Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/28

38 with her personal character and amiability, obtained for her a numerous circle of admirers and friends. When all hope of a brighter future for Italy seemed lost in the sorrowful result of its struggle for freedom, Catharina Ferucci wrote, with lacerated heart, but with firm hope and love, her work for the moral and intellectual education of la donna Italiana. She wishes to educate mothers, in the young women, who will give sons and daughters to Italy; to elevate its life effectually, and to make it noble and independent. She feels profoundly that which is wanting in the Italian woman, and has a deep conviction of the vocation of woman, and her power as an educator, especially by example and influence. As Beatrice awoke in Dante a vita nuova, which led him to the highest virtues as citizen on earth, and to a sight of the light and truth of heaven; as the silent prayers and patient, steadfast love of Monica, drew her son Augustine from a life of earthly pleasure to a life in God; so will the noble woman, in noble truth and the highest love, also attract in our days, the hearts of sons, and of man in general, to a life of virtue.

Like Madame Neckar de Saussure, Catharina Ferucci founds her doctrines of education upon the impulse towards perfection, which she regards as a mainspring in the human breast, and she is less afraid than the Swiss lady of extending the horizon of woman's life and knowledge, as far as this divine impulse may require. The Swiss lady dwelt on a lake amongst lofty walls of mountains; the Italian dwells beside the vast ocean, and nothing impedes her view into the far distance. One peculiarity in Catharina