And then how many affectionate
dispositions have been trained into heartlessness, by being taught
that the indulgence of indolence and vanity were necessary to their
happiness; and that to have this indulgence, they _must_ marry money!
But who that marries for money, in this land of precarious fortunes,
can tell how soon they will lose the glittering temptation, to which
they have been willing to sacrifice so much? And even if riches last
as long as life, the evil is not remedied. Education has given a wrong
end and aim to their whole existence; they have been taught to look
for happiness where it never can be found, viz. in the absence of
all occupation, or the unsatisfactory and ruinous excitement of
fashionable competition.
The difficulty is, education does not usually point the female heart
to its only true resting-place. That dear English word '_home_,'
is not half so powerful a talisman as '_the world_.' Instead of
the salutary truth, that happiness is _in_ duty, they are taught to
consider the two things totally distinct; and that whoever seeks one,
must sacrifice the other.
The fact is, our girls have no _home education_.
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