CULTURE IN NEW ZEALAND GIRLS.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VIII, Issue 1, 1 April 1903, Page 59

CULTURE IN NEW ZEALAND GIRLS.

W WAS not a little surprised to ■ read, recently, in an American |r| magazine, an article which UL commented very adversely "^ upon the conversation of the average American girl. My surprise, mingled with much relief, was owing to the fact that I had been cogitating over the remarkably inane, wo uld.-be- smart chit-chat, which in the majority of cases, forms the conversational stock of the New Zealander. And, although it is evident, that in the matter of uncultured conversation, our girls do not stand alone, still that is no reason why we too should not analyse the matter and set ourselves, if possible, on the right path. A. short time ago, the query was propounded in these pages, " Are New Zealand Girls becoming less cultured V Many correspondents have been interested in the matter, and have stated to me their views on the subject. The first thought that occurs to one, is the fact that speech is an index of the mind. Therefore we must judge the mental acquirements of our girls by their day-by-day conversation. I am aware that very often the girl with a mind, speaks frivolously in a manner quite opposed to that which she admires in others. She may be influenced by her surroundings, it may seem to her affectation to converse as she thinks, and principally,! being

reluctant to appear dull in comparison with her friends and acquaintances, she adopts the same style of conversation, and to all intents and appearances, is no whit more intellectual than any of them. This is weakness, sheer weakness. The girl who at heart dislikes smart flippancy, is a coward if she is not sufficiently strong of will to assert her own individuality. And thus it gradually becomes the accepted style to make a semi-cynical lemark as the prelude to a conversation, to be always ready with a ' smart ' reply, however cruel the personal application; may be, to attempt to ' score ' all the time. And men converse accordingly with these girls, and some day leave them wonderingly lamenting m favour of a " rara avis " who can appreciate an intelligent remark. It may seem that I infer that, in most oac-es, men are dragged conversationally down to the level of the wo^non. I know, however, that part, of the fault lies with men. Instead of trying to discover whether the girls have minds, they too often plunge into the desert of flippant inanity.

At the same time, girls have the opportunity of neglecting to follow such a lead ; and in how many cases do they show that they prefer something higher ? I notice that in a society circle in New York, women are choosing for each month a topic which they agree to discuss during the whole of the allotted time. This

is a step forward : but I do not see why they must limit themselves so, except as the initiative to 'better things.

informed, can hope to be a ladyv unless she studies her manner of speech, the inflection of her voice, and — an essential in tl^3 Colonies, — the accent and true pronunciation and enunciation of every word she utters. For a little while, she may appear to herself stiff, even affected: but this grand old Mother tongue of ours is quite worth the effort : and soon, others will be influenced by the quiet well-modulated voice, by the clearness of her speech. She herself will soon lose' all sense of effort : but never must she think

I have remarked that speech must be taken as the index of the mind :

and, generally speaking, we may regard the girl whose mind is wellinformed as a cultured girl. I am aware that to that information must be added a certain modesty and grace, a tactfulness which will strive ever to consider the feelings of others. No girl, however attractive in personality,, however well-

r'tilat she speaks or articulates perfectly correctly. That will always require a little care. A very good little handbook en the Art of Speaking is Dean Fleming's : and no better way can 1 think of to attain culture than to read aloud some portion of a good author every day. Girls will gain in every direction. Take, for instance, Ruskin's "Sesame and Lilies." Written for and to them, it appeals directly to girls. The preface alone would do our girls an

if you watch, you will he able to obtain good books very cheaply. Good novels are, in many cases, published among- the sixpenny editions. There are Kingsley's., Bronte's, Burroug-h's, Tennyson's and many more among- them. Don't begrudge your money for a really good little collection of cheap editions : but " know " every book. you possess. Do not talk of Dickens in a vague way. Know him, if only by one book. But, even if none of these are within your means, study

infinity of good. I should like to know that every girl had read this carefully and often : and then I should not be very dubious as to the culture oi our girls. Read, girls, read, not flimsy novels, thrown aside as soon as read, but read the leading articles of your newspapers ! I know we cannot all get Ru skin's, and Lubbock's and hosts of authors who try to show us the way ; though now and again,

