The best mental
development is accomplished under the stress of many demands. One claim
balances the other; a touch of hardness and privation gives strength of
mind and makes self-denial a reality; a little anxiety teaches foresight
and draws out resourcefulness, and the tendency to fret about trifles is
corrected by the contact of the realities of life.
To come to practice--What can be done for girls during their years at
school?
In the first place the teaching of the fundamental handicraft of women,
needlework, deserves a place of honour. In many schools it has almost
perished by neglect, or the thorns of the examination programme have
grown up and choked it. This misfortune has been fairly common where the
English "University Locals" and the Irish "Intermediate" held sway.
There literally was not time for it, and the loss became so general that
it was taken as a matter of course, scarcely regretted; to the children
themselves, so easily carried off by _vogue_, it became almost a matter
for self-complacency, "not to be able to hold a needle" was accepted as
an indication of something superior in attainments. And it must be owned
that there were certain antiquated methods of teaching the art which
made it quite excusable to "hate needlework.
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