The National tribune., 1883-05-24

own scruples or those of their friends, objected
to mixed evening classes
The desire to raise in the college living
monument to him whose efforts on behalf of
women never ceased, and whose interest in all
that pertained to their Improvement and cuI-
ture was never diminished, has been the lead
ing motive of some who have worked in it.
His influence has upheld and guided them I'M
der Encouragement and difficulty, and enabled
them to meet and overcome opposition The
work which he has begun will not fail So
long as there are lonely and uneducated wO-
men, so long viii there be some to step forward
and seek to make their lives luminous with
love and knowledge; and so long viii there be
some to recall with ardent and grateful affec-
ton the honored name of Frederick DenisOn
Maurice"
1t is delightful to find an institution embody-
ing so thoroughly the best modern theory of
philanthropy. The end sought is help to self
help, and the means used are admirably COM
prehensive; knowledge of bookkeeping, cook
ing, sewing, means not only more money ac-
tually earned by the pupiI-it means also relief
to the suffering ranks OF the unskilled who gain
by every removal from their number But
technical skill is a small part of the help which
the college offers; every day of recuperatiOn
during country holiday, every rule of health
learned from books borrowed from the lending
library, Is help of q vital kind to the woman
whose strength is her one reliance, while the
habit of saving and acquiring knowledge of
the laws affecting her slender property may be
worth to the working woman almost as much as
her craft itself Incidental to membership of
the college, and as valuable, perhaps, as the
study, is the friendly relation engendered among
the students. In this age of association, work
ing women have not been quick TO profit by the
possibility OF cooperation; and everything
which aWakens them to the uses of friendliness
ON 0fpsr tEaY,l IL ca Ii, II,
Miss Martin calls attention to the fact that
the Evening College for Working Women at
South Kensington, has already sprung from
the example of the college in Fitzroy street"
So have the evening classes for working women
in Girard street, Philadelphia, and, Indirectly,
the classes under the care of the WOmaD's
Christian Association and the ladies of the
First Unitarian church, of that city Doubt
less the same conditions are giving rise to the
same work in other cities, where little OF Moth
ing may be known OF FitzrOy street or the Lon
don College for Working Women. Much resem-
blance exists between the WOman's Industrial
and Educational Union, of Boston, and the
London college, while Cooper Union is accom-
plishing ike educational results after method
of its own.
THE STATE AT FAULT.
One point, however, should be borne in mind
The educational part of this work is eur con-
The State, with u.s. charges itself with the
task of giving to every child power to read and
write and cipher; and every woman who pain
fully masters her spelling lesson in the classes
IN GiraTd street, Is proof that the State does
not live up to its principles. IL is good that
private beneficence should exc out with history
literature and music, the scanty culture that
the mill-hand could acquire before leaving
school at twelve OF fifteen years Of age. Is it
good that private beneficence should give her
as charity, that which the State owes her as
her right-the rudimentary knowledge of Eng
glish, arithemetie, and writing, obtainabIe be-
fore her life of drudgery begins? Should there
not be, every night in the year, a school to
which such pupils could be sent, the college or
the classes of the benevolent receiving only
pupils to whom the municipality has given the
rudIments which, IN America, we boast as the
possession of all who care to received Mean
while, Is it not question whether the women
who are nobly sharing their wealth of culture
with their less fortunate sisters. might not give
more effective help by turning their attention
to the administration of our defective municipal
night schools?
There is work enough for all the colleges and
classes in giving technical training in sewing.
cooking, bookkeeping, drawing, photography
and type writing; In the advanced branches,
which have practical utility in certain kinds of
work, as French and German have for many
working women; and in the sefni-social branches
such as reading aloud and singing, which have
Infinite value for home life. That volunteers
should find themselves, as they often do in the
Philadelphia classes, embarrassed for advanced
work by the multitudes of pupils who hunger
for rudimentary instruction, is disgrace to our
educational system. FIX.