Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-03-20

but it is far more Objectionable to send youn;
girls away. They ought to live at hom'
while getting their preparatory education
and all the more if they are to follow it W
with college life. Domestic life is made null
to them thus. The only apology for having
preparatory school of the kind there, was
the fact that so many people live scattered
in the West that schools are not accessible
to them and the preparation required for q
college course could be obtained in no other
way. My heart used to ache for the lovely
little girls separated from their mothers at
an age when they shoull have been in their
arms every night, with al those little conf
dences and confessions that mothers only
can elicit No matron could supply the
mothers place, even if devoted solely to the
office of mothering the children of large
boarding-school.
But the case was very different with the
young women who came to take course of
college study. With an occasional exception,
they were of an age and maturity of charac-
| ter that made them competent to take care
of themselves. One of the chief principles
of that college discipline was the absence of
all emulation as motive power. There
were no honors to be studied for there was
not even rank list to show comparative
progress there was no competition for pre-
eminence in college graduation, for every
student was called upon to prepare himself
or herself to speak, and when the gradual
ing class was large the speakers were de-
termined by lot, and not by choice. No
pupil necessarily knew how fcllow-pupil
stood If i'll health interrupted study, time
avl =, a1-a a.
deficiencies without any publicity, so that
DR.. Clarke's objections to coeducation on
that score fell to the ground so far as that
college is concerned. The mental and moral
influences of the mutual college life were
very marked in the superior moral deport-
ment and refinement of manners in the young
men, and the unexcited and modest deInean-
or of the young women, both meeting with
mutual respect for each Others intellectual
and social claims. One or two instances of
extravagant ambition for scholarship, and
still more for despatch, were the only cases
of failure in health among the young women,
and these were not sanctioned or promoted by
any stimulus from the president or profes-
sors. One ambitious teacher in the depart
meat Of the preparatory school, who wished
the pupils in her classes to make a greater
show than Others, was duly checked by in
reference from the seats of authority. The
health Of both the young men and women
improved in a marked manner during their
college life. Many came with no knowledge
of hygiene or their own physiological need,
and special instruction was given in those
branches of knowledge. The health of the
girls was much better than that of the young
men.
Young women who came with their sys-
tens out of order, through ignorance and
unhealthy living, were greatly benefited,
and sent home to spread the knowledge they
had gained. But one death Of each sex hal
occurred in six years (the period of which
| write). and they were both cases Of poison
ing by food in metallic vessels; yet the
harlshiIs were great during the first years,
and the exposures rather exceptional, owing
to the poverty of the food and the inadequa-
cy Of the buildings As TO ventilation and |
water supply.
Regular occupation and mental activity /
are as good for women as for men. DR.. |
Clarke probably judges of women by the in
yalids he has tended, and his observations
have been chiefly limited, to all appearance,
to the unhealthiul life and habits Of cites. |
1t cannot be hard study that has chiefly in
lured the young women he has known. for | |
suspect few have ever undertaken it. Ii |
has been late hours. fashionable dress, with |
its necessary sacrifice of warmth and case, /
lighthouses and schools-rooms, and unnatural |
examining to meet the demands of unhealthy /
emulation