The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-13

has all the r1Rnth tne needs ana eno Rhih-
mes Mrs. Gait. we'll named. sin'f shoi'
M c S ose anS she s
I'll am very glad to have met YOU am MIS- n Gait.
She is going out to visit her married daughter 1
know her very we'll. She ia opposed to womsn's
Mr. James Oppenh elm s remarks in THE Sun
about the disastrous effects OF collegiate edu-
cation on women would be interesting. IL true:
but every ono who has had much acquaintance
with college women knows that they are not
true. Mrs. Scott and Mrs Cabot. who have
nsyer lived in an equal suffrage State, draw an
imaginary picture OF the woman voter as de-
plorabe person who neglects her home and
children Mr. Oppenhelm draws an equally
drplorabc imaginary picture OF the college
graduate as an unscxed being wholly lack ing
in maternal instinct On this point | can
testify from experience. My mother was
the first woman in Massachusetts to take
college degree. She had to go to
Oberlin. o.. In order to get it. There
was no college nearer home that would admit
woman When her father heard OF her wish
for collegiate education he said to his wife.
is the child crazy" Though a well-to-do
farmer he would give her no help. She picked
berries and chestnuts and sold them TO buy
books For years she taught district schools
beginning at a dollar a week. 1t took her nine
years to ut herself for Oberl.n and earn the
money to 60 there. She paid her way through
college. partly by teaching in the preparatory
department, and partly by doing Homework in
tho Ladies' Boarding hall at three cents an
hour. Mr.. Oppenhem says: Undoubtedly.
when a woman has studied a science through
and through-and that with men associates
most OF the time. or at least as instructors
there is very little OF the woman left in her
H. h.. p,ie hnl Ua nIi tbat ho
will not be willing to take time for tho
caro- OF her children-the most sacred
duty OF a woman's life" At Oberlin
my mother studied several sciences as
thoroughly as the other students. and with
men as her classmates and instructors yet
moro womany woman. more tender mother.
never lived. To the end of her days, her face
always shone at the sight of a baby: pretty or
ugly. dirty or clean, in silk or in rags. 1t was all
one to her: and children turned to her as nat
urally as flowers to the sun. 1t is not the hus-
bands or children OF college bred women or OF
suffragists who complain Of their lack OF
womanly virtues. That is a superstition which
prevails mainly among outsiders. like your
CORRESPONDENT. Those OF us who had the good
fortune to have strongminded mothers know
that there are no better mothers in the world.
We even doubt whether any weak minded
mother could be equally satisfactory.
Mr.. Oppenheim speaks of the bliGhtinG
effects produced on women by the awful
knowledge OF science" Half the children
born into the world die Of preventibe diseases
before they outgrow childhood. Does not that
show an awful ignorance OF science among
their mothers? Mrs Millicent Garrett Fawcett
contributed to the Worlds Fair a remark a BILE
eXhibit-a large collection OF photographs Of
children OF college women : and an uncom-
monty healthy and happy-lookng set Of babies
they we're. Statistics show that the DEATH rate
among the children OF college women is lower
than tho average This looks as II the educated
mother not only were willing to take care OF
her children. but knew how to do it better
than the uneducated mother. Women are not
merely half the human race. they are the
mothers ofthe whole oft Mr.. Orpenheim may
think woman is more lovable for being uned-
ucated-that is a matter Of taste-but the pub
lie is more and more coming to the conviction
that the mothers OF the race ought to be odu-
years ago. almost everybody thought as Mr..
Opnenheim thinks now and so all the colleges
were closed to women. To-day the contrary
opinion has become almost universal among
thinking people. as is shown by the fact that
college doors now stand open to women on
every side. The fight for access to the higher
education has been fought and won. and the
battle OF reform has moved on to other fields.
AIrrE STpSE RI krEWETT