, the repetition of Sunday’s texts, or the occasional recital of a chapter in the Bible, is not the sort of instruction that will develope the religious nature of the child — the atmosphere which it breathes should be religious; it is only by the constantly exerted influence of religious natures, that children will grow in that direction. Frivolity and immorality are not necessarily connected with a well conducted boarding-school; but the injury to the physical health is inevitable, it is a direct consequence of the system pursued, and too often the mind also is permanently weakened by the very course adopted to strengthen it.

At 16, the girl’s education is often considered finished. At the very age, when, if a right system of physical and mental discipline had been pursued, she would have been prepared with a strong mind, in a strong body, to commence serious study, her education is pronounced finished, and she willingly lays aside her tasks to enter society more fully than was possible during the period of schooling. Henceforth pleasure is the chief object; for the plans that perhaps were formed, on leaving school, for reading and study, are never executed; the mind is not prepared to exert its powers alone. The knowledge already acquired has no connection with her present life — her social nature needs companionship; and the temptations of society are too strong to be long resisted.

And what has been gained during these long years of school, at such a sacrifice of physical strength? The logic has not taught her to reason well on any subject — the mental and moral philosophy will furnish her no guide to goodness or happiness — the chemistry will never aid her in the preparation of wholesome food, or taking stains out of her furniture­ — the botany will not render more interesting the country rambles that she does not care to take. She will never use her natural philosophy to make the fire burn, or ventilate her house. These studies will be completely dropped and soon forgotten for they were learned too soon — the mind could not retain them — they were acquired too superficially, too unpractically, to be of any use in strengthening the understanding, or aiding in daily life. The music may be useful in society, if there is any natural taste for it if it is simply acquired with much drudgery, it will be at once dropped. The French will be of doubtful service — the young lady is too shy to speak it, if the occasion should present itself if natural taste or circumstances induce her to persevere in its study, it may prove an elegant accomplishment, but, in general, that too is dropped. What then is made serviceable, out of the long list of studies a little reading and writing (for it is very rare to find an elegant writer, still rarer, one who can read well aloud) — some arithmetic and the general outlines of history and geography — this may be retained for life, and this is about all! Little real knowledge is gained, but an evil habit of mind has been acquired; a habit of careless, superficial thought, an inability to apply the mind closely to any subject and this habit unfortunately cannot be dropped with the superficial acquirements which produced it. What a result is this, for years of time spent and much money-surely we may call it a criminal waste of life!

I have already in another lecture called your attention to the absolute necessity of exercise to the young, and I have stated many of the evils which will result from the neglect of this necessity. The mischief done to the body by the system of school discipline, may for some time be hidden, by the many attractions which belong to youth. The delicacy of complexion and feature, the plumpness of figure and that graceful tournure which belong to our young American women, may for a time hinder us from perceiving the deceitfulness of those charms. Foreigners from all nations are struck by our young beauty (observe it is girlish beauty, not matured womanly beauty), and they are equally struck by its evanescent character. Let me call your attention here, to the powerful influence which our method of educating children has upon the development of the Generative System.

How many mothers have anxiously watched the suffering, the delicate health experienced by their children, when entering on the age of Puberty. The active, and apparently healthy child is then transformed into the sickly, nervous young woman. Functions which should be characterized by the perfection which marks all the actions of the healthy body, are now exercised with difficulty and often life-long suffering.

Now the influence of education, of the conditions of life upon the Generative System, is strikingly shown, in the tables of statistics collected by the French in reference to this subject. These statistics, based upon large masses of facts collected in many countries, and in different districts and classes of the same country, have proved beyond a doubt that the growth of the generative organs is greatly influenced by the place of residence, whether town or country, and by the habits of different classes of society.

Thus the maturity of these organs was reached at a later period amongst the inhabitants of mountain districts, than amongst the laboring population of towns; and the earliest period was found in the wealthy classes of cities; rich food, luxurious habits, mental stimulus, novel reading, late hours, and over-heated apartments, are enumerated amongst the causes of this premature development.

