shed ladies of the courts, already married, taught 'classes' to the eager newcomers "when the future prospects of any girls warranted instruction in social graces, such maidens should be taught discreetly how to dance, do fancy needlework, and even to entertain young men on proper occasions" (Pearson 211). If a female shunned marriage for school, she could only find educational opportunities having to do with liberal arts. Subjects specifically adapted to girls were "drawing, writing, logic, rhetoric, philosophy, language, and housewifery" (Rowse 127). In the home, girls were taught from childhood how do their proper jobs. Mothers or older sisters were the primary educators. This older female "taught her about special dishes connected with cookery, special formulas for making salves and lotions, how to care for the injured as well as the sick, and how to concoct medicines or what medicines to order from the apothecary for certain diseases" (Pearson 213). In rare cases, "should a girl of the middle class prove to be gifted in caring for the sick, she might wish to enter a guild school, teaching her how to become a practitioner in some branch of medicine" (Rowse 128). These schools were most often expensive, and girls did not always complete the courses. As girls reached marriage-eligible age, their schooling became based on what was going to make men happy. Women strived to be married into the family of a socially prominent man. If this was to occur, "they must be put into service to some great lady at court, where they might become learned" (Sitwell 108) and trained to be the perfect wife. Men and women usually did not marry for love. Status was more important than personal happiness. Husband and wife learned to like each
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