The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-02
Miss Moore,s Statement.

ton of the local institution with lhe 1 US
kegee Female college, to be located at
Montgomery;
Miss Moore's Statement.
The repeated assertion, made through
the columns of the press, that the Athens
collage ia to be removed to Montgomery
as a result of a movement for educational
on the part of Alabama
Methodism, has excited the alarm OF the
friends of the institution, and in order
to make reply to the numerous inquiries
that have poured in upon her, the writer
requests space In your columns.
That there is a movement on foot in
Alabama to establish a chain of educa-
tional institutions similar to the Ran
system in Virginia. is fact,
evidence by the passing of the recommen-
dalton of the joint committee of the two
Alabama conferences. This committee
while authorized to raise funds for the
erection of a woman's college, and to
secure a site for the same, presumably
at MONTGOMERY, have no authority given
them for the sale of any properties be-
longing to the church. 1t is furthermore
understood that this committee. after
careful examination of existing conditions,
have relnquished any idea they may have
of even recommending sale
of Athens college, and 1t is apparent
that future developments can alone de-
termine the relative rank of the two IN
situations, l. e., the proposed college at
Montgomery and the college at Athens.
Feeling of Unrest.
The feeling of unrest that has for some
years permeated Alabama Methodism
with reference to our male educational
institutions has, in some degree, extend
ed to our institutions for female educa-
ton. prompted not by a lack of confidence
In the integrity of these institutions, but
by the knowledge that they were not
adapting themselves to meet the demand
for more modern equipment and broader
and more virile courses of study In
other words, while our northern and cas-
tern sisters have outgrown the expert
mental stage in the higher education OF
women many southern colleges sun cllns
TO the erroneous ideals of the early days
of the nineteenth century. when, IN the
words of President Dwight: MISS, the
darling of her father and the pride or
her mother is taught from the beginning
to regard dress as momentous con.
"She is taught music only that she
may perform a few times to excite the
same admiration and applause FOR her
skill on the piano forte She Is taught
to draw, merely to finish picture. which,
when richly framed and ornamented, Is
hung up to become an altar for the same
incense. Do not misunderstood me.
have no quarrel with these accomplish
ments So far as they contribute to make
the subject of them more useful. amiable
or happy I admit their value. 1t Is the
employment of them, which censure; the
sacrifice made by the parent of his prop
erty and his child at the shrine of van
Ity"
Continuing, President Dwight says;
''Where boys Investigate books of sound
philosophy, and labor In mathematical
and logical pursuits; girls read history,
the higher poetry, and judicious discour-
ses in morality and religion. Wnen the
utmost lahonr of boys Is bounded by
biography and the pamphlets OF
the day; girls sink down to songs, novels
and plays"
Education of Women,
out Of this condition the education OF
women has been rising for nearly hum
dred years but more rapidly In the north
and east than in the south. and realizing
that II Christian education should be
anything 1t should be genuine, and of
the nObleSt character, Wnere afnDlUOH LOT
numbers and mercenary motives have not
throttled their ideals our colleges are
struggling to create in the mind OF the
student a loftier conception of female
education. Her education may not be
pursued along precisely the same lines
as that OF her brother, but IL she studies
mathematics. her knowledge must be as
II she reads Homer she must
not do so Just to mystfy doting parent
with an occasional line of Greek char
acters.
1t is to be devoutly hoped that a great
college may be founded at Montgomery,
but that Athens. with its wonderful ca
pacity for development, evidenced by its
progress within the last two and half
years, should be sold out" by the church.
or subordinated to an institution not yet
erected is not to be considered by men
of reflection.
Let the future decide the relative rank
of each institution. and for the present
let all who would have our southern
girls hold fast the name their mothers
bears for refinement and loyalty to the
home, and at the same time would have
them develop into women of as broad IN
as their New England sis
ters, let these friends rally to the sup
port of these Institutions and in the true
spirit of Christian emulation. do the
greatest things possible towards the adj
of our common cause.
Ties of Sentiment.
Athens. with its many ties of sentiment
binding 1t to the hearthstones of almost