The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-14

With Minor Place, Now She May
Aspire to the Highest Place-She
Still Is HaInpered-Dean Virginia
GiIdersIeeve of Barnard Tells of the
Trials and Rewards Of the Woman
Who Makes Higher Education Hef
Iife's Work.
(BY LUCILLE ERSKINE.1
Does the recent installation Of Miss
Pendelton as president Of Wellesley
mean that women are 70 be college
presidents as we'll as and
barber5?' I asked Miss Virginia Gill
dersleeve, lean Of Barnard
cit means this" she answered,
that Wellesley is continuing it's ira
dition Of putting a woman at h head
Of q college for women, has proved
tndisputably that h has made good
on top. For twenty-five a the
lower doors Of subordinate positions
have been open to women: now, some
Of the upper oneS are being unlocked.
Hitherto. a girl who devoted herself
10 scholarship. spending years ana
study, found. in spite OF natural gifts
money in post graduate and foreign
and complete equipment, the way
barred to big work or high places
<LScI1 IL VoIkiCil . SoIAS6CVy AAS RA0
dent, the head professor and associate
professor were men; all she could
hope for was minor pay and minor
authority. Unjustifabfe as 1t was, the
prejudice against putting women IN
administrative positions has been IN
sistently deep-rooted in our colleges
Now, it Is being broker down.so a
girl who Is ambitious to be dean or
president has a fair chance of reaH-
cation. And q life passed in the cul-
tured. sheltered and c~ongeniai atmO-
sphere of a college has to my mind
many advantages over other careers
that have to face the harder and
coider face OF the outside world. we
cannot offer the allure OF high remun-
Grafton or of luxurious living, but on
the other hand. college teaching n
college directing is not SO tumultuouS
or pitched or replete with the
shocks that attend more worldly Work.
In it a woman is secure from nunIila-
ton and from having her Ideals de-
stroyed at every turn. They can De
cherished here.
Women are as keen and as IN
l~ectually aspiring as men; they have
fully as clear if less imaginative
minds. There is nc reason. now, why
q girl who loves ~cholarshIp, VINO mas
the patience to dig and the brtlEancy
to create-for the genuine scholar IS
no Dry-as-Dust. but full or ire as
any rhapsodist-who has the joy In
and enthusiasm for learning, AND the
knack of leading others to the same
source of happiness-why she snouid
not choose to remain III cofiese All
her life, not IN service but in power.
OF course she is hampered sun.
Twenty men receive a fellowship tnal
means free foreign study to one Wom.
an. That is another unfalrneSS tnal
must soon go by the board. II IS TOO
absurd to stay in the face or wesley
tic TnnTC T @
women for taking al the scHoidstiC
honors from men-excluding them LOT
over not incompetence; anu the hIsn-
est legal honors at the Albany Law
School and the medical prize at CoI-
nell went to women at the IaSt coi,-
mencements Their scnoiastle So
ience-even superiority being so nIIn-
~ grounded, fairer distribution or the
plums of opportunity for foreign s1uos
must come. =,
Il do not believe that clamor Will
bring opportunity nearer TO women III
any field. / think she should equip
herself as completely as posslnle'
study as If she were going to hve 1oT-
ever and wait. Time can not De
forced. and that is a necessary efe-
ment in opening UP new :
am a sort Of mild on-the-side sut1fas-
list. I think effective service and quiet
waiting causes prejudice to crumole
more completely than hysterleal pro-
test?"
In what ways could a girl prepare
herself for administrative work!
There are two routes-the secle-
taria1 or ,oin, mn from an instructor
ship, through the classroom AT the
best, college positions Of Importance
can never stand remuneratlve COM
parisol. with big mercantile Or otnef
professional places, and the woman
must consider hts. If she wants q
great deal Of money or a great deal OF
excitement, she had better stay away.
II she loves tranquility and repose ana
has. too, the %capability requisite, then