THE ENGLISH GOVERNESS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I have read with much interest the article in the Spectator of June 7th on " The English Governess." I heartily agree with the writer in his estimate of the character and high ideals of the majority of those who go in for this
career, but I should like to suggest that his view of the position of the governess is too rose-coloured ; it has not improved in proportion to her education and to the status of women in other professions. I have had a wide acquaintance with teachers in families of the upper class, and I have been distressed to find how lonely and narrowing their life often is. They may " come from the drawing-room," but I fear, in very many cases, the employer still considers that " an honour is being conferred" by an occasional invitation to " sit in the drawing-room." As to sports, it is by no means the rule that the governess has the "freedom of the golf links and the tennis court and the river." Very often her oppor- tunities for games depend entirely on whether her pupils happen to be of an age and to have the tastes to make her participation in their games useful to them. Of course, I do not deny that a considerable change for the better has taken place, but there is still much need for improvement, which I think might be hastened if speakers and writers on educa- tional subjects would devote some of their enthusiasm to championing the cause of a silent and long-suffering branch of the teaching profession. There are many good-natured but thoughtless employers who would try to give their governesses more opportunities for social intercourse and culture if they realized the cramping effect of the life to which they are often condemned.—I am, Sir, &c. Y. Z.
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