Part 8

“‘But indeed, madam,’ returned Miss Nelly, ‘my sister is as cross to me as I am to her, and therefore it is out of my power to do what you advise; for I cannot bear to do everything for her when she will do nothing for me.’

“‘You are both much to blame,’ said Mrs. Placid, ‘but as you are the eldest it is your place to set a good example, and you do not know, Nelly, how far that incitement will prevail. When you have refused her one request, she is naturally, by way of retaliation, induced to deny you another: this increases your mutual dissatisfaction and commences new quarrels, by which means your anger is continued, so that neither is inclined to oblige or condescend. But if she finds you continue to be good-natured, she will catch the kind impression, as she used to imbibe the ill habits of malevolence and rage. In every case you should consider that the errors of another person are no excuse for the indulgence of evil in yourself.’”

In the story of “Mrs. Teachum and the Little Female Academy,” the school curriculum is very clearly stated. A delightful account of the training received by Mrs. Teachum for the post of schoolmistress shows the prevalence of a humble deference to men’s superior judgment, which may help to explain the absence of enthusiasm on their part for the higher education of women.

“This gentlewoman was the widow of a clergyman, with whom she had lived nine years in all the harmony and concord which form the only satisfactory happiness in the married state.

“Mr. Teachum was a very sensible man, and took great delight in improving his wife, as she also placed her chief pleasure in receiving his instructions. One of his constant subjects of discourse to her was concerning the education of children; so that, when in his last illness his physicians pronounced him beyond the power of their art to relieve him, he expressed great satisfaction in the thought of leaving his children to the care of so prudent a mother.

“Mrs. Teachum, though exceedingly afflicted by such a loss, yet thought it her duty to call forth all her resolution to conquer her grief, in order to apply herself to the care of these her dear husband’s children. But her misfortunes were not here to end: for within a twelve-month after the death of her husband she was deprived of both her children by a violent fever that then raged in the country; and about the same time, by the unforeseen breaking of a banker in whose hands almost all her fortune was just then placed, she was bereft of the means of her future support.

“The Christian fortitude with which (through her husband’s instructions) she had armed her mind, had not left it in the power of any outward accident to bereave her of her understanding, or to make her incapable of doing what was proper on all occasions. Therefore, by the advice of all her friends, she undertook what she was so well qualified for--namely, the education of children.

“And this trust she endeavoured faithfully to discharge, by instructing those committed to her care in reading, writing, working, and in all proper forms of behaviour. And though her principal aim was to improve their minds in all useful knowledge, to render them obedient to their superiors, and gentle, kind, and affectionate to each other, yet she did not omit teaching them an exact neatness in their persons and dress, and a perfect gentility in their whole carriage.”

“Reading, writing, working, and all proper forms of behaviour.” And it is on the “proper forms of behaviour” that the story lays stress. And it must frankly be admitted that the teaching was necessary. The number of Mrs. Teachum’s young ladies was limited to nine. The eldest, Miss Jenny Peace, was just turned fourteen, and the others were all under twelve. Miss Jenny Peace being of such an advanced age, necessarily has cast upon her a responsibility for improving the tone of the school, and rises to the occasion with a sweet self-confidence, combined with modesty, which the nineteen-year-old captain of a high school nowadays might admire, but would hardly dare to imitate. The quarrels of the two Miss Piners seem tame, although solely on account of the inferior numbers, by comparison with the free fight in which Mrs. Teachum’s young ladies indulge at the beginning of the story.

It opens with a dispute as to which of them was entitled to the largest apple in a basket of the fruit given to Miss Jenny Peace to distribute. To end the strife, Miss Jenny threw the apple over a hedge into another garden.

“At first they were all silent, as if they were struck dumb with astonishment with the loss of this one poor apple, though at the same time they had plenty before them.

“But this did not bring to pass Miss Jenny’s design: for now they all began again to quarrel which had the most right to it, and which ought to have had it, with as much vehemence as they had before contended for the possession of it; and their anger by degrees became so high that words could not vent half their rage; and they fell to pulling of caps, tearing of hair, and dragging the clothes off one another’s backs; though they did not so much strike as endeavour to scratch and pinch their enemies.

“Miss Dolly Friendly as yet was not engaged in the battle; but on hearing her friend Miss Nannie Spruce scream out that she was hurt by a sly pinch from one of the girls, she flew on this sly pincher, as she called her, like an enraged lion on its prey: and not content only to return the harm her friend had received, she struck with such force as felled her enemy to the ground. And now they could not distinguish between friend and enemy; but fought, scratched, and tore like so many cats, when they extend their claws to fix them in their rival’s heart.

“Miss Jenny was employed in endeavouring to part them.

