CO-EDUCATION" OF THE SEXES'.

Otago Witness, Issue 1243, 25 September 1875, Page 18

CO-EDUCATION" OF THE SEXES'.

The following is an extract from a **esponse by Mrs Emma S. Diliingham, to the above toast, at the Alumni meeting of Oahu College, Sandwich Islands :—: —

" Mothers often apologise for awkward sons by saying, 'They never had any sisters, and so grew up without the refining influence of female society ; ' and for timid little girls they say, ' They had n<j brothers to help them to get used to the ways of the world,' and regret in both instances is implied. Now, why deny the boys and girls the zest, the privilege, thestimulus of copying each other iv thetransition stage, during the years when. the characters of each are most pliable,, when the weak can be strengthened, thee rough polished, by the daily strife towards a common inttllecUml goal '/ "For ourselves, we are grateful for the liberal-miudedness of Punahou, that the privileges aforementioned wero therein found by us in years gone by. We recoil our first translation in Virgil's JEneid, when a sentence was so strongly rendered that all the boys in the class laughed at us. Pride rose up in arms, but with alt modesty we will add, that they never had occasion to laugh again at our translations. ,

" Memory brings to the mind the rainy days, when more girls than' boys stemmed the floods on horseback, much to tho chagrin of the boys. Of the games nt ball, when the boys wero gl*d to choose some of the girls on their sides. *if the gu-ls' target practice, the interest of which was greatly heightened by the encomiums bestowed by the young lords of creation, Then the fern-fever, when the rarest and most beautiful specinu-tis could bo obtained only by the longer, stronger amis of the indespen sable boys. And ytt again the evenings spent in star-gazing, the natural consequence of our studying astronomy.

'• Decide it as wo will, young people are expected at a little later day to meet and luingle, and find many pleasant things in common; else would all domestic relations prove a sad farce. How better can they be prepared for such happy condifioha in lite than by the pleasant clash of elements, inherent in both classes,. dw'ws tfra (top of jsefeool m» } » r