The high school for girls, Montreal.

• Main Author: Burdett, Gillian. M.
• Other Authors: Cooper, J. (Supervisor)
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 1963
• Subjects: History.
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=115053

In the nineteenth century, no one denied the value of education as a means: “to develop the mind, to give discipline and to impart the power to think," but for many years the education given to girls was somewhat lacking in these very particulars. It was then considered the duty of every young girl to marry. A working-class girl through economic necessity had her living to earn, and therefore, followed a trade, or entered a factory until she married. A middle-class girl had, however, no “work" as such to do, and spent her early years learning to appear in the drawing room as an accomplished and well-bred lady. Mrs. De Wahl in her book “Hints on Training of Girls at School” published in England in 1847, lists the main subjects learnt by girls.