The herald., 1895-04-27

dent to choose wives OF any mental at
tainment, as their tendency was to make
women concerted and prctentious. and not
duly subject co their husbands. The most
of US recollect when the common thing
in this country vas a masculine nom dc
plume for women in literature. 1t was
due to the general sentiment that such
exhibitions of intellect were ihdeli ate
and unwomanly. The presumption of
brains" on the part OF woman has always
been to her discredit, utterly at varience
with tn received idea of womanly charac-
ter, and quite likely to impair her deli
cacy. destroy her dom stIcity and con
found the distinction between the sexes.
From all this we can readily under
stand the origin of the term strong
minded an as epithet.
Americans have inherited English tradi-
tions along with English common law,
and what is bred in the bone will not OFT
of the flesh in few decades. Indeed,
woman may measure her intellectual
emancipation in America by the span OF
a quarter of a century. 1t may be said
the present rapidly improving cond'tlon
of woman is the result OF generations OF
discomfort. Indeed. Of centuries OF more
or less agitation on the subject. For 1t
was only agitation and rebellion that pro-
voked the discussion and the opinions
that have been referred to. Discussion,
of course. implies difference OF opinion.
And there have been champions for wo-
men for 200 or 300 years. though nope
lessy in the minority.
In the Edinburgh Review. in the begin
ming of the century, Sydney smith IN
reviewing a book Tor young BRUSH Ie-
males, on the improvement OF the MIND.
expressed his conviction that the immense
disparity existing between the knowledge
of men and women admitted OF no rational
defense, because nature had been as bunti-
f,,I Of stan ~ to the
other. And fifty years later we hnd Johh
Stuart Mill protesting against the SUB
lection of women while. in America, emil
nent men representing all that is best IN
craftsmanship, in patriotism and oreadtn
OF thought raised their voices on this
question OF freedom and progress; :, Gucn
men were John Quincy Adams. William
Lloyd Garrison. Ralph Waldo Emerson.
the poets Whittier and Longfellow, Chief
Justice Chase Abraham Lincoln, T. W.
Higginson George William Curtis, George
+. Hoar and numbers of others. The ut
terances of these men show the tendency
OF thought in our age, and emphasize
fact that in the end the minority always
wins.
In 1918 the fiji st book on woman's rights
published in America was written by the
Granddaughter OF Cotton Mather. In 1919
Mrs. emma Willard put forth her
plaintive appeal for lew educational
privileges for females. She anticipates
prejudice by dsclaiming any wish for the
'.absurdity of sending women to college:
and made perfectly plain her understand
ing of the limited range of the female
mind. Her desire was the endowment
bv government of seminaries especially
equipped for the proper instruction OF
females This instruction she classed
under four heads. viz: Religious and
moral, literary domestic. ornamental.
About this time Miss Willard was i'm
proving the minds of females in Vermont
and, a few years later. she founded the
Troy Female Seminary on the Hudson
Encouraged by Mrs. Wizards success,
Miss Catherine Beecher established at
Hartford. Conn, an advanced school for
young ladies. Mary Lyons had been
teaching for years in New Hampshire,
and. after long cherishing the hope of
school that should be to girls what
college was to boys. she founded at last
the Mount Holyoke seminary.
In 1926 girls were first permitted full
attendance in the public schools. But
such was the persistent and unwomanly
zeal for knowledge that, after three years
of doubt and discussion, girls high
school was opened in that city of esthe-
tics and culture. The attendance at the
boys high school had never reached 100;
so that, when 2s6 girls presented them
selves and wanted not only geography.
Ii
chemistry and natural philosophy be-
sides. the situation became appalling. A
wears trial satisfied the city authorities
that the experiment was fraught with
too much danger, and the girls high
school was abolished. the mayor declaring
that no city in the world could stand
such a drain upon its finances.
A few years later a Wesleyan college for
women was founded in Ohio. and eight
years after that the Mary Sharp college in
Winchester. Tenn, and the Elmira col
lege in New York were established to fu--
tner the education OF girls. In 1858 Horace
Mann, the American apostle of common
school education, established co-education
at Antioch, in Ohio.
The next great step was the founding
in 1861, upon the banks of the Hudson,
where so many notable events in Ameri-
can history have occurred. of the first
amply endowed and adequately equipped
college for women by Matthew Vassar.
Like all important steps in social pro-
gress, the rise OF such an institution was
a development. 1t was not unheralded
nor unforeseen. 1t was the outcome Of
all that had been ccomplished in the
preceding twenty-five years. 1t was
response to the maturity of public senti-
ment in this country in regard to the
! education of women. Mr.. Nassar voiced
the true spirit of his time ard country
woman, having received from her Crea tor
/ the same intellectual constitution as men,
| has the same right to intellectual culture
and development. and when he further
! said, Il consider that the mothers of a
country mould the character of its citizen
and shape its destiny he said al. that
could possibly be said in support OF it,
| In 1865, Just after the close of the civil
war, the first class of 800 young women
entered Vassar. The attention of all the
civilized world was upon them. Prejudice
was largely against the heroic expert
ment and many predl 4tions were mad. OF
the ultimate failure OF the projec
But not only did Vassar survive all the
| dismal forebodings and all other ordeals,
but ten years later Smith and Wellesley
were founded, and have made marvellous
growth, and Bryn Mawr is fully as sue.
cessful as the other three instirtutns.
One by one tho great universities of
Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Johns Hop
kins and Michigan have opened their
doors, and either admit women or con-
fer degrees upon them. The magniti.
cent new university Of Chicago entered
til field with no sex restrictions. Now,
from our own California to the shores o.
| New England there are no educationa
doors shut in the faces OF women.
During the same period European
countries have followed the example o.
the United States until, at the presen,
time, Austria stands alone in refusing
to woman the highest educational privi,
leges.5
Today about sixty-6ve thousand col