Sunday, viſit the ſchool, and are impreſſed by the very parade that renders the ſituation of their children uncomfortable.
With what diſguſt have I heard ſenſible women, for girls are more reſtrained and cowed than boys, ſpeak of the weariſome confinement, which they endured at ſchool. Not allowed, perhaps, to ſtep out of one broad walk in a ſuberb garden, and obliged to pace with ſteady deportment stupidly backwards and forwards, holding up their heads and turning out their toes, with ſhoulders braced back, inſtead of bounding, as nature directs to complete her own deſign, in the various attitudes ſo conducive to health[1]. The pure animal ſpirits, which make both mind and body ſhoot out, and unfold the tender bloſſoms of hope, are turned ſour, and vented in vain wiſhes, or pert repinings, that contract the faculties and ſpoil the temper; elſe they mount to the brain, and ſharpening the underſtanding before it gains proportionable ſtrength, produce that pitiful cunning which diſgracefully characterizes the female mind—and I fear will ever characterize it whilſt women remain the ſlaves of power!
- ↑ I remember a circumſtance that once came under my own obſervation, and raiſed my indignation. I went to viſit a little boy at a ſchool where young children were prepared for a larger one. The maſter took me into the ſchool-room, &c. but whilſt I walked down a broad gravel walk, I could not help obſerving that the graſs grew very luxuriantly on each ſide of me. I immediately aſked the child ſome queſtions, and found that the poor boys were not allowed to ſtir off the walk, and that the maſter ſometimes permitted ſheep to be turned in to crop the untrodden graſs. The tyrant of this domain uſed to ſit by a window that overlooked the priſon yard, and one nook turning from it, where the unfortunate babes could ſport freely, he encloſed, and planted it with potatoes. The wife likewiſe was equally anxious to keep the children in order, leſt they ſhould dirty or tear their clothes.
