1865: On a Lady’s “proper” education
Jeanne d’Anatis
We are to become still more feminine by suppressing certain natural dispositions and by cultivating peculiar modes of conduct. A set of manners and attitudes distinctive to women surround us with an aura of protection and mystery. To move out of this orbit, the educators warn us would be a serious breach of propriety.
My mind must be enlarged, yet the delicacy of my manners must be preserved; my knowledge must be various, and my powers of reasoning unawed by authority; yet I must habitually feel that nice sense of propriety, which is at once the guard and charm of feminine virtue.
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