1821 Rules of the Litchfield Female Academy
(1) You are expected to rise early and be drest neatly, to exercise before breakfast and to retire to rest when the family in which you reside desire you to and you must consider it a breach of politeness if you are requested a second time to rise in the morning or retire in the evening.
(2) You are requested not only to exercise in the morning but also in the evening sufficiently for the preservation of health.
(3) It is expected that you never detain the family by unnecessary delay either at meals or family prayers; to be absent when grace is asked at table or when the family have assembled to read the word of God and to solicit His favour discovers a want of reverence to His holy name a cold and insensible heart which feels no gratitude for the innumerable benefits received daily from his hand.
(4) It is expected as rational and immortal beings that you read a portion of the scripture both morning and evening with meditation and prayer, that you never read the word of God lightly or make use of any scriptural phrase in a light manner.
(5) It is expected that you attend public worship every Sabbath unless some unavoidable circumstance prevent which you will dare to offer as a suficient apology at the day of Judgment.
(6) Your deportment must be grave and decent while in the house of God and you must remember that all light conduct in a place of worship is offensive to well bred people and highly displeasing to your Maker and Preserver.
(7) The Sabbath must be kept holy no part of it wasted in sloth frivolous conversation or light reading. Remember dear youth that for every hour, but particularly for the hours of the Sabbath you must give an account to God.
(8) Every hour during the week must be fully occupied either in useful employment or rational amusement while out of school: two hours must be employed each day in close study and every hour during the week must be fully occupied.
(9) No person must interrupt their companions either in school or the hours devoted to study by talking, laughing, or any unnecessary noise.
(10) Those hours devoted to any particular occupation must not be devoted to any other employment. Nothing great can be accomplished without attention to order and regularity.
(11) The truth must be spoken at all times, on all occasions though it might appear advantageous to tell a falsehood.
(12) You must suppress all emotion of anger and discontent. Remembering how many blessings God is continually bestowing upon you for which he requires not only contentment, but a cheerful temper.
(13) You are expected to be polite in your manners, neat in your person and room, careful of your books and cloths, attentive to economy in all your expenses.
A DEFINITION OF POLITENESS.
Persons truly polite will treat their superiors with respect and deference and their equals with affability and complaisance. They will never be boistrous or rude in their manners will never talk or laugh loud will avoid all vulger and profane words as both mean and sinful. They will never consider loud laughing a mark of wit or romping indicative of sprightliness. They will never smile at the mistakes of those who may happen to be more ignorant than themselves, will never make reports of the fault and failures of their misfortunes, but will on all occasions treat others as they would have others behave to them. result in their certificate, must never have lost 3 hours holiday for noise and must have to be shown at the close of the school three months journal or eight dissertations.
(14) Talebearing and scandal are odious vices, and must be avoided: neither must you flatter your companions by remarks on their beauty, dress or any slight accomplishment in order to increase their vanity.
(15) While you are forbidden to report things to the disadvantage of your companions, you are at the same time requested to inform oue of your teachers if you know of any conduct deserving of reproof not from malice but a true friend lest the fault should become a habit too strong to eradicate in future.
(16) Every person is bound to conform to the rules of the family where she resides. She must never go out of an evening without the permission of the heads of the family where she resides, read no books, engage in no amusements without their knowledge and approbation.
(17) Speaking or moving once whether with or without liberty will take off the extra and more than once will give J of a miss. Two hours holiday lost for noise in the same week will take off 30 credit marks.
(18) Every person is forbidden to tell or be told in their lessons. The course of study prescribed for those who wish to take degrees will consist of the following branches —
Morses Geography,
Websters Elements English Grammer,
Miss Pierces History,
Arithmetic through Interest,
Blair's Lectures,
Modern Europe,
Ramsey's American Revolution,
Natural Philosophy,
Chemistry,
Paley's Moral Philosophy,
Hedge's Logic and
Addision on Taste.
If any person wishes to obtain the last honors of the school it will be necessary for them to have finished this course, and to have accomplished it in order. Should any person wish to study any of these branches to the exclusion of the rest they are at liberty to do it but they will be considered as having declined being candidates for the degree
The candidates must answer 8/9 of their questions in all branches in General Examination. They must at no time have lost their whole holiday and in order to ascertain this they must have credit mark. They must never have lost more than one hour of their holiday for the same..
