The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-22
WOMAN Qno
 SOCIETY
GIRL STUDENT
LIFE AT OXFORD.
CBY MRS. J. N. dc CoTTEs.)

GIRL STUDENT
 LIFE AT OXFORD.
 The story of girl student life at Oxford differs not enough from that of girls at American colleges where co-education ex- ists. to make the difference noticeable, To .ead the following, therefore, from. The washington Times will he enjoyed by all @ho are interested in co-educational col ,eges-Auhurn and Tuscaloosa, for in- stance
 The life of a girl student at the Uni versity of Oxford, according to the ac- count of one who has experienced it is devoid of vfvacity. The discipline begins at the railway station. The arriving girl student discovers that, however high her pedestal may have been in the drawing room, she must start on a very low level in the college world.
 She is, as Mrs. Browning expressed 1t, hy no means the equal of the male.' She finds herself scorned by porters and cab men. who are hurrying to do the bidding of the lords of creation, and 1t is only af- ter Hercules and Apollo have departed, in their glory. monopolizing all the ham, soms and leaving porters dazed by their tips. that the girl student makes known her desire for a modest cab and is taken to her destination.
 Her Arrival.
 ''When the girl student is set down with box and bicycle at one of the four halls of residence existing at Oxford expressly for the convenience of women, she is soon busy converting the room allotted to her as combined bedroom and study into an apartment suitable to her requirements. The essentials are there in the shape of table, chairs. bookcase. desk and low couch which serves as a bed at night or as sofa in the day time. She adds the decorations which give the room a cheer full appearance.
 Then comes dinner. which is the social function of the day She makes her en- tree as fresher' and is initiated into the details of her new life.
 There is a good deal of etiquette, but an absence of the chafflng of newcomers which prevails among the men. The girl student at Oxford is not allowed to wear the somber academic gown, but she finds ample compensation in decking herself in pretty frocks.
 Difference in the Students.
 There is a marked difference between the men and women students at Oxford in the motive which takes them there. Usually a man goes because 1t is the thing because his family have been Oxford men from away back. Life at the University means for him several years pleasantly spent, with athletics and hunt ing and social functions absorbing most of his time, with nodicum of study.
 But most the girl students go to OK ford to qualify themselves to earn a itv- ing Few of them have anything like as much money at their disposal as the men have. and the period of study wears for them the seriou7 aspect of laying up cap ital for the future.
 "On the day after her arrival business begins in earnest for the girl student. Chapel at 8 is followed by breakfast. served as a 'come-and-go' meal in the dining hall
 Her Course Arranged.
 After a preliminary interview with her tutor. who arranges the course of her work, the novice goes off to her first lec- ture, in convoy of a second or third year student, who. begliles the way by tnstruc- tinn upon the eonventionalities of the place.
 ."The girl enters one of the old college halls and is marched up to the table on the dais. surrounded by arm chairs, where the dons dine every evening, and where the women students profit by the intel iectual menu provided every morning. From this vantage ground the girl looks down upon lcng tables with forms, filled with a gowned multitude.
 ..The door shuts and opens with bang as the lecturer enters. He Is of the old school and does not enjoy the inundauon of women. He has to make preliminary announcement, but the university does not officially recognize the existence of women among its students, and he IS Tn a dilemma. .. -
 Like Alabama Colleges.
 ''IIe begins: .'Gentlemen-ahem-gen men and (glancing around) people who come to my lectures" etc. It Is not grace full. but 1t serves the purpose. The lec- lures to be attended are prescribed fop the student by her tutor. who also acts usually as a coach in some subjects. At the examinations the presence of women is. at least unofflcially recognized.
 ''In Oxford. unlike Cambridge, men and women go through the last scenes togeth- CT and write their papers in the same rooms.
 "One blazing June day the men, bur dened with their gowns and perhaps ad- ditionally infiamed by the Sight of the cool cottons worn by the women, began shedding their apparel until the examiner intervened with the hesitating announce ment: Gentlemen who think 1t advlsaoie to take off their coats and their waist coats had better. keep on their gowns There was a chuckle, but the counsel was needed.
 ''The girl student at Oxford does not lack for amusement. She Is welcome at most of the university functions. She may listen to the oratory of perspiring Hercules at the Union Society. She Is invited to breakfast parties. and looks on at boat races and football and cricket matches. The hours between luncheon and tea are rarely spent indoors. Hockey in winter, tennis and boating in summer, bicycling and walking at all seasons are indulged in by all, and in the evenings there are debates, musical societies and sometimes dramatic entertainments. 'Co- coa' at 10 D. m. furnishes the most hilar- ions hour of the day. Altogether, the end of the first term finds the girl student very much at home at Oxford.
 A GIBSON GIRL SEEKS DIVORCE. The following dispatch from Char lottesville, Va, tells the beginning Of the end of a love. story of one of the ''Gib-' son girls"
 Mrs Mamie Shaw, sister of Mrs. Charles Dana Gibson and one of the -four beautiful Langhorne girls of AL bemarle County, has begun proceedings for divorce against Robert Gould Shaw of Boston. Rumors that the couple would part have been heard since August. IL is now learned that Mrs. Shaw has taken the initiative, and that the ground of her suit will be desertion. They have not lived together since the Albemarle horse