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Quackery Disavowed.

437

'This Institute knows nothing of a "royal road to learning." It has no faith in an art being taught in six lessons, or a language in twentyfour. Its aim will be to inspire, in all its members, a love of study and diligence in study, and to offer its best aids to all the zeal and industry it can excite-remembering that there is a point in rendering such assistance beyond which the interpretation of the teacher is a positive injury, rather than benefit to the youthful mind. Learning is an acquisition. It is neither nature's endowment nor the teacher's gift. The pupil must put forth her own energies, or the bright jewel will never be hers.'

We are exceedingly glad to find the skill to communicate an art in six lessons, or a language in twentyfour, so plainly disavowed. We are ashamed of those, in this day of light, or of the means of light, who make these base pretences; nor are we much less ashamed of those who patronize such quackery. Yet the world-our American world at least-is full of it; and no where, perhaps, more so than in Boston, the would be Athens of America. Look, for example, at the pretences made to teach writing in a course of twelve or six lessons! And what is more painful, see good men lending the influence of their names to such folly and absurdity! But this is not the place for a lecture on quackery or human gullibility.

To show that mere scientific instruction is not made the beginning and end of all things in the Columbia Female Institute we extract the following paragraph; though, as will be seen, it applies only to that portion of the students who board in the family of the Rector.

In reference to the boarders, the teachers will recognize no suspension of the duties of instruction. The household will associate with each other, out of school hours, on terms of easy and respectful familiarity; and the errors and ignorances of the pupils will be noticed, with a kind solicitude for their improvement. On all occasions-in their recreations, walks, or fireside conversations-young ladies who use provincial, improper, or ungrammatical expressions will be kindly corrected. A vicious pronunciation is especially to be noticed. The same care will be devoted to their personal deportment, mien and habits. An awkward gait, an ungraceful stoop, a nasal twang must be expected to call forth from any tutoress the proper advice and direction. But the chief care of the educator, in these hours of relaxation from the severer duties of the schoolroom, is to be devoted to the cultivation of a christian politeness, amenity, ease and naturalness of manner. To do an un

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Peculiarities of the Institution.

lady like thing calls for authoritative advice; but any violation of the law of christian kindness and courtesy, is to be checked by the teacher with the most anxious concern.'

In short the Institute as it is set forth in the prospectus and catalogue-is to resemble a well ordered home. The utmost attention is to be paid to order, neatness and cleanliness, as cardinal virtues, especially in young ladies. To take away, as much as possible the formalities of the monastic school room of former days,chairs are substituted for benches, and single desks for those long, ungraceful things which were always unworthy of the name.

In regard to the discipline, and general regulation of the Institute, we have but little to say, because there is little which is peculiar. Those who have read the accounts of Ipswich Female Seminary in former volumes of this journal, will get a general idea of the state of things at the Columbia Female Institute. We believe the following are the principal peculiarities.

'In order to diminish the expense of dress, and especially to restrain the ambition of extravagant display, the following uniform is established for boarders at the Institute, viz: For winter-Sunday dress-purple merino or circassian robe, with white collar and white pantalets; Leghorn or straw bonnet trimmed with scarlet; shoes adapted to the season. For summer-robe of white, with collar and pantalets of the same color; bonnet trimmed with sky-blue. No jewelry is allowed except a plain breast pin; embroideries are prohibited.

'No boarder will keep a purse of her own, and all remittances on her behalf will be made to the Rector.'

'The responsibility assumed by the Institute for all the members of its family, renders it necessary to require that boarders shall never leave the lot unless in company with some one of the tutoresses, nor be absent after sundown. This rule will not prevent the boarders from enjoying, to the proper extent, all the advantages of the society of Columbia. Company will occasionally be invited to the Institute with a special view to the improvement as well as gratification of the members of the family.

'Letters addressed to boarders at the Institute, should be directed to the care of the Rector. The young ladies will never send to the post office, nor call there. Any instructions relative to their correspondence will be scrupulously followed. They will be required to write home every fortnight, and such attention and criticism will be devoted, by a tutoress, both to the composition and penmanship of their letters, as to make the exercise improving to their scholarship.

A Necessary Explanation.

489

Their literary pursuits will be relieved by the attention they will regularly devote to the various subjects of domestic economy. Every boarder over the age of ten years will, in her turn, accompany the Matron, for one day, in all the duties of superintending the household affairs of the Institute. She will go with the Matron to inspect the dormitories, parlors and other apartments, noticing every thing in relation to the beds, floors, furniture, &c. of the rooms. But her attention will be especially directed to every subject of the culinary department. She will accompany the Matron through all the duties of the cuisine with her cookery book in hand, and be able to show at dinner that she has learned from the morning's engagements, something worth remembering. The refection at eleven o'clock will, as far as possible, be under her own direction exclusively.

