as well as for others; and the serious and responsible duties she
is called upon to perform in life, require the cultivated head as
well as the sympathising heart. Her highest mission is not to be
fulfilled by the mastery of fleeting accomplishments, on which so
much useful time is now wasted; for, though accomplishments may
enhance the charms of youth and beauty, of themselves sufficiently
charming, they will be found of very little use in the affairs
of real life.

The highest praise which the ancient Romans could express of a
noble matron was that she sat at home and span--"DOMUM MANSIT,
LANAM FECIT." In our own time, it has been said that chemistry
enough to keep the pot boiling, and geography enough to know the
different rooms in her house, was science enough for any woman;
whilst Byron, whose sympathies for woman were of a very imperfect
kind, professed that he would limit her library to a Bible and a
cookery-book. But this view of woman's character and culture is
as absurdly narrow and unintelligent, on the one hand, as the
opposite view, now so much in vogue, is extravagant and unnatural
on the other--that woman ought to be educated so as to be as much
as possible the equal of man; undistinguishable from him, except
in sex; equal to him in rights and votes; and his competitor in
all that makes life a fierce and selfish struggle for place and
power and money.

Speaking generally, the training and discipline that are most
suitable for the one sex in early life, are also the most suitable
for the other; and the education and culture that fill the mind of
the man will prove equally wholesome for the woman. Indeed, all
the arguments which have yet been advanced in favour of the higher