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140 Old-time Schools and School-books
Throughout the country as a whole there began to be a considerable change in public sentiment regarding feminine education immediately after the Revolution, and within a decade or two, most places allowed the girls to attend all the town schools. Yet the new advantages were accorded only gradually and in the face of a good deal of opposition. At first some towns were cautious enough to arrange that the boys should be sent home earlier in the forenoon and afternoon to give the girls a chance to come in for the time remaining; but the girls could attend all of Thursday afternoon, for that was the boys' holiday. Even these slender schooling privileges were cut off in the winter out of consideration for " the female health." Thus the summer district schools in many instances continued to be, if not the only educational reliance of the girls, at least a very important one. There they were taught reading, writing, and spelling, and great attention was paid to polite behavior. The scholars " made their manners "—that is, the girls dropped a |
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A Reward of Merit, about 1820.
courtesy and the boys bowed, to the teacher when they came into the schoolroom and when they left it. They made their manners while out at play to |
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