Diary in America Volume I Part 39

The Americans are very justly proud of their women, and appear tacitly to acknowledge the want of theoretical education in their own s.e.x, by the care and attention which they pay to the instruction of the other.

Their exertions are, however, to a certain degree, checked by the circ.u.mstance, that there is not sufficient time allowed previous to the marriage of the females to give that solidity to their knowledge which would ensure its permanency. They attempt too much for so short a s.p.a.ce of time. Two or three years are usually the period during which the young women remain at the establishments, or colleges I may call them (for in reality they are female colleges.) In the prospectus of the Albany Female Academy, I find that the cla.s.ses run through the following branches:--French, book-keeping, ancient history, ecclesiastical history, history of literature, composition, political economy, American const.i.tution, law, natural theology, mental philosophy, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, natural philosophy, astronomy, chemistry, botany, mineralogy, geology, natural history, and technology, besides drawing, penmans.h.i.+p, etcetera, etcetera.

It is almost impossible for the mind to retain, for any length of time, such a variety of knowledge, forced into it before a female has arrived to the age of sixteen or seventeen, at which age, the study of these sciences, as is the case in England, should _commence_ not _finish_. I have already mentioned that the examinations which I attended were highly creditable both to preceptors and pupils; but the duties of an American woman as I shall hereafter explain, soon find her other occupation, and the _ologies_ are lost in the realities of life.

Diplomas are given at most of these establishments, on the young ladies completing their course of studies. Indeed, it appears to be almost necessary that a young lady should produce this diploma as a certificate of being qualified to bring up young republicans. I observed to an American gentlemen how youthful his wife appeared to be--"Yes," replied he, "I married her a month after she had _graduated_." The following are the terms of a diploma, which was given to a young lady at Cincinnati, and which she permitted me to copy:--

"In testimony of the zeal and industry with which Miss M---T---has prosecuted the prescribed course of studies in the Cincinnati Female Inst.i.tution, and the honourable proficiency which she has attained in penmans.h.i.+p, arithmetic, English grammar, rhetoric, belles-lettres, composition, ancient and modern geography, ancient and modern history, chemistry, natural philosophy, astronomy, etcetera. etcetera. etcetera, of which she has given proofs by examination.

"And also as a mark of her amiable deportment, intellectual acquirements, and our affectionate regard, we have granted her this letter--the _highest honour_ BESTOWED in this inst.i.tution."

[Seal.] "Given under our hands at Cincinnati, this 19th day of July, Anno Domini 1837."

The ambition of the Americans to be a-head of other nations in every thing, produces, however, injurious effects, so far as the education of the women is concerned. The Americans will not "_leave well alone_,"

they must "gild refined gold," rather than not consider themselves in advance of other countries, particularly of England. They _alter_ our language, and think that they have _improved_ upon it; as in the same way they would raise the standard of morals higher than with us, and consequently fall much below us, appearances supplying the place of the reality. In these endeavours they sink into a sickly sentimentality, and, as I have observed before, attempts at refinement in language, really excite improper ideas. As a proof of the ridiculous excess to which this is occasionally carried, I shall insert an address which I observed in print; had such a doc.u.ment appeared in the English newspapers, it would have been considered as a hoax.

"Mrs Mandelle's Address:--

"To the young ladies of the Lancaster Female Academy, at an examination on the 3rd March, 1838.

"Affectionate Pupils:--With many of you this is our final meeting in the relative position of teacher and pupil, and we must part perhaps to meet no more. That this reflection _filtrates from my mind to my heart_ with saddening influence, I need scarce a.s.sure you. But _Hope_, in a voice sweet as 'the wild strains of the Eolian harp,' whispers in dulcet accents, '_we may again meet_.' In youth the impressions of sorrow are fleeting and evanescent as '_the vapery sail_,' that momentarily o'ershadows the _luciferous...o...b..of even_, vanishes and leaves her disc untarnished in its l.u.s.tre: so may it be with you--may the gloom of this moment, like the elemental prototype, be but the precursor of reappearing radiance undimmed by the transitory shadow.

