Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1911-01-13
DOES THE
SWEET GIRL
GRADUATE
MAKE GOOD?


$1,000 college women in the
United States, three-fourths
are so nice that they are mar
ried already and the remainder are
freaks. The married woman don't take
- much interest In outside affairs
and freaks can't accomplish anything,
anyway.
These are the startling words ut
tered recently by Leslie ]. Tompkins,
a professor in New York university.
and president of the National Asso-
ciation of College Graduates, says
writer in the Cleveland Leader.
The professor must be one of the
men Of today who cling to their old
fashioned tendencies and believe that
the woman's sphere Is In the home.
Evidently, women's suffrage and its
correlatives in which women are Ia.
king such an active interest at pres
ent must be especially obnoxious to
the professor, for, according to him.
the college woman who doesn't marry
\ practically a hopeless case.
Rough on the Women.
This seems to be rather hard on the
eentler sex in this day of co-education
snd sweet girl graduates. 1t is just
seventy-two years since Miss Zerniah
Porter, the first woman to graduate
from college, completed her march
through Oberlin college. and since that
time, woman's head has been steadily
filling with 'ologies and 'isms until
now, many think that she is unified
for life unless she possesses a col
lege degree of some kind or other.
In this year of grace the number Of
women studying in Institutions of
higher education is quite half the
total of men, and co-educational insti-
tutions are in danger OF being
swamped by the hordes of women
ciamoring for admission. The follow
ers of Zerniah Porter have come. in
her own university, to number twice
O. many as the men. and many OF the
state universities and smaller colleges
of the middle west are in like case.
In the east, women have, for the most
part, preferred to have their own in
stitutions rather than 'co" with any
body and the graduating classes at
such institutions as Smith, Vassar,
Wellesley, Bryn Mawr and Wells are
steadily increasing in size as the
years go by.
More Marry Among Poor.
II has been pointed out by census
statisticians that many more women
marry among the very rich or very
poor than In the middle class. OF
women in general 1t has been com
puted that one out Of every six is
likely to remain single. II this com
putation is compared with that among
college women, which students of the
question say is between 30 and 75 per
cent, the difference seems enormous.
but there is no way Of telling just
how many women marry in the class
from which the college women comes.
which is made up of neither the very
itch nor the very poor. Whatever it
may be. II would seem, to an unpreju-
diced observer, that the proportion in
the case of the college woman is rath-
u low, though every feminine A. B.
nay rage at the idea.
There is certainly no disgrace In
remaining unmarried and doing a
share OF the worlds work in ways
other than domestic. Many have ar
gued that an avoidance of the matri-
moniai bonds showed q superior in
tealigence. But almost every writer
on the subject seems filled with a de-
sire to prove that a thorough knowl-
edge Of Latin and Greek is not alto
yether incompatible with the weak
ness Of love and q wreath Of orange
blossoms. ..... ...... .-......
Says Statement 10 Unfair.
Miss Bess Philips. president of the
senior class at the College for Wom-
On. Of this city. said. when told Of
Professor Tompkins' statement: Col
1ege certainly makes girls different,
out not freakish. A college woman
wm live very different life from
mat of the woman who has not been
to college. I think that such a state
ment as the professors is unfair and
silly"
Mrs. Malcolm Mcbride, No. 1870 E.
Stxty-ninth street. nee Miss Lucia Nc
Curdy, graduate Of one of the east
ern colleges, said: Such an opinion
n not worth bothering about. Even
the man who possesses 1t is a pro-
!essor. he's not worth paying any at.
sention to in that matter. 1t is q
fioiculous statement and that's all
there is to It."
Miss Adele McKinnie, No. 2049 f.
seventeen street, who, at vassar, was
tne roommate Of Miss Inez Milholland.
tne young American suffragette whose
scuVlues In that cause have caused
ner arrest both in this country and
IN England, thought an answer to
PROFESSOR Tompkins' statement would
oe rather futile. The point of view
was exaggerated, she thought. The in.
crest In women's suffrage is general
~ Vassar and Miss McKinnie saws
mat one of the greatest things one
sains In college is an Intelligent In.
'erest m broad topics. equal franchise
nsnts IN particular. But" she saws
tnere is no use In saying these things
:. answer to such an attack, because
.ne maker Of 1t doesn't believe in
~omen's suffrage, anyhow"
MISS Ruth Presley. who took an