Hold Up Your Heads, Girls!

bly in the education of most persons, a deficien

ic, but more especially to the works of its greatest authors? Literature is the most cultivating to the mind, the most necessary to a general education, and it affords the most pleasure to persons, no matter what their condition may be. Easily pursue

not require a month's study. The absurdity of demanding all the rules of Latin prosody, when the student never read a line of the "Deserted Village," and probably will not, through his college course! Says one catalogue, which represent

e opportunities for a higher education! Is it not much to be grateful for, that so many of you girls not only can go to college, but really do go? I am glad for you all. Smith and Wellesley, Boston University and the Annex

tudy of English; so I shall confine my suggestions to a few c

n Revolution, if I know nothing of the war between England and the Colonies? How can I get the real value out of "The Talisman," "Kenilworth," or "Ivanhoe," if I have no knowledge of the Crusades, of Elizabeth's reign, or of that period in English history when Richard of the Lion Heart was king? Again, how can I understand why any age i

in this study. The practice of beginning with Anglo-Saxon writers, and studying down to nineteenth-century authors, is to be utterly condemned. How can I hope to like or even comprehend an English version

not even fly high till Elizabeth's reign; and it has not been prolific till within a century or two. W

but my most earnest work should be with certain epochs in literature, and with special representative authors, ar

the "Edinburgh Review," the "Quarterly," and "Blackwoods." Very good collections have been made from them, especially in a series of books known as "Modern British Essayists." Read, for example, Sydney Smith's essay on "Female Education"; one of Jeffrey's criticisms on the early poets of this century; an historical or a biographical article by Alison; or one of Professor Wilson's sketches in his "Recreations of Christopher North." But be most desir

s especially valuable to you. Note Carlyle's sincerity, his "gospel of work," his love of Nature, his earnestne

, dwelling longest on this writer's more practical essays,

Emerson's two essays on "Nature"; selections from Thoreau, especially from "Excursions"; Kingsley's "Winter Ga

take, instead of a criticism, his "Confessions of an English Opium Eater," the style of which is considered masterly. Its sentences are melodious, its English elegant and classical. From Ruskin, that writer who founded art criticism, read those delightful passages brought to

." Love the quaint, beautiful spirit of the author; and take

this writer holds in American literature, and the feeling with which he is regarded, both in our own country and abroad, get some knowledge of the condition of our literatu

h as it appears in Lei

oundabout Papers," Curt

this head such rare bi

, as, for example, Dr

Curtis's "

ence. This necessary aid to literature has been amply afforded by the celebrated "English Men of Letters" series, and also by the "American Men of Letters." The influ

t, by his "Ferdinand and Isabella"; as Alison, by his "History of Europe"; as Froude, by his "Life of Caesar." One can hardly be without such valuable reference-books as Green's "History of England," Freeman's various histories, and those included in the Epoch Series. But, before reading

ry that of travels. You know works of travel form a l

t the history of the romance previous to this century, beginning, if you like, away back with Thomas Malory's "Morte d'Arthur." Find the best illustration of the romance in Scott. To such a writer as Scott you might add Cooper and Kingsley, though the romance is presented by the last writer in but one powerful book, "Westward, Ho!"- at least, it seems so to me.

ice the artistic merits of the work, the beauties and

eighteenth century. You should remark the great changes produced in the minds of writers by the French Revolution, and note the growing love for f

rvey of Poetry

dy of Natu

orth and

ve,-Coleridge's

rd Lake Po

story of

ampb

rative,-Sc

s "Childe

Melodies

he Beautiful,-Ke

ndary Poets acco

Song W

Victor

Tenn

s Poet,-Mrs

n Verse,-Ho

in Americ

ellow and

ell and

bert B

programme which should include only Ame

he thought there is in their works, and for the style in which those

the best matter, or with such as present either excellency in thought, or beauty in form, you might find help in the foll

e;" Shakespeare's play

enice," "Macbeth," and

omus;" first five cant

eserted Village" and "

ake" and "Marmion;" Bu

Ancient Mariner;" Kea

r Launfal;" Longfellow

ine;" Tennyson's "Prin

" Sidney's "Defence of

son's "Eloquence;" Maca

ond" and "English Humo

of Two Cities;" Scott

Silas Marner" and "Romol

Book;" Ruskin's "Sesame

"Essays of Elia;" Lo

e Beautiful;" Hawthorne

reau's "Excursions;" Le

's essay "On the Art

ers;" Prescott's "Last

ill observe these names

sys

Elizabeth, the Reign of Queen Anne, the Period of the English Reformation, the Revolutionary Period. Another way of studying literature is suggested by those who, having a general knowledge of it, devote their hours of reading chie

o appreciate good style, we are better fitted to criticise the works we read, and are certainly made be

sely connected, yet it is quite possible to study histor

tions except such as are found in his "Manual of Historical Literature." In this work you will find the names and descriptions of all the books required to get a knowledge of

history. Each work attempts to give a picture of an important epoch, and to faithfully discuss the period. The series pertaining to modern history includes "The Normans and the Feudal System," "The Crusades," "The Beginning of the Middle Ages," "The Earl

t them such works, in history, biography, fic

ollowed the dictates of society, and added the study of languages. Young women and young men need no particular educational diff

candidates were greatly superior to those of letters. This result contradicts a very general opinion, which I myself have strongly supported, that scientific studies-the abstract sciences and mathematics-must hold a subordinate place in women's education, because they are incompatible with the nature of the female intellect. We have been mistaken.' In England, Miss Ormerod has distinguished herself by her observations on inse