THE ENGLISH GOVERNESS.
[TO TEE EDITOR Or TER "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—May I be permitted to add a few suggestions on. the subject of the English governess, about whom " Y. Z." wrote such an admirable letter in the Spectator of June 14th? In the first place, is it not a mistake to look through rose- coloured spectacles at a life which is of necessity, as "Y. Z." points out, lonely and "cramping in effect "? Must it not be- an essentially difficult position to fill satisfactorily—and one that requires almost superhuman tact—to strike the mean between on the one hand shirking what may be a duty, and on the other hand giving cause for that most cruel of accuse- tions, which the French express in a nutshell—" de trop " ?• Again, now that so many members of that " silent and long-- suffering branch of the teaching profession " undergo a very arduous and specialized training at college and even University,. it seems hardly fair to call upon the governess to combine the work of instructress, companion, and nurse. How cam parents expect that the child's mind will grow and develop OM the right lines, if the source from which it draws its inspiration has become arid and dry through lack of time and opportunity for private reading, which alone can replenish its springs ? May I suggest also that time devoted to the physical as well as to the mental recreation of the governess is no loss to the employer, for "a sound mind in a sound body" must make for the happiness of all with whom she comes in contact F' Let the employer remember that in most cases the governess has- her own life still before her to make, and however self-denying she may be, he has no right to demand of her that she should become a mere automatic household and teaching machine. It has always seemed to me somewhat inexplicable that so, much patronage and contempt should be directed towards a' profession which all must own should hold out nothing, derogatory or in any way contemptible. Associations die hard, and so much stigma has been attached in past years to the very name of " governess" that would it not be better to change it? Is there no meet feminine equivalent to the
honourable term " tutor " P—I am, Sir, &c., A FRIEND.
Previous page
