OUR CONVENT SCHOOLS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 286, 25 October 1878, Page 7

OUR CONVENT SCHOOLS.

Year after year the efficiency of our convent schools becomes more and more apparent, — so much so that thousands of non-Catholics now send their children to them in preference to all other institutions. _ This is of itself a strong voucher for the excellence of the education imparted in our convent schools. Not merely a smattering of the languages and ologics, some drawing and painting, with a good deal of music and ornamental needlework, such as may be had in most non-Catholic academies and high schools, but a thorough, solid education, — an education in which the faculties of the heart are drawn out, as well as those of the head. Not very long ago a non- Catholic gentleman of keen perception was casting about for an academy at which to place his danghter. but it would seem that none of the Protestant institutions with which he was acquainted could satisfy him. Meeting a Catholic lady friend, a graduate of one of the convent schools, he began to make inquiries as to the mode of teaching and the branches taught by the Sisters at Mt. de Chantal, in the neighbourhood, — whether it was confined to ornamentation and polite accomplishments, or included the more useful branches of domestic economy or a household education. She answered yes, domestic economy was taught, and as thoroughly as could be in an institution of the kind ; that his daughter would there receive such a training as would assist her in taking charge of her own household, instead of being compelled through ignorance to leave it entirely to others: and that, furthermore, all the polite accomplishments befitting a lady would be superadded, as far as required, — all, excepting only one. And, pray, what might this one be ? was the next question. " Well," answered the lady, " you daughter will not be taught to receive gentlemen at our convent schools ; if you desire this accomplishment for her you must send her somewhere else." It is perhaps needless to say that this latter remark pleased the gentleman very much ; he said that it was owing to the fact of so much visiting and receiving of gentlemen at non-Catholic academies that he disliked to send his daughter to any of them. Looking over the commencement accounts lately, we noticed that an increasing interest is manifested in the branch of domestic economy, not only by parents and guardians, but also by the young ladies themselves, and many a scion of an aristocratic house takes more pride in her premium for plain sewing or other work of the kind than in those for drawing and painting. This is a good sign. It shows that our young people are beginning to turn their attention to those solid accomplishments which stood in such high favour before revolutions and so-called reformations drew a large proportion of her children away from the fostering care of our Holy Mother the Church — when women were after the model of " the valiant woman " mentioned in Holy Scripture. Now, indeed, the question may he asked: "Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her. The heart of her husband trusteth in her, and he shall have no need of spoils. She will render him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She hath sought wool and flax, and hath wrought by the counsel of her hands. . . . She hath put out her hand to stiong things : and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle. She hath opened her hand to the needy, and stretched out her hands to the poor. . . . She hath made for herself clothing of tapestry : fine linen and purple is her covering. Her husband is honourable in the gates, when he sitteth among the senators of the land. . . . She hath opened her mouth to wisdom, and the law of clemency is on her tongue. She hath looke 1 well to the paths of her house, and hath not eaten her bread idle. Her children rose up, and called her blessed : her husband, and h? praised her. . . . Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain ; the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands : and let her works praise her in the gates." Ecclesiastes xxxi., 10-31.) In the Church, however, and particularly among the religious Orders, the old industrial pursuits have not been entirely abandoned, and these now come in as an admirable adjunct in the education of the young. True, owing to the barren home-influences brought to bear on the latter, effective co-operation has been wanting, but the good work grows apace, and strong efforts are made to encourage it. Among these, we notice that Eight Rev. Bishop Gilmour gives a gold medal annually for domestic economy at St. Mary's Academy, Notre Dame, Ind., and another in the same'branch at the Ursuline Academy in his own episcopal city of Cleveland. We mention these as examples that have come to our notice, and not as exceptions, for we believe a similar plan is pursued in all our first-class conventual educational institutes, where education in its various branches is intended, and adapted, to meet some want in life, in household economy as well as the fine arts, the useful as well as the ornamental. When a young lady leaves school her education is incomplete, according to their staudard, unless she knows how to cut and make a shirt as well as to ornament a smoking-cap or pair of slippers, to manage htr laundry and kitchen as well as her pinno or harp — to be, in short, a " valiant woman," whose praises we have quoted from Holy Scripture. This is the aim, to a greater or less extent, of most of our educational institutes for young ladies ; so that, apart from the higher and more important matter of moral training, in which they arc unexcelled, it is not to be wondered at that our convent schools are so well patronised by wis^e non- Catholics, who look to the true welfare of their daughters. — Avc Maria,