“In the midst of this confusion appeared Mrs. Teachum, who was returning in hopes to see them happy with the fruit she had given them; but she was some time there before either her voice or presence could awaken them from their attention to the fight; when on a sudden they all faced her, and fear of punishment began now a little to abate their rage. Each of the misses held in her right hand, fast clenched, some marks of victory; for they beat and were beaten by turns. One of them held a little lock of hair torn from the head of her enemy, another grasped a piece of a cap, which, in aiming at her rival’s hair, had deceived her hand, and was all the spoils she could gain; a third clenched a piece of an apron; a fourth, of a frock. In short, every one, unfortunately, held in her hand a proof of having been engaged in the battle. And the ground was spread with rags and tatters, torn from the backs of the little inveterate combatants.”

Space does not permit me to describe the efforts by which Miss Jenny brought about the moral reform of the combatants. She recounts to them her mamma’s system of bringing her up, with especial reference to her studies up to the age of six; and the other girls, brought to see the error of their ways by a recognition of the unhappiness which their faults have always brought upon themselves, recount the stories of their lives also. Fairy tales and society plays are brought into the service of morality, and the teaching to be deduced from them is expounded. And although at the end of a fortnight Miss Jenny’s ministrations are ended by her leaving school,

“all quarrels and contentions were banished from Mrs. Teachum’s house; and if ever any such thing was likely to arise, the story of Miss Jenny Peace’s reconciling all her little companions was told to them: so that Miss Jenny, though absent, still seemed (by the bright example which she left behind her) to be the cement of union and harmony in this well-regulated society. And if any girl was found to harbour in her breast a rising passion, which it was difficult to conquer, the name and story of Miss Jenny Peace soon gained her attention, and left her without any other desire than to emulate Miss Jenny’s virtues.”

But perhaps it may be imagined that this story does not really represent the system of education which we know from biographies and letters did after all either produce, or allow to emerge, women of strong character and considerable intellectual attainments.

For further light, turn to Miss Edgeworth’s two stories of Mlle. Panache, the bad French governess, and Mlle. de Rosier, the good French governess.

“Mrs. Temple had two daughters, Emma and Helen; she had taken great care of their education, and they were very fond of their mother, and particularly happy whenever she had leisure to converse with them; they used to tell her everything that they thought and felt; so that she had it in her power early to correct, or rather to teach them to correct, any little faults in their disposition and to rectify those errors of judgment to which young people, from want of experience, are so liable.

“Mrs. Temple lived in the country, and her society was composed of a few intimate friends; she wished, especially during the education of her children, to avoid the numerous inconveniences of what is called an extensive acquaintance. However, as her children grew older, it was necessary that they should be accustomed to see a variety of characters, and still more necessary that they should learn to judge of them. There was little danger of Emma’s being hurt by the first impressions of new facts and new ideas; but Helen, of a more vivacious temper, had not yet acquired her sister’s good sense. We must observe that Helen was a little disposed to be fond of novelty, and sometimes formed a prodigiously high opinion of persons whom she had seen but for a few hours. Not to admire was an art which she had yet to learn.”

Helen enters upon this part of her education when she is between eleven and twelve years old.

After this it creates a sensation of relief to hear Miss Edgeworth, in describing the pupils of Madame de Rosier, declare of Favoretta, the youngest, aged about six years old, that “At this age the habits that constitute character are not formed, and it is, therefore, absurd to speak of the character of a child six years old.” It would almost seem that in making this assertion Miss Edgeworth was delivering heretical views, and we have seen that the author of “Jemima Placid,” at any rate, disagreed with her.

Turning from fiction to real life to confirm it, we find the following advice given by the Countess of Carlisle, in 1789, to young ladies on their first establishment in the world. In her preface she says that the book is intended for those who have been educated. That this implies moral education more than anything else is made evident. The young married woman is, however, recommended to cultivate her mind, and the advice takes practical form.

“If abundance of leisure shall allow you to extend your studies,” says Lady Carlisle, “let arithmetic, geography, chronology, and natural history compose the principal part.”

The brain which has not been trained in mental gymnastics in early youth, unless unusually active, loses its powers. Narrow-mindedness is a correct name for a psychological fact. That there were broad and vigorous-minded women at this period who probably owed much to their teachers there is no doubt. But, for the most part, these were women who by their social position came in contact with able men, and saw life from many points of view. The easy access to personal acquaintance with leaders of thought, statesmen, practical workers, and cultured and refined women, gives to the aristocracy and the upper middle classes an education and training which never cease, and which make a University training an amusing episode rather than a necessity.

In the middle classes the circumstances and duties of a woman’s life are entirely different. After marriage, a limited income and maternal and domestic duties limit a woman’s social education, and if her mental powers have not been fully developed by education it is difficult for her to resist the tendency to become absorbed in her purely personal worries and cares; brain atrophy sets in, and with it old age, the closing up of the mental avenues to new impressions and feelings.

Thus any child at a Board school can be taught arithmetic, and most children at a high school can make progress in geometry and algebra, but even capable middle class women, who begin these subjects for the first time in early middle life, are frequently found to be mentally incapable of the reasoning processes involved.