But these littlenesses would not degrade their
character, if women were led to respect themselves, if
political and moral subjects were opened to them; and, I will
venture to affirm, that this is the only way to make them
properly attentive to their domestic duties. -- An active mind
embraces the whole circle of its duties, and finds time enough
for all. It is not, I assert, a bold attempt to emulate
masculine virtues; it is not the enchantment of literary
pursuits, or the steady investigation of scientific subjects,
that leads women astray from duty. No, it is indolence and
vanity -- the love of pleasure and the love of sway, that will
reign paramount in an empty mind. I say empty emphatically,
because the education which women now receive scarcely deserves
the name. For the little knowledge that they are led to
acquire, during the important years of youth, is merely
relative to accomplishments; and accomplishments without a
bottom, for unless the understanding be
cultivated, superficial and monotonous is every grace. Like the
charms of a made up face, they only strike the senses in a
crowd; but at home, wanting mind, they want variety. The
consequence is obvious; in gay scenes of dissipation we meet
the artificial mind and face, for those who fly from solitude
dread, next to solitude, the domestic circle; not having it in
their power to amuse or interest, they feel their own
insignificance, or find nothing to amuse or interest
themselves.