'Boarders will never perform any servile or menial offices in the Institute. They will never bring their water or wood, or make their beds or sweep their rooms. Nor, on the other hand, will they be permitted to call a servant to pick up a pin. Every thing pertaining to the comfortable supply of their wants will be provided by the servants of the house; and should any one of the domestics fail in the duty required of her by the regulations of the family, the boarders will confer a favor by giving the Matron or mistress of the house such information as will enable them to correct the evil.'

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To those who forget that the Institute we are describing is in Tennessee and not in New England, a word of explanation may be necessary in regard to one point. We are told that the attention of the pupils will be directed to domestic economy, and especially to every subject of the culinary department; and yet, in the next paragraph, we are assured that the boarders will never perform any servile or menial offices in the Institute;' not even 'to bring their water or wood, or make their bed or sweep their rooms.' But it should be remembered that much of the population of Tennessee consists of emigrants from the southern states, and their descendants, who retain the customs and habits of the latter states; and that it is out of the power of the Rector of a Seminary-were he disposed to do so-to change at once the manners and customs of a whole section of country. This will doubtless be a sufficient apology for Mr Smith and his assistants, even to those who, bred to different habits, could never consent to the education of daughters in a manner so poorly calculated to render them healthy, happy and efficient mothers, as well as good and useful companions and housewives.

It should moreover, be added that the health of the inmates

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of this institution, though it is not to be promoted by what is technically called housework, is yet far from being overlooked. Indeed, we have seldom seen more explicit attention-except perhaps in the matter of diet, paid to this important subject. The temperature, also, ventilation of rooms, exercise both on foot and on horseback-hours of retiring, rising, eating and even the recreations seem exceedingly well calculated to promote the health and vigor of the pupils. One or two quotations will present this subject in its true light.

'One of the most important objects demanding the unremitted attention of the Rector and his associates in the management of the Institute, is the health of its inmates. When the state of the atmosphere admits and the ground is sufficiently dry, the Pestalozzian department will frequently adjourn from their school room to an arbor, a summer house or the shade of an oak or box elder, and carry on their studies and recitations in the open air. At the expiration of every hour, during the morning and evening sessions, the pupils will sing an appropriate hymn or some cheerful song, their voices being sustained and accompanied by the organ. The young ladies will then have a recess from business for a few minutes; if the weather invite them abroad, they will walk or play in the lot; at other times, they will enjoy their recreations in the long Parlor, or in the passages and porches.

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In the physical habits of the boarders, the utmost attainable regularity will be aimed at. They will retire to their dormitories at an early hour of the night, and will be called up half an hour before sunrise, with the exception of the longest days in summer. Under the direction of the best medical advice, they will enjoy the healthful luxury of the bath. Throughout the year, they will have a suitable refection at eleven o'clock in the morning, and at five o'clock in the evening. Every exertion will be made to correct the morbid appetite, not unfrequently met with in young females, which leads them to make more use of pungent and highly flavored condiments than of "food convenient for them." Human physiology,-the laws of health,the philosophy of "the house I live in,”—will be frequently discussed and explained.

As a very important means of preserving a good constitution and resuscitating a debilitated one, the young ladies will be carefully superintended as to their dress. They will not be permitted to sacrifice their health at the shrine of fashion. No article of clothing will be delivered to them, which has not been perfectly dried and aired. The matron and other ladies of the Institute will give the proper directions as to the degree and

Medical Advice and Assistance.

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kind of clothing required by the varying seasons and weather, and will see that their suggestions have been scrupulously followed by the boarders.

'The refections, at eleven and five, if added to the three regular meals, we should of course object to, as, in the abstract, an evil; and yet in view of the habits of the country, they may be a choice of evils.* Nor are we sure, that in view of the habits of young ladies in most places, a plain refection, if it could be substituted entirely for the confectionary and other wretched stuff, which they are so frequently nibbling at, as to give the stomach little repose, would not be on the whole, desirable.'

The allusion to medical advice in regard to the bath, reminds us of the fact that special attention is here paid to the securing of a good physician, in case of sickness; though parents and guardians, if they have any preference, may make their own selection.

The importance of having a wise and faithful and disinterested physician attached to every school, and even to every family, has, as yet scarcely entered the heads of Americans, especially the busy portion of the northern United States. Such a suggestion would be laughed at by many; and by the most, would probably be regarded as utopian. Yet the period cannot be very far distant, when the physician will be principally employed to prevent evil rather than to cure it. He will be called in to assist the parent and the teacher not only in avoiding disease, but in securing to each child and pupil, the highest possible measure of health of which his natural constitution is susceptible, as regularly and as certainly as he is now called in to prescribe for diseases which a knowledge of Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene ought to have prevented. Were there no other indications of such a state of things, as not many centuries distant, they would be found in the increasing interest which is paid to this subject in all our literary institutions, especially those for females. In this respect, and in this view, are we not fully justified in looking forward to the dawn, in our world, of a day of happiness of which, thus far, few have as yet had any adequate conception?

*They would only be desirable for a time, as a species of compromise. Health-the best condition of the human body-can seldom, in adults, be compatible with more than three meals a day.

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