The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-06-25

Have we reached the end OF our tether yet? Not
BacEus lis Surprise that among 50 many provisions
for perfect education room had not yet been made
for swimming school, and was informed that this
Is precisely what Ii in contemplation. lew
months or q few years will witness the erection OF
one and, II be permissible TO base Judgment upon
be Of te co
this that q flower garden spreads its coIors upon
one side OF the house and lake It's placidity AZ
the foot Of gentle declivity short distance In
another direction, and the cup OF enjoyment OF the
vassar student would seem to be iull. Each young
hss al the are
dozen row boats which are daily propelled by fein.
nine arms and hands. This little ponds locality Is
on this account may be excused for drawing once
more upon the poet when he says
One walked recitinG by herself ana one
In this hand held a volume as 70 read
or under arches Of the marble bridge
huas s @ o ohsfs h Sa and sought
M A5eSe the fountain .. Jets and back again
Of the older sort and surmisea that their May
But at this point 1t is necessary to lay the finger
against the poets lips for what might be truth
when spoken Of the Amazonian college in "The
Princess " is rank heresy when applied to Vassar.
THOUGHTS ABOUT vAssAR.
The writer OF this letter confesses to being aston.
ished at vassar. Taking 1t all in all, it seems as
complete as logarithum, as perfect as an ode by
Collins or an elegy by Gray, and as full Of illustra
ti0n as scientific paper in triple sheet TRIBUNE;
like the fish, flesh and fowl in early Eden it is per-
me to learn that special blessing has been pro-
nounced upon it. Where else in America will you
meet with such an Institution uniting in 50
harmonious degree care for the mental,
moral, physical and social welfare Of young
womanY Alter having been through vassar-after
having visited alike kitchen and paror Observa-
tory and laboratory, riding school and bowling
alley, theatre and chapel, flower garden and beat
Pyn Cannot held pondeTng the Enlist rss time
you get alone in regard to the future woman. We
oil know the charming but slightly frigid ideal
erected by that dsheartening materialist, DR..
Bachner, whose intellectual woman OF the future
will probably as much disdain to have her descent
Of Agas ds9an the noe
which Darwin defines for them In the ape. Well,
the mill OF Vassar turns out better women Than the
Buchnerian ideal. The girls and women, when you
meet them are integers OF girls, not fractions; and
when | see their serene faces and healthy and
Astounding frames am reminded of that passage
he thanks God for the period In the
young woman's life when the body, qnaccustomed
with the vernal energies OF life's incipent year.
one is reminded OF all the good and great things
about woman, OF the wise and terse remarks
which have streamed from such lips as those or
sophia Jex Blake Huxley John stuart MIL George
J. G. Fitch, Ernest Legouve, Ed. Laboulaye Rus
kin. Erckmann-Chatrian,M Miss Mulock, and all the
rest OF them, from Seneca to John Stores Smith.
To my mind the quarterly ReUte,c never made
more opposite remark than when several years
ago, it said in an article on "Female Education"
something like ls:-"Tn3t system should recon-
mend itself which purpdrts to educate for the
wider object OF providing the perfect woman,
whether 1t be the bringing up OF children, to be
companion to q husband whose home it is
chance to illustrate in single blessedness the
sunny afternoon OF unmarried life." 1t seems to
Your s TINS Is
ing itself with those political aspects which certain
parties would seek TO force upon 1t, but giving to
women such an education as Will best enable them
to transact the duties which may fall to them. In
remembering how long Vassar has been in exist
ence it seems to him that almost every type OF
womanhood, from Eve to Mary has there found
Observation-Disclosures with faint voices and weak
hands, perhaps, and doomed not to be heard above
which Will have sway ana lips that will proclaim
themselves. Here are Maithas and Marys, and
Esthers and Vashts, and kuths and Orpahs, and
Rebeccas and Rowenas: Here is an incipient Mrs.
Somerville and here the budding OF . Madame de
Sevigne. The Joans dArc and the Maids OF sara
gossa are always lew and far between, but not SO
the undeveloped st. Theresa, hampered, as George
Eliot would say by prosatc conditions. Is It dlf.
not boast Of sending forth Ger Edgcworths and
her Austens, her IngleOws and Rossettis, her
Brontes and her Dickinsons, her Elizabeth Carriers
and Hannah Mores, her De StaeIs and Swetchines,
her Nghtingales and Kaudmanns her Elizabeth
Frys and Emily Faithlullss l cannot see the alb
surdity OF such anticipatioEs, though perhaps 1t
will be equally interesting to consider what the
average man Of the future Is gong to do amid
such an abundance OF highly educated women.
We can imagine the poor creature sinking into
himself somewhat abashed. The average young
Of to-day would be apt to be little afraid OF
the wife who could answer him in one tongue and
think In another; who knew less about PIES than
pal9ontology; and who was apter at invoking
breeze than at invoking bread. He would shrink
from her when she came elated from the swim
ming school, or like Diana Vernon, boosted OF the
1ive-barred gates her horse had leaped. When she
asked him TO go boating with her he would re-
member, with u SILVER, the awful rowings up
she had given him a. home, and when she boosted
OF her mastery OF foreign tongues ne would silently
reflect that hers was the only one OF which he had
had too much. Or Is 1t possible that he would go on
the other tack and be magnanimocs enough to
admire woman so vastly his superior? Would he
jump ut the chance OF confuting Professor wagner
when he says that the more richly convOuted
brains coexist with great intelligence, ana that
the average female brain has not such complex
convolutons as the average male brainS Would
he side with Mrs. Lewes when she makes one OF
mola, 1t is as l always said; the examining with
Latin and Greek has left her as much woman as
ns sen w aa tSe neeIe II Is possbe 10 saw
through what difficulties the finely cultured
woman might have to steer, but let US hope That
the same virtues which compelled her to make use
OF the opportunities provided would lead her not
TO throw herself away upon worthless or an In
apprecative man. Happiness, as the talented
obiigat0 accompaniment 10 such wel-directed en-
ergy and not De brought to sudden and perma-
nent Standstil by an ill-assOrted match.
DAILY LIFE--THE COLLEGE YEAR.
Some idea OF the daily lie at this wonderful
place might, perhaps, not appropriately intro
duce the close this letter At six O'Clock in the
morning ten strokes upon one of the electric bells
already mentioned inform the pupils that day has
begun for them. At quarter past seven 1or-
merry at q quarter to seven) every pupil Is ex
pected to be occupying her seat at one OF the
numerous tables with which the dining room
abounds. Conversation is permitted during meals
and half an hour is devoted to breakfast. During
any time within that half hour student may with
draw being excused by the lady presiding at
that table, Dinner is served at O'Clock ana tea
at SIX. II might be mentioned in passing That a
great deal OF diflculty was experienced In procur
blessing seems now to have been attained. The
meals are provided In much the same way those
OF a hotel, ana the first impression o bind
| folded visitor might have. whose eyes
we're first unbandaged in the dining room
or the Kitchen, would probably be that
he was in new, first class watering place hotel.
Morning prayers In the chapel follow breakfast,
and then occurs the 'silent timen OF twenty
minutes when each young lady Is in her room
alone, and no one throughout the vast building Is
| permitted to infringe upon any one else. Recrea-
ION 10 fhn rttlA min uvhn tnsu md "a.