The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-04-10
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(NI founded not so much because
we love Tearing as because we
M&l&8I prize the efficiency which learn
ing develops"
Girls in America go to college that they
may thereby the more readily become, not
able scholars, but capable women; that they
may go from college the more completely
equipped, not to look at life. but to live.
The first thing and the last thing which
the womans college of America stimulates
and cultivates in its students is a fine quail
ity of self-reliance. The college-bred woman
IL a person of resources"
1.-The woman from the college is the surest
safeguard in this country against that evil
which pessimists occasionally seek TO
Brighten us by prophesying-an aristocracy
of wealth. Women, particularly American
women, fix the standards of society and
make the rules that govern social relation
ships"
"A college is a commonwealth; the col
lege woman may safely be trusted to make
her village or her city also a common
wealth. So far from encouraging an aris-
tocracy of wealth, she will intuitively help
to extend and to maintain in America
democracy founded upon character"
1T is not so much her knowledge, as the
development of character by which her
acquisition OF that knowledge is attended.
that commends the college women to our
affections and gives to her work in the
world, whatever it may be. so vital an i'm
The above extracts appeared in an article
in a recent number of the Outlook and
serves as fitting introduction to the views
expressed by four Indiana Vassar women.
The College and Domestic Life.
Mrs. E. j. Foster was asked what she
thought as to the practical influence of
a college education upon the home. Lying.
as the home does, as the foundation stone
of all civilization" she replied. land being
the guarantee of all that is good and
permanent in government. there can be
nothing more vitality important than the
kind OF life pervading the home.
las the house. no matter how elegantly
constructed. is not home without the soul
which is to occupy IT.; so life, if confined
to the drudgery and monotony of every
day necessities, will never be life in its
highest sense unless heightened. sweetened
and uplifted by contact with high ideas
and wholesome surroundings This the col
lege woman gains through the advantages
of study In all lines pertaining to the
physical. mental and spiritual development
the beneficent effects of which are needful
for workers in the quiet, humble walks of
life.
'The application of this higher educa-
tion, Mrs. Foster went on, lis an import
tant factor in the making of our beautiful
home atmosphere. The housewife who can
prepare an elegant, appetizng and whole
some meal calls into requisition the powers
that make picture or f-esco. She ac-
shall help her to an ideal womanhood.
full OF high aspirations, hut not less ex-
Guisiteiy distinctive, less sensitive to the
holy claims OF wife, mother, daughter sis
ter. less .devotedly loyal TO the divine idea
and type OF woman"
Miss Harriet Noble, on being requested
to express an opinion concerning the advan-
tages of college training for women. quoted
from an address delivered by George Will
liam Curtis at the twenty-fifth anniver-
sary of Vassar College:
rs IL then true that ignorant women
are the best wives and mothers? Does
good wifehood consist exclusively in skillful
patching. No. says the enlightened GEN.
fury. If the more languages a man hath
the more man is he, the more knowledge a
woman hath the better wife and mother
she is
Mss Noble then expressed herself as fol-
lows on this point:
should be we'll educated is one commonly
overlooked, and that IL its Importance to
the men with whom they are related. Edu-
cation makes a better housekeeper. Chem
istry helps her with the choice and prepar-
alton OF foods: physics and mechanics come
frequently to her aid. A cultivated woman
Is more interesting to husband and children
and friends than the same woman uncul-
tivated. and better able to instruct or adj
WISE She is freer from WITNESSES and
prcjudices. more in earnest. more philoso-
phical, more wisely religious
Gold facts are found TO sustain this
claim Men of distinction in history have
commonly been the children of unusually in
tellectuai mothers While only about 30 per
cent of the alumnae of the land are mar
ried (Which Is only a little lower than the
percentage Of their sisters, however, they
marry well. This evidenced by the
president Of Vassar College few years
ago. when he stated that among the more
than thousand of its graduates who had
married. but one case of divorce had been
reported back TO the college.
Again. the statistics of the colleeiat re
alumnae at the worlds fair showed that
OF the children born TO its members but one
In ten had died under two years of age
record unknown under any other class of
mothers IL was a Vassar woman who had
q delicate child. and saved its life by using
sterilized milk. which a new idea al
the time. Then, approaching the value of
this kind of food. she opened up a dairy
farm, and first started the now prevalent
sale OF sterilized milk for babies and in
valids BY all MEANS" said Miss Noble.
let the domestic woman be just as well
trained possible