Co-education.

Otago Witness, Issue 2761, 13 February 1907, Page 73

Co-education.

("Giu:ti hi;.y,"' in the Scottish Faimer of

December 1.)

During the past week the newspapers have had something to say about schools in which boys and girls are educated together : is the tendency of co-education good or is it bad? i'eople answer according to their personal experience, observation, and prejudices. The first, which is the most iniportcint. must necessarily be imperfect. liven ■« hen one has had years of both kinds of schools, it has been" at a different age, and that is a vital matter. Speaking from my own experience of the mixed and the girls' school, I feel strongly that the great defect of the '"school for young ladies" — in which the faults are most pronounced — 16 that there are no boys in it ! The resulting evils are both moral and intellectual. Of the moral, it is difficult to ipeak, and impossible to write ; but the kind of girl who is an evil influence among her own sex has absolutely no check upon her in a schoolroom, or playground, as the case may be, full of girls only. Introduce a few boys of the same age", and instinct compels that girl to put on at least a semblance of modesty and purity. Moreover, her attention is diverted, which is a great matter^ Where a number of boys and girls mix freely together, the worst are kept in check, and the talk is wholesome, with the familiar * freedom of the street or the family circle. . . . What amazes me most in my recollection of school days is the absolute ignorance of parents concerning the Teal things that are influencing their children for good or evil. And it is an ignorance which is unavoidable — insurmountable— the vast gulf between the school world and parent world being unbridged. Moments return to me of sitting in the evening over a school book, father and mother making the usual parental comments, and suddenly, looking up at them, they seem to float dimly in sonic fur away, strange, and prosaic world, not my world, which is wholly hidden from the eyes even of their imagination! Little incidents of school life one may relate, but the real

fection of any woman's face I have ever seen. Were I not an artist I would not be hampered by rules of beauty with -which I do not always agree, but have to followwhen passing judgment, and I should say that it -was perfect." Again: "The pretty outline of her figure delights an artist's eye Her neck and shoulders are perfection, not only in their contour, but in the grace and suppleness of their movements. There is Dot an atom of -what so often mars many of our so-called beauties about Queen Maud — rigidity. Then, again, wherever da you see co small a waist as hers, I mean that does not look as though several corset laces were sacrificed before its tininesa was accomplished? Her Majesty's fairy waist would never suggest that sort of thing." Lastly: '"If Queen Maud had been a poor girl, she could have made her fortune as a model. Artists would fight for her."— P.T.O.

— Mrs W. K. Clifford, in her new book, "The Modern Way." writes of bachelor women : — "It was inevitable, women having reached the position of adopting careers independent of home or marital support, that the old idea of the duenna -shadowed woman should depart. Passing the streets in poor or even slum neighbourhoods, for instance, it is now quite usual to see a ■woman doctor's name on the plate outside a 6mall house. Such a woman accepts as an essential part of her daily life that she should be knocked up at all hour;? of the night to go into any kind of surroundings ;

is the Alpha and Omega of existence ; but sometimes the soft hand of love clutching at their heartstrings causes even these to turn *side from the greedy quest for gold that they may listen to the siren song of affection, or snatch an hour from the worship of the great god of the moderns — Business — to enjoy the tender touch of a loved hand.

Love — the very word his a liquid, labial sound, representing. a 6it does, the gorgeous butterfly *th<it flutteis over the dreary pathway of life, dazzling all by its lambent splendour ; captured now and then, and tenderly held! close to the heart for ever ; alighting on iti most ardent pursuers, only to fly away as they •would grasp it ; by others held captive — its beauty defiled, the fragile wings broken and the joyous movement for ever stilled.

''Love is the light and sun>hme of life. We are so constituted that wo cannot en- ' joy ourselves, or anything else, unless scomeone we love enjoys it with us. Even if we are alone, we store up our enjoyment- in hope of sharing it hereafter with tho»e we love."' i

Love has made more history than hate. How many lovers' intrigues, innocently begun, have culminated in death ! How , much blood has been, shed through the ' agency of this soft-tongued slave of Cupid ! If one should read between the lines of history, how often would be seen the snow-white hand of a maiden beneath the ' blood-stained glove of the warrior ! J

the world's a wedding, the sun shines with greater glory ; the cold is warm, the heat is cool ; everything goes merrJy. for the magician Love is before, touching with his wand the commonest objects of the universe, and life is ore glad, sweet song.

Even old hearts rekindle at the sight of the happy pair, and in the spectacle of their youthful joy live anew the long-dead raptures of j ears s;one by. 'For love has but one -nvincible rival — Death — though sorretines he finds the aged pair sweethearts ".till, waiting hand in-hand to meet

It is said that distance lends enchantment, and sometimes this is true. Absen^a may intervene, but the loving heart trusts on, and with returning happ : ness forgets the dreary days of separation in recapitulation of the hours that seemed daikct. It's so different when "his" arms .ire a i Din d you, and the long waiting is p.ist — isn't it*, girls? Lo\e makes a brave man. a coward, and of a cow aid a hero. When under the influence of the tender passion people do the most unexpected and pstounding things. For. once a true, deep affection enters the heart, in a measure it changes the whole nature.

"The oW-sion which is called' love is an, emotion past a]j explanation. The persons susceptible to its power are as things beneath a spell. They see, feel, and hear that of which the rest of their world is unaware, and wili remain unaware for ever."

life — that is untranslatable into the parent | ' angue. But I wished to say a word about the intellectual defect of the girl*' school. It is (as I have experienced it) that there is little, if any, mental rivalry among girls. There is even a large class of girls who scorn trying to do their be6t, ■who look down on the girl who tries. It is scarcely worth while trying to go above a girl," but to beat a boy — there is spice in that. Intellectual stagnation is not possible in a class composed of boys and " girls. It is, alas 1 only too common in a - girl*' school. One brain to stir another to increased activity — that is a most important part of education. I have vet a ■ vivid memory of the face, figure, lively expression of a little fellow who was a classmate of mine when I was 6even years old — we left the neighbourhood when I was eight, — and who had a trick of getting above me sometimes. I can see him swinging his slate in glee right in front of my face when he had finished his task first, and I can feel the keen resolve to >eat him next time i The girls have all laded into nebulous ghosts, featureless, untubstantial; but that boy stands out clearly, pulsing with life. He stands for intellectual stimulus. Why should such a valuable asset to early youth be deliberately disregarded?