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THE P H0 E NI X
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VOLUME III •
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. "' . . . OCTOBER 24,
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nos. 5
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LAUDMARKS IN THE EDUCA'fiON OF AMERICAN GIRLS . The. college girl of today j_s very apt to accept the goods the gods prov~de, wholly unconscious of t h e rare good fortune that is hers . . S~e ~ooks_upon an education as a birthright , and such, to be sure, ~t ~s ~n th~s day and een~ration, when the state stands ready to ~ccord to her, as to her brother, every educational advantage. It ~s well for her to know, however, that the world has not always been so gene!ous to women. There is no better way in which she can £omp:ehend how favored of the gods she really is than by getting a gl~mpse of the American girl of other periods . Probably most New England girls in Colonial times could read, since the ·Bible held so prominent a place in every Puritan household, b11t writing was not considered es sential. It is rare to see a woman's signature on any document of t h at day. - Sixty pereent maqe their mark. The daughte"rs of the 'very best families, according to Abigail Adams, daugh t er of a New England {in]s ter and wife of John Adams, President of the United States, l :earr •.td only to read and 1 o write, to do a very li ttJ.e f j_guring, and but rarely to play upon the spinnet, or to dance. In New YorJ::: girls were taught to read the Bible in Dutch ana iNere thought accomp li : > hed if they could read Eng .. lielL Conditions were equa lly unsati sfactory in the other colonies. Severa l forces vrere at work to produce this state of affai~s. The· attitude of the Puritan fathers vms l arge ly det ermined by their interpretation of the Scriptures. According to their way of thinking, st. Paul had been most explicit on thi s point. Then, too , there were the ir~erit e d class distinctions, as we ll as age-long prejudice against popular education . Another thi n g that blocke d any attempt at progress along oducationa~ lines was the drudgery inseparably connected with Col~ni a l life. . Boys and girls had no time for either study or . pl ay in the go od ol<1 Colony days . Children, while tending sheep or cattl e, were oxpected, by order of the magistrates, to s pin thread with a hand distaff, to knit mittens and stockings, to weave braid and t ape on the heddle frame.' .on the farrns sober-f a ced 1'i: ttle Puritans sowed seed, weeded vegetables, hetchelled flax, combed wool . Sedate maidens at the advanced age of six spun flax and, s tanding on a foot ... stool used evE}n the big spinning wheel. The weaving of every particle1of cloth used in the household, the braiding of ~ugs , the weavT ing of earpets, the setting of ever~ stitch by ha~d in_every g a r ment in ti.1.e f amily wardrobe, as well as ~n the patch mr k qu~ lts , t ho maJI ing of cheese and butter, the preserving of ~rui t and _vegetable~ , ''T"r ~, a few of the things that occupi ed the a ttent~ on of vromen, and f~lle d a~l the waking hours in t he busy ~ ifo of ev en the sma lle st girls. Of co~r se, this unremitti ng toil ~as not a necessit y i n the h'omes of the 11ea1 t hy but the pr i nci p:1.1 · C'.mbi tion of Coloni a l dame s . They took for their Has to n ave t he ir daught ers look elhhereal. p2.ttern th e Enr.; li sh gentl enornn.n \7ho ~hough t de l icacy of. fea ture and fo r n a sure s i Gn of blue b l ood . liJe ~ the r the mode of l~ fe nor the