The cerebral
processes by which the acquisition of knowledge is made are the same
for each sex; but the mode of life which gives the finest nurture to
the brain, and so enables those processes to yield their best result,
is not the same for each sex. The best educational training for a boy
is not the best for a girl, nor that for a girl best for a boy.
The delicate bloom, early but rapidly fading beauty, and singular
pallor of American girls and women have almost passed into a proverb.
The first observation of a European that lands upon our shores is,
that our women are a feeble race; and, if he is a physiological
observer, he is sure to add, They will give birth to a feeble race,
not of women only, but of men as well. "I never saw before so many
pretty girls together," said Lady Amberley to the writer, after a
visit to the public schools of Boston; and then added, "They all
looked sick." Circumstances have repeatedly carried me to Europe,
where I am always surprised by the red blood that fills and colors
the faces of ladies and peasant girls, reminding one of the canvas of
Rubens and Murillo; and am always equally surprised on my return, by
crowds of pale, bloodless female faces, that suggest consumption,
scrofula, anemia, and neuralgia.
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