The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1873-07-02
THE EDUCATION OF. GIRLS.
What a Professor of Vassar College
Has to Say on the Subject.

iSollSSS o0N'Soo>SA 0
|Seience Convention on the subJec
of the education of girls. Lie be
gan by alluding to the practlca
works in behalf of the higher edu
cation of woman which had beer
begun at Vassar. That institution
was not founded on any theory O.
woman's education. The founder
| had none. He sought some objec'
Iof benevolence to which he might
devote he accumulations of an IN
dustrious life. The scope OF MS
idea was simply this, that lie might
establish and maintain an institu,
ton which would do for the-young
women what our colleges are doing
for the young men. lie had a con
viction that this part of the human
family was neglected by society;
Like a great many who have started
to do good in. that way, and follow
ing highly respectable precedents,
he put a large part of that donation
into forms which do not admit OF
change, but which commit the en-
.terprise in certain directions. He
felt that those who had enlisted in
the cause should give reasons to
satisfy the community that there is
a demand for more education for
women. The question is not as to
more education, but higher eduea-
ton. Education for women we
have in this country - more than
enough,I am sure, of some parts
of it. The question for the COM
munity is as follows: Is there need
of practical provision for higher
education than women have now
provided for them .... =.
Prof. Agassiz-And boys, too.
Prof. Raymond-Yes, and boys,
too; and yet I think that the gen
tlemana would not contend for a
moment that the condition of boys
and girls is in this respect on a lev
ell. Look at the collection of books
in the libraries of Europe and this
country. For whose benefit were
they made, and by whom are they
used? Is it not necessary, in this
day of the nineteenth century. in
the presence OF the intellectual
cream of Boston-is it not neces-
sary for an advocate Of the cuuse
of higher education for women
to plead that the mother University
of the land should open side door
aud let the girls in to sit down on
the end Of a bench and catch few
of the crumbs which fall from the
bouptifally provided table? Zap
plause7. He hoped they would not
open the doors to girls until the
managers were prepared to take the
responsibility which that act in
volved. And when they opened
their doors to, admit women they
wanted those doors front doors.
He held it to be an unsettled ques-
ton whether a liberal education
is the same thing for woman as for
man. There are differences Of di-
gestion and Of physical power be-
tween the sexes. There is some
antecedent probability that the re.
suit might be that the intellectual
pabulum appropriate to the two
might. require some modification,
but he believed that the result Of
experience aswell as sound philos.
ophy on this subject would warrant
the statement made by Professor
Agassiz. And, on the whole, it is
very difficult to say what there is
in science or literature that will do
the mans mind good that will not
do the woman's mind good. AT
Vassar they had far outgrown the
question whether girls can keep up
with boys. They have gentlemen
professors at Vassar, aad the ques-
tion among them is how to keep
ahead of the girls. 1t is not a
joke, but a fact. He was II years
professor III a boys college before
he went to Vassar, and 9 years the
head of a large boys school; yet
he never was so put to it to keep
up with his classes as in Vassar,
AS to the effect on their health, he
would challenge the United States
to turn out 400 young women be.
tween the ages of Is and "a that
will compare with Vassar College
girls. They have no sickly girls
there except those who came sick
aud they restore the health of a
very handsome percentage of these.
We know, and physiology gill.bea1
me out in the statement, that study
wisely pursued-suddenly pausing,
and pointing to the portly form Of
Professor Agassiz-look at Profes-
sor Agassiz and see the whole ar
gument embodied - that study
rightly pursued is beneficial to the
health. 1t is the healthiest occupa-
ton that 1 have ever tonnd, or my
daughters either. 1t is not study
that kills students; it is bad habits
bad living, and foolish methods oi
study. The whole question is: Is
| it possible that women should have
ali intellectual vocation-should be
called by Providence to such a life
! believe in education. 1t is the
milennial system of education