According to these observations also, different trades clearly affected this growth. Thus those young girls who pursued confining sedentary employments of a delicate nature, as milliners, embroiderers, artificial flower makers, occupied a middle rank in regard to the period of generative development, between the laboring class and the wealthy; and it was observed in the same city, that in the children of the wealthy classes, this period was more than a year in advance of the lower classes.

We see how highly injurious the school system which we have been considering must necessarily be, to the health of the growing girl, placing her in the most unfavorable circumstances for physical growth — being in fact diametrically opposed to the natural order of development.

Now to appreciate fully the extent of the mischief committed by our most unfortunate systems of education, we must bear in mind the most important relations into which our daughters early enter. A disordered condition of other functions would be productive of much misery to the individual we should be cruel, voluntarily to subject her to the suffering. But this system stands alone in its importance, preparing for the duties of maternity. Not only our duty to the individual, to our children, but our wider duty to the race, commands us to educate strong mothers for the succeeding generation! We are not faithless to our children merely, but traitors to Humanity, when we thus destroy the health of the young!

Through this imperfect development and weakness of the generative system, it is unprepared for the remarkable changes of maternity-hence we have all the long and fearful catalogue of uterine maladies, and the misery of this class of disease is increased by the wide sympathies of the generative system. It is so closely connected with the rest of the economy, so intimately united to the whole nervous system, that simple local disease of these organs cannot exist alone, for any length of time — it involves function after function in sympathetic disturbance, the stomach is deranged in its action, locomotion is to a great measure hindered — the disposition and mind are affected, and there is no part of the economy that may not suffer in time.

The happiness of the marriage relation, the life of the family is thus destroyed, for the mother is quite incapacitated for the full performance of her duties. I cannot speak of the direct degeneracy of the race, which is undoubtedly produced by disease of the generative organs, for we have no statistics on the subject; the effect, however, of the general state of the mother’s health on the fœtus in utero, I have already dwelt on. I have no time to enlarge upon this topic — I can but lay it clearly before you, and leave it to the serious’ consideration which it demands.

I shall only advert to one other physical evil, directly springing from the confinement and mental excitement of school education-viz., the state of nervous irritability which is induced in young girls. The nerves of the young share the general susceptibility of the rapidly growing organization; and I have already shown, how important it is to call the nerves of motion into action, that they may counterbalance the undue activity of the nerves of sensation. Now not only do we entirely neglect to call the motor nerves into proper action, but the whole effect of school and in-door life is directly calculated to exalt the undue susceptibility of the sensitive nature.

We had a terrible example of this lately, in the sad accident that occurred in the Ninth Ward Common School — where the natural excitability of the children heightened by artificial training, produced an uncontrollable panic, which ended in so fearful a loss of life.

Presence of mind is seldom found amongst our young girls. The hysterical diathesis is too commonly the result of this excited sensibility.

The life of the young lady, on leaving school, is little calculated to restore lost power, or to excite to a truer and healthier action by the presentation of noble objects of interest. What is there in fact presented to her, worthy of pursuit? School discipline has not prepared her for serious study; indeed, study without an object is of little worth, and she has no object in view for which grave preparation is necessary. The attention to domestic arrangements does not particularly interest her; indeed, by the age of 16 or 17 she has learned all of household economy that she will learn at all, till called upon to practise it. There are no schemes of organized benevolence to attract youthful activity and kind-heartedness, and teach to the young mind a deeper and darker lesson of life than it has yet learned; it is very seldom that the young can profitably engage in these enterprises. With the large mass of girls gossip and frivolous amusements become now the chief business of the day; they have had no serious preparation for life, they know nothing of its realities, its wants and duties — so the valuable moments are laughed and chatted away; every incident furnishes a theme for idle talk-church-society-promenades through the streets — all become subjects of gossip; novels are devoured to satisfy the new thoughts and desires that are springing up-parties, amusements of all kinds are eagerly sought for — the dictates of prudence, the requirements of bodily health, are alike disregarded; till at length the giddy career is cut short-by marriage!

