The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-07-20
THE ROMANCE OF MODERN EDUCATONT

names appear among the representa-
tives to the General Assembly; the old
families ceased to have their remark
able monopoly of public office; new
faces appear in the gallery Of Virginia
and Southern notables.
1t was natural, too, that these men
who acquired new position and took
prominent social rank should wish
their sons and their daughters to be
educated The regime which they had
supplanted had employed private
teachers for it's daughters. Why
should not they? If education had
produced those wonderful women who
made Southern history, why should it
not benefit the girls who were to be the
social leaders of another ten years?
Thus it came about that after the
Revolution there was significant
increase in the number of private
tutors and home schools, like increase
in the number Of educated women and
a seeping Of culture through new
strata of society," Slow, silent and
oftentimes scarcely discernible, this
movement was responsible for notable
epoch in the education of women. The
light of learning shone upon those who
before had never known it.
The Coming of the Seminary"
For a generation this system sur
vived, with advantages which have
been mentioned, and with faults which
are too obvious. Despite all that had
been done, and despite the general
diffusion of wealth, the percentage of
girls who were given adequate intel
lectual training was pitifully small in
proportion to the general population.
That they were able to shine in day
of social transformation is a tremend-
Gus tribute to the basic culture and
worth of the young women themselves.
But soon there came remarkable
change, presaged and heralded by the
great Revolution which then occurred
in the education of young men. With
the establishment Of the University of
Virginia and the subsequent establish
ment Of the famous UNCONVENTIONAL
colleges of the South, men began to
ask why, if society was doing SO much
for boys, it should do so little for
girls? If college training was so
invaluable to young manhood, why
should it be less desirable for young
womanhood?
The States, however, which asked
this question were conservative, and
the answer which they gave bespeaks
that conservatism. They were chival-
rous, those Southern educators of the
thirties, and they had very definite
ideas as to the place which women
occupied in society. They were proper
tionately careful not to do anything for
their girls that did not conform strictly
to their ideals Of womanhood. Slowly
and with infinite deliberation they
worked out system which appealed to
them as meeting all the demands for
the training Of young girls while insur-
ing to them that protection and that
security they needed. The system then
introduced was that of the girls "semi-
nary" or institute" of the most
interesting and unique in American
education, one that has survived and
flourished through the years.
What the Seminary Was.
The seminary was sui generis. 1t
was not an academy; it was not
college. 1t gave training more
advanced than that of the old private
home schools and wider than that of
the private academies of the day; yet
it did not pretend to the curriculum of
the college, and limited it's tuition to
definite program. Nothing like it had
ever been seen in America before, and
no successor to it has ever been found.
In most instances-we are speaking
now Of the system at it's fullest develop
ment-the seminary was under the
direction of some man of true and
tested worth, a minister, a retired
college professor or publicist. Gener-