"Happy and bright indeed has been this small portion of your time occupied, not only in the interesting pursuit of science, but in a reciprocation of attentions and sympathies, endeared by that holiest _ligament_ of earthly sensibilities, _religion_, which so oft has united us in soul and sentiment, as the aspirations of our hearts simultaneously ascended to the mercy-seat of the great Jehovah! The remembrance of emotions like these are ineffaceable by care or sorrow, and only blotted out by the immutable hand of death. These _halcyon hours of budding existence_ are to memory as the _oasis_ of the desert, where we may recline beneath the soothing _influence_ of their umbrage, and quaff in _the goblet of retrospection_ the lucid draught that refreshes for the moment, and is again forgotten. Permit me to solicit, that the immaculate principles of _virtue_, I have so often and so carefully inculcated, may not be forgotten, but perseveringly cherished and practised. May the divine dictates of reason _murmur in harmonious cadence_, bewitching as the fabled melody of the musical bells on the trees of the Mahomedan Paradise. She dwells not alone beneath the glittering star, nor is always encircled by the diamond cestus and the jewel'd tiara! indeed not! and the brilliancy _emulged_ from the spangling gems, but make more hideous the dark, black spot enshrined in the effulgence. The traces of her peaceful footsteps are found alike in the dilapidated hovel of the beggared peasant, and the velveted saloon of the coroneted n.o.ble; who may then apportion her a home or a.s.sign her a clime? In making my acknowledgments for the attentive interest with which you received my instructions; and the respectful regard you manifested in appreciating my advice, it is not as a compliment to your vanity, but a debt due to your politeness and good sense. Long, my beloved pupils, may my precepts and admonitions live in your hearts; and hasten you, in the language of Addison, to commit yourself to the care of Omnipotence, and when the morning calls again to toil, cast all your cares upon him the author of your being, who has conducted you through one stage of existence, and who will always be present to guide and attend your progress through eternity."

An advertis.e.m.e.nt of Mr Bonfil's Collegiate Inst.i.tute for Young Ladies, after enumerating the various branches of literature to be taught, winds up with the following paragraph:--

"And finally, it will be constantly inculcated, that their education will be completed when they have the power to extend unaided, a spirit of investigation, searching and appreciating truth, _without pa.s.sing the bounds a.s.signed to the human understanding_."

I have now completed this volume, and although I omitted the major portion of my Diary, that I might not trespa.s.s too long upon the reader my task is still far from its termination. The most important parts of it--an examination into the American society and their government, and the conclusions to be drawn from the observations already made upon several subjects; in short, the working out of the problem, as it were, is still to be executed. I have not written one line of this work without deliberation and examination. What I have already done has cost me much labour--what I have to do will cost me more. I must, therefore, claim for myself the indulgence of the public, and request that, in justice to the Americans, they will not decide until they have perused the second portion, with which I shall, as speedily as I can, wind up my observations upon the United States and their Inst.i.tutions.

Note 1. A church-yard with its mementos of mortality is sometimes a fair criterion by which to judge of the degree of the education of those who live near it. In one of the church-yards in Vermont, there is a tomb stone with an inscription which commences as follows: "Paws, _reader_, Paws."

Note 2. New York is superior to the other states in this list; but Ohio is not quite equal. I can draw the line no closer.

Note 3. Notwithstanding that Philadelphia is the capital, the state of Pennsylvania is a great _dunce_.

Note 4. Miss Martineau says: "Though, as a whole, the nation is probably better informed than any other entire nation, it cannot be denied, that their knowledge is far inferior to what their safety and their virtue require."

Note 5. The master of a school could not manage the gab, they being exceedingly contumacious. Beat them, he dared not; so he hit upon an expedient. He made a very strong decoction of wormwood, and for a slight offence, poured one spoonful down their throats: for a more serious one, he made them take two.

Note 6. Mrs Trollope says: "At sixteen, often much earlier, education ends and money making begins; the idea that more learning is necessary than can be acquired by that time, is generally ridiculed as absolute monkish bigotry to which, if the seniors willed a more prolonged discipline, the juniors would refuse submission. When the money getting begins, leisure ceases, and all the lore which can be acquired afterwards is picked up from novels, magazines, and newspapers."

Captain Hall also remarks upon this point:--"I speak now from the authority of the Americans themselves. There is the greatest possible difficulty in fixing young men long enough at college. Innumerable devices have been tried with considerable ingenuity to remedy this evil, and the best possible intentions by the professors and other public-spirited persons who are sincerely grieved to see so many incompetent, half-qualified men in almost every corner of the country."

Captain Hamilton very truly observes:--"Though I have unquestionably met in New York with many most intelligent and accomplished gentlemen, still I think the fact cannot be denied,--that the average of acquirement resulting from education is a good deal lower in this country than in the better circles in England. In all the knowledge which must be taught, and which requires laborious study for its attainment, I should say the Americans are considerably inferior to my countrymen. In that knowledge, on the other hand, which the individual acquires for himself by actual observation, which bears an immediate marketable value and is directly available in the ordinary avocations of life, I do not imagine that the Americans are excelled by any people in the world."

THE END.