How little the young lady who thus leaves her novels and parties, for the duties of wife and mother, understands of the responsibilities of the state upon which she now enters. Her life since leaving school has had no definite object; and a growing want of excitement, with some lively impression of her fancy which she mistakes for love, induce her to enter prematurely on the marriage state.

The large majority of marriages are made too early. A young lady is thought to be getting rather old at 20, but at 25 she is already an old maid; and yet, as a general rule, before the age of 25, she is not prepared to enter on the marriage relation; it is only from 20 to 25 that the body attains its full vigor — that every part having acquired its due solidity, becomes capable of employing all its functions without injury to the individual, and with full benefit to society. Before that age, the character is not sufficiently formed, nor the experience of society wide enough, to render the individual capable of selecting her true partner. The first attraction of the young heart may be lasting, but the probabilities are against it, and in so momentous an action as the choice of a husband, the father of children, a girlish fancy should never be yielded to, till the judgment of the womanly mind confirms the attraction. But on the subject of incompatibility of character, though productive of so much unhappiness, of so much vice, in the marriage relation, I shall not dwell — for it is the physical condition which belongs especially to my subject. These early marriages exhaust the vital energy of the mother. The remarkable changes which child-bearing produces in the economy, require the whole energy of a strong constitution to sustain them adequately — and the care of children, the superintendence of a household, can only be supported by the vigor of a mature woman. Our young girls too early married, are crushed by the undue burdens. Their beauty quickly fades, they are afflicted by bodily weaknesses and disease, and they become absorbed in domestic cares, which they are unable to rule with grace and dignity.

It has often been remarked that the tone of American society is given by the young, and there is much truth in the remark-for the married women who should be the great supporters, the attraction and guide of society, are oppressed by household cares even more than their husbands are overwhelmed by business, and thus  the young and unmarried are placed in the position of leaders rather than learners.

There is another great evil committed by parents in regard to the marriage of their children. It is the neglect of that consideration of the health of the young people, and of the relation of their temperaments, which should be an especial study of the parents. The health of offspring is so inevitably affected by the state of the father and mother — the hereditary transmission of many and fearful maladies, is a fact so well established — that it is a criminal neglect of duty, to shrink from the investigation of the subject for any cause whatsoever. The physical conditions most favorable to the production of a strong and beautiful race, are a most important subject — the study is a noble one, and we should regard it with the reverence which its importance demands and it should be considered just as criminal an act to unite individuals whose offspring will inevitably be diseased, as to take young children already in life and maim and weaken them with ingenious cruelty.

The peculiar temperaments of the parties should also be a subject of careful consideration-this is a matter of delicate perception, rather than a subject for reasoning — much of the happiness of married life depends upon this relation of temperaments. It is often thought that opposite characters make the best unions; but the rule seems to be rather unity in variety. It is not a very lively and a very grave person that will make the best partners, nor two very lively, or very grave tempers; between the former there will be no sympathy; between the latter an exciting or depressing identity. But in the true union there will be sympathy of general purpose, oneness of aspiration, with an attractive difference in the conduct of daily life, which shall make pleasant harmony, not discord, still less monotony.

The delicate shades of related temperaments which make some unions so happy, can only be determined by the parties themselves; but in order to feel this relation, there must be some experience of society, some maturity of sentiment, and not the simple bewilderment of sensation, which often forms the chief characteristic of youthful fancies.

Now this system of premature marriage is, in a great measure, a consequence of the earlier education of the child; there is a perfect correspondence of idea in our regulations for the commencement and termination of youthful life. With us childhood is no preparation for youth, nor youth for maturity. Throughout, there is a neglect of the order of development, the foundation is not laid by a preparation of the physical nature, and this system of Premature Endeavor is carried out through the entire youthful life. The child commences study too soon, and the youth leaves it off too soon; the young lady enters society at too early an age, marries prematurely, and becomes a mother when she should be preparing for the married life.