the newspaper. Read every inch. Leaders will soon be interesting after you once become acquainted with the broad information to be obtained from a careful perusal of the daily columns of news. I tell you, that the girls who do not glance at, but study every clay these very ordinary books, the common newspapers, will soon have far more subjects for conversation, than they require. They will soon learn to do

without silly frivolous banter, light gossip ; they will know things : and knowing, they cannot fail to talk interestingly of them. So- play your golf and your hockey, do your morning's housework, delighting in the health and capacity for it, dig your gardens, make your blouses, read your newspapers and your books, and think about everything. Think and do with thy might what®o ever cometh to thy, hand. No thinking girl can long, be an uncultured girl, no observing mind can be long an ignorant one. There-

For my part, I fear New Zealand girls are not growing more cultured in any true sense. If more so than twelve, fifteen, or twenty years back, the standard then must have been low indeed. By culture of converse one means much more than primary education ; so it is no answer to point to the increase in number and efficiency of primary schools. Nor does a High school, nor even a University course ensure that those who have passed through them shall be highly cultured. We must of course be reasonable, and

fore fill your days with useful work, healthful recreation, sensible reading and intelligent conversation, and there will not be much fear of lack of culture on your part. Kemember that by each girl striving to attain true culture, some numbers of other girls are strongly influenced. This is the part each New Zealand girl may play in moulding" the destinies of her race. " Alpha "■ writes as follows on this subject : —

not use the word in too ambitious a sense. Few in any country have the means or the leisure to become thorough scholars or very wide readers. I should concede that a man or woman was " cultured " for ordinary life, who could speak and write his own language with correctness and ease : who understood its literary capabilities, and was familiar with the works of its finest writers, poets especially ; who was familiar with the history of his

native country (in outline for the nioist part with fuller knowledge of specially interesting periods) iind who also knew something of general history, and specially that of Greece and Rome in their most brilliant periods ; who finally had an insight into the spirit and methods of modern science. I do not think thai; is too much to demand ; but though during the last dozen, years or so I have known many hundreds of girls and young; women claiming to be fairly educated, sufficiently well to form an estimate of their knowledge and tastes, I have not found more than one/ or two that could come, near my very modest standard of culture. The average girl of well-to-do families in good society not only does not love knowledge and literature, she appears quite ignorant that such things exist. Try her with any famous historical character or with any fact of so-called " popular " science and what response will you meet with ? Try literature — she cares for none beyond the latest popular novel. Nor do I think that the young men are much better equipped than their sisters. And as Alma points out in a preceding paragraph, many graduates are very far from cultured. They have simply worked and crammed along definite lines ; and when once their degree is secured they appear quite content to let their minds lie fallow for the remainder of their lives.

My own opinion is that of late years there has been some levelling 1 down as well as levelling up in educational ideals and attainments; and that many parents, who by their position should know better, are far too ready to be satisfied with a mere primary education for their children : " The public schools give such a good grounding/ they say.

A good grounding is given in arithmetic, spelling, geography ;. and children passing the standards creditably are fit either to enter on a higher educational course, or to make their way up in trade or mechanical employments. But as regards any general information or capacity for enjoying good literature, a sixth standard means nothing ax all. I am afraid we colonials care little for things of the mind. The pursuit of material comfort, of show, and of amusements absorbs all our time and energies. Mrs. Bulleid writes : — This subject interests me greatly ,. and I have arrived at the conclusion that our bright and bonny New Zealand girls are sadly lacking in culture. This is to a great extent unavoidable, all the surroundings being so new, there is very little to stir the imagination or excite curiosity, and in the smaller towns there is simply no opportunity for them, after leaving the High schools, to carry on their education. What can be done to help them ? Are we, each year, to let our girls,. on leaving school, settle down at home and fritter away six or seven hours of every day ? It is unnecessary for the girls of fairly well off parents to give more than four hours each day to domestic duties, and under present conditions, when those are finished, there is nothing else to do, I think what we really want is to adopt in a modified form the University scheme that has proved so successful in England. Is this a too ambitious flight ? or do you think that if a sufficient number of thoughtful women interested themselves in the matter they might get the scheme carried out ?