Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-05-23
+. ThE freEM&u.
MONTPELIER,V VT.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 90, 1877.
Liberal Education for Women.

WEDNESDAY, MAY %, 1877.
Liberal Education for Women.
il foreigner were to examine the lists
of eollepes which admit women, he would
ba eatislied that the women had no more
to ask for, and yet we who know the ae-
lu6E Facts must recognize the truth that the
nnaiber of real colleges which admit them
Us Iheir advantages is very small. A sharp
lias-that of education-divdes them
ins two clearly distinct classes; and, with
0na exception, this line divides them fair
h IS to requirements and character of
work. A liberal education is not under
hIood to be one which fits for any special
work in life, but it does propose to furnish
nlatform of mental training wide enough
ana strong enough to bear any superstruc-
tire which it may be afterward desirable
lo raise upon it, 1t is for this very reason
lhat it can not logically make any differ
dnHe in its work for the two sexes Its
iflts is TO put human beings into as full
b6ssession of their faculties as they can
alain, minus the training of actual life.
And woman for her life, as well as man
|of bis, is better fitted for every part Of her
ed.aing problem with the training which
lhis and only this gives. Afterward the
irofessional school, or her circumstances,
shall train her for her special work. But
ia f:lr as the college training goes it can
not logically concern itself whether its
snbiects are men or women. When it does,
hid attempts so to modify the usual even
| ~ Balanced training as TO suit the special
mental nature of woman, we almost GER
laihly discover in its work less vigorous
method, and consequently lower stand
ara of demands and requirements. The
men's colleges admitting both sexes, and
Making no special provision for women,
which, is the same thing as offering equal
adTantagcs, are Michigan, Cornell and
Boston University. The one which, though
Exclusively for women, is yet constantly
and persistentlv holding to the same stand
nrd. is Smith. The two which, freighted
with Il preparatory departments are being
Dragged down by it, are Vassar and Well
esley.
When any college attempts to be u ''col-
IeQe in education, but u family in govern
meht," it attempts an impossible combi-
nalion, for the idea which lies Mt the
basis of the college is radically
Inherent from that at the basis of
|le family. We might as well attempt
o combine the necessary severity of the
nnnishment for crime by the state with
ihe infinite tenderness of forgiveness of
III by the church. A family of two hun
afed members is an impossibllity as much
AS Il square circle. We must choose be-
IWeen the two. If the government of the
InInily be better for the girl, let her have
itN But if the education of the college be
lesirabe that and that alone must be de-
3anded.
Nc are brought again TO the first point,
lhat college education. if it is to be of real
rAluc, must not take into view the differ
Asiee of SEX bat must make its course of
slhdy and training such rs will best put
lhe human mind into possession of its
lAeultics. Smith College stands thus alone.
lAntirely Independent of Amherst--as
much SO as Yale or Halvard-it presents
Ia us u college exclusively for women with
. n0 exclusively woman's standard. For
aimission it makes rs much demand in
Aeomctry as Princeton, Amherst, Column
6ia or Yale; in algebra, rs much as
oolumbia, or Amherst. The ques-
Ion which has been raised by some as TO
bat the young women graduates Of our
eblegos shall do, does not seem to be any
fAore pertinent than the equally persistent
4hestion, What shall the young men
faduates do? The latter will 90 on in
TIA a few, u very few, will become prom
iaent lawyers, statesmen, physicians,
eleroymen, writer's; u large number will
hccome steady merchants aud business
men, fathers Of families, useful members
| of the great framework of society; Il con-
siaerabe number will not be even that,
ahd will be lost sight Of after few years
Because Il man has had a college cduca-
ION, he is not necessarily n marked man; ;
ilflt if he has rightly used the opportuni-
tles offered to him at any well-ordered col
lege. his whole life will be broadeued and
sleadied, whatever relations he may come
ID hold 10 society, and society or solitude
vi be found TO yield to him all its posi-
kilities And so it will be with the wo-
Atpn. They will come back from their col
&c life to their homes with broader APP
ureciaton of the value of those homes,
Ehey will find their own places. Some
iss.V will go into professional life. Schools
arc eagerly watching to utilize all who
nav choose to labor in that line for IN in
dependent life and they will start fairly in
tie work of teaching, and hence not break
Town physically in it.
Some will give us books which will, we
trnst, SAVIOR more oil the impartiality and
breadth Of the writings of the English
NDinen than Of the flippancy and super
ieiality of the American style, The ma
Gritty will organize homes of their own,
VII become, like the men, heads of fami-
lies, and their whole lives in all their de-
tsils will, like those Of the men be broad
aned and stcadied by their college train.
ing. They will hold their lives in THEN
own control, and not be swept away by the
lorce of undisciplined impulses These
viii be the majority. No inconsiderablc
Hercentagc, as with the young men, will
make no mark We are not TO trouble
onrselvos so much rs to what young wo
men graduates shall do, any more than
nbout what the young men graduates shal
10. They will 90 10 their own place. -
spno c. BracbeH, IN Harper'S Maga2inc
INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE. The White
House is crowded every day with visitors
ome of whom call to pay their respects
&o the President, while others bear pack
les of autographic recommendations fol
lace, of high or low degree. The from
Aoor stands invitingly open in the morning
8r all 10 enter, and in the ante room at
the top of the stairs an obliging clerk, who