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

action. Last Winter the horses were discovered to
much service to Vassar, and they were forthwith
disposed or their places to be supplied IN the Fal
The riding arena is roomy. and IKE eyerytaai n
else at Vassar, airy ndcheerful. From the rldlng
school you thread your way TO the bowling alley,
or what once held that position. But evidently
pastime which suggested o likeness to the male
sex, and the bowling alley has been handed over
TO the caprices OF such scholars as are iond OF
devices In evergreens and the formation OF leay
notices Half finished names and sentences
wrought In greenery are on the door, and
The The ten;pi nI. are ns. fed.
And the bowling alley deserted
Ample indemnity awaits us, however, on opening
another door and being shown tntO-a theatre. U,
no, let us call 1t lecture room. There IL pretty
little stage at the upper end. and the looped-up
painted by the pupils A friendly row Of footlghis
has strong theatrical appearance, and 1t Is intt-
mated that occasionally fve-act comedies and clas-
steal tragedies find exposition upon these boards.
More than one pupil has shown emphatic histrlOnic
talent But recreatlons like these are intended
an imperceptibiy small relation to the regular
course OF studies The second story OF this build
ing is occupied by twenty little rooms, and eacn
room Is occupied by piano. The separating walls
are SO constructed as to deaden the sound, and
thither twenty pupils can repair and smultane-
turbing one another. glorious privilege truly,
and one which whoever has lived IN Q New York
oGaa nva house VIII ts Not
quite. Your correspondent expressed to Professor
Backus his Surprise that among so many provisions
for swimming school, and was informed that this
Is precisely what Is in contemplation. A few
months or few years will witness the erection Of
one and, 1t be permissible to base Judgment upon
present indications, future graduates OF Vnssar
VIII not be ignorant of the natatory art. Add to
one side of the house and lake It's placidity at
the foot Of q gentle declivity short distance In
another direction, and the cup OF enjoyment OF the
Vassar student would seem to be lull. Each young
lady has her own little patch Of ground tocultvate
II she so list, and moored at the ponds eWee are
dozen row boats which daily propelled by feml-
nine arms and hands. This little ponds locality Is
romantic nook, brooding and dreaming. Perhaps
on this account may be excused for drawing once
more upon the poet when he says:-
One walked recitins by herself ana one
Ana smoothed pered peacock down with that;
Or SY ss o GaFs %a sea 5IsSy
Mun S from the hid and sought
Above the fountain Jets and back again
YIN laughter others lay about the lawns
Was passing. What was learning unto them
But at this point is necessary to lay the finger
when spoken OF the Amazonian college in "The
Princess " Is rank heresy when applied to yassar.
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
like the fish, flesh and fowl in early Eden, it is per-
feet after Its kind and it would not much surprise
TO eapo ta n
meet with such an Institution uniting In 80
harmonious a degree care for the mental,
womanY Alter having been through Vassar-after
having visited alike kitchen and parlor, observa-
dory ana laboratory riding school and bowling
ing pond, parlor and refectory, art gallery and
library-you cannot help bordering the first time
you get alone in regard to the future woman. We
all know the charming but slightly rigid ideal
erected by that disneartenng materialist, DR..
B0chner, whose Intellectual woman OF the future
will probably as much disdain to have her descent
from the present girl Of the period as the ad-
mirers OF Professor Agasslz disdain the ancestry
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
when ! see their serene faces and healthy and
Astounding frames am reminded OF that passage
in one Of Theodore Parker's prayers, wherein
young woman's life when the body, unaccustomed
to the experience OF the world, runs over
with the vernal energies Of fe's inciplent year.
one is reminded OF all the good and great things
which manly and womanly thinkers have SAID
about woman, Of the wise ana tie, terse remarks
Sophia Jex Blake, Huxley, John Stuart Mill, George
Macdonald, Mrs. and Miss Austen, James Bryce,
kin, Erckmann-C hatrian, Miss Mulock and all the
rest Of them. from Seneca to John Stores Smith.
more opposite remark than when. several years
ago, It said, IN an article ON Female Edncation,"
ss k Wneh 70 eaaossa Gs 9Re
wider object of providing the perfect woman,
nobly planned, who shall be equal to the occasion,
companion to husband whose home it is
desired her to bless with offspring, or per-
chance to illustrate in single blessedness the
sunny afternoon OF unmarried life." 1t seems to
your correspondent that this work Is something
very much like what Vassar Is doing; not concern
ing itself with those political aspects which certain
parties would seek TO force upon it, 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 1t 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
the din of the busy world, but others with arms
which will have sway and lips that will proclaim
themselves. Here are Maithas and Marys, and
Esthers and Vashtls, and kuths and Orpahs, and
Rebeccas and Rowenas. Here is an inciplent Mrs.
Somerville and here the budding OF q Madame de
Sevigne. The Joans d'Arc and the Maids OF Sara
gossa are always lew and far between, but not so
Eliot would say, by pr0saic conditions. Is 1t DIFF
fcult to see why, In the long run, Vassar Should
he er nsens ueows and I er
Brontes ana her Dicknsons, her Elizabeth Carriers
and Hannah Mores, her DE Staas and Swetchnes,
her Nightingaes and Kauffmanns, her Elizabeth
Frys and Emily Faithulls l cannot see the alb
surdity OF such anticipations, though perhaps 1t
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 abasned. The average young
man of to-day would be apt to be q little afraid OF
the vile who could answer him in one tongue and
think In another; who knew less about pes than
pal1ontOlogy; and who was apter at invoking
breeze than at invoking bread lie would shrink
from her when she came eated from the SWIM
ming school, or, like Diana Vernon, boosted Of the
five-barred gates her horse had leaped. When she
asked him TO go boating with her he would re-
member, with u shiver, the awful rowings up
she had given him a. home, and when she boosted
OF her mastery OF foreign tongues he would silently
reflect that hers was the only one OF which he had
ha
the other tack and be magnanimous enough to
admire u woman so vastly his superior? Would he
jump ut the chance OF committing Professor Wagner
when he says that the more richly convoluted
brains coexist with great intelligence, and that
the average female brain has not such complex
cOnvolutions as the average male brainY Would
he side with Mrs. Lewes when she makes one OF
her characters remark, GAS for my poor child Re-
mola 1t is as | always SAID; the examining with
Latin and Greek has left her as much woman
IL she had done nothing all day but prick ner
fingers with the needle" 1t Is impossible TO say