Plain-text transcription of the essay: (From the Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, Series 1, Volume 1, Number 1, Pages 2-3, May 1852) Written by the editor: Samuel Orchart Beeton
 
ESSAY – FEMALE EDUCATION.
 
In advocating the extension of female education to all classes of society, we must not be understood as recommending that kind of education which prevails almost universally among the higher circles. Showy accomplishments may win a husband, but can do little towards making him a happy one; therefore the whole system of genteel education may be regarded as a system of deceit, and its natural consequence must be to bring accomplishments of every kind into discredit. There would obviously be as many young women married – and in all probability more – if these deceptions were never practised; and it must be the aim of a sound system of education to cultivate those sterling qualities which will make a good wife, instead of imparting that superficial polish which only give the appearance of one. The ambition that induces the young women of the present day to show off all their fine qualities, and to put themselves prominently forth, defeats in a great measure its intended object. Young men of sense are most attracted by retiring modesty; and perfections are wonderfully magnified to every eye by its own discovery of them. 
 
Female education – as indeed, education of every kind – must, of course, begin with spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic. To these should be added an outline of geographical and historical knowledge, so that some general conception may be retained of the relative position of different countries, and the mutual relations of the great events which have agitated the world. Among all these acquisitions, however, we give the first place to good spelling; for we do not know of anything more fatal to sentimental appreciation, or more calculated to make a woman ridiculous, than glaring defects in orthography. Music and drawing are agreeable additions, if there be time and inclination for them; but strictly speaking, they are no more parts of education than skipping or playing at ball; and it is as absurd to give up much time to such accomplishments as to spend time over the girlish amusements we have indicated. Modern languages, again, are in many cases eligible acquisitions; but we do not conceive they should generally form a part of female education, but should be a mere recreation, which may be resorted to, and will prove advantageous when circumstances warrant and opportunities occur, if there be the leisure and inclination. In all cases, we think, languages should be learned by rote – by discoursing with another person in the language to be acquired, if that be possible; and if not, by the aid of an interlinear translation. 
 
It is to the subject of domestic duties, however, that the utilitarian part of female education should be chiefly directed; and young women should be instructed in all those things it is necessary for them to know when they come to have houses to direct or to manage. Of cookery, for example, they should have a competent knowledge; not such as is derived from a collection of empirical recipes, but such as flows from the apprehension of a few great principles which are applicable under all circumstances, with a suitable variation. Cookery is more a matter of common-sense than most people imagine; and a slight tincture of chemical knowledge is very useful to those who practise it, so as to enable them to simplify by generalisation, and to deviate successfully from ordinary modes, as new circumstances arise to render such a course expedient. The method of se- 

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lecting the best and most economical materials to be employed in cookery is another useful branch of knowledge connected with the same subject. In washing and cleansing, again, in the care and preparation of furniture and dress, in the economisation of heat, and in the accomplishment of effectual ventilation, the female should by her education be sufficiently informed and made acquainted with the most approved modes; and a love of order and cleanliness and neatness should be so grafted upon her nature by habit, that her home, however high or however humble, shall never be deficient in these qualities. Finally, she should be instructed in the mode by which, in the simplest and most ordinary cases, health may be preserved or restored, and more particularly how the most prevalent ailments of children may be dissipated or averted. These are things of which she must acquire a knowledge before she can duly perform the duties of a wife and mother; and it is surely better to make them a part of education than to leave them to the chance of being acquired among the distractions of mature existence, and only after bitter experience and repeated failure have shown that they cannot be done without. 
 
There is one part of female cultivation, however, that we have not yet mentioned, though of infinitely greater consequence than all the rest – the cultivation of the heart. It can signify but little what a woman’s other perfections may be, if she be destitute of tenderness and sensibility, or if her heart be not pure as the spotless snow “that hangs on Diana’s temple.” A wife is nothing to her husband whose heart is not bound to his by the sympathies of a kindred spirit – which, like that invisible force that turns the needle to the pole, and binds creation together, must direct to his happiness every impulse of her being, thereby knitting soul to soul by the affinities of undying love. Where love reigns supreme the cares and distresses of life fade into insignificance, and all creation reflects the roseate tints of the soul’s hope and joy; but if love be dissipated or broken, the sun of existence is darkened, and creation relapses into chaos; the gay panorama of life, with its shifting lights and musical echoes, changing to the wailing and desolation of a funeral scene.