We see too how in every age the necessity for varied action, the Law of Compound Movement is neglected; the school-girl attends exclusively to her studies — the young lady is absorbed in pleasure the married woman has often no thought beyond her family. The rich harmonies of life, formed by blending together in orderly gradation the action of all our powers, are entirely lost by this system of exclusion; thus we have no society worthy of the name, because the elements which should compose it are wanting; they are one idead (?), not universal — and society is a monotony. There is no love of art, no worship of the beautiful, shedding over society a rich external life, that shall purify as well as delight the senses-no beaming forth of intellect, no warmth of the heart, no cultivation of the natural graces that should make society a beautiful meeting of all that is noble and true and genial in human nature. In society now, we see represented the poverty and exclusiveness which marks the employment of every age.

The Law of Use is equally laid aside through the various periods we are considering. It must necessarily be so, when the first step in education is made in the wrong direction, when, by commencing with the direct and exclusive cultivation of the mind, we invert the order of nature. By attempting to force upon early youth the objects of later youth, we neglect the true use of the period of childhood, and we take from the young girl who has left school, the object of pursuit, the thorough and profitable study that the mind is then prepared for. We force her into a life of frivolity and an early marriage, from sheer lack of noble objects — to escape a useless life.

What a grand use would those years of life acquire — from 16 to 25 — if they were really spent in preparation for the active duties of adult life, for the part which woman has to play — as wife and mother, member of society, and human being! By the age of 16 or 17, under proper training, she would have acquired a strong, graceful and perfectly obedient body-her senses would be acute. Accustomed to the exercise of their powers on  beautiful objects appropriate to them, they would be truthful in their perceptions, and ready to receive the fullest extent of scientific training. She would speak fluently several languages, write a good hand, sketch with ease and correctness; sing with accuracy; for all these acquirements, and many others, would be necessarily obtained by pursuing a complete system of physical development.

The higher powers of the mind would be ready for orderly unfolding — the intellect would have acquired habits of truthfulness, being accustomed to comprehend fully whatever was presented to it; it would be eager for knowledge, for the keen appetite for information which naturally belongs to youth would not have been destroyed by unsuitable food. It would have laid in a store of facts and practical observations, gathered in many rambles in town and country, and from the conversation of intelligent instructors. And moreover, the religious nature would have grown to beautiful proportions, by that constant influence which should surround the young — she would have learned to reverence every work of creation, and to worship the Creator as a constant presence; truth and love, and earnest work, would be the habits formed from every day’s experience.

With this wide preparation of the youthful nature, the young girl on leaving school would find grand objects at once presented to her. The mind would now be ready for more direct education — the studies of the mature intellect would be brought before her, she would arrange the facts gathered in earlier life, and give them their use-her tastes would now be known, and she would select those studies that would prove congenial to her, and which her individual talents would enable her to pursue with enthusiasm. But mental cultivation would by no means be the sole object of attention. She should learn to know life in its varied aspects; while cherishing the ideal of life in all its brightness, she should feel strongly and hopefully, that she has work to do in the world, to help realize that ideal. She should gradually enter into society, to learn, to feel, to know — and, in time, to take her place as its ornament and architect.

Years of noble use would thus be opened to the young lady on her entrance into adult life-years of most valuable preparation; she would then enter the married state wisely, and with the deep enthusiasm of a mature nature. She would know the partner whom she selected, as he would not be mistaken in her. The highest physical and moral conditions for a happy union would be presented, and she would thus become wife and mother in the truest sense of those holy words!

Is such a result desirable? Then, friends, we can accomplish it! Our highest aspirations are our best guides, for what we strongly and wisely desire, we gradually approach.

In studying this subject of education, we have distinctly recognized the great principles on which it should be based. We have seen also the way in which our present system of education is opposed to these principles; it now remains to lay out our plans in accordance with these laws, and reconcile the necessities of our condition with the demands of nature.

It will be my duty when we next meet, to lay before you some practical suggestions on the subject of true education, and consider in what way we may accomplish a desirable change in the present system — a gradual but complete reform.

 

 

Source: The Laws of Life: With Special Reference to the Physical Education of Girls, by Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D., (New-York: George P. Putnam, 1852), pp. 122-151.