The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-07-20

ms pupils both good and brilliant; few
reach their goal But the seminary
system did. With teachers of the very
highest type and with moral standards
the most inflexible, they exerted most
profound influence on the young
women taught there. In the nature Of
things, this influence was subtle, and
its results not easy to follow, but it
manifestly played very great part in
giving to the South in the hours of it's
greatest need type of womanhood
unexcelled in the history Of the world.
With good mothers and good schools,
the girls of the South could but be
great.
The Colleges Established.
Even before the war some of the
seminaries and institutes" had become
colleges in all but name, and after the
conclusion of peace their evolution was
rapid. New courses were added, new
subjects were taught; with the
increased standards of training for
men there was notable, if not proper
tionate, increase in the standards for
women. Then, too, the UNCONVENTIONAL
influence, which already had estab-
lished so many admirable colleges for
boys, was at work to build and endow
colleges for girls. In every part Of the
South new schools opened their doors
and offered wider facilities for intel
before. During these years there
waxed great argument as to what
changes should be made in the cur
riculum of these schools, and, above all
else, whether girls should be given the
same education as boys. Perhaps it is
too much to say that there is even now
complete agreement on this mooted
point, for some still contend that the
woman needs an education more prac-
tical in some respects and more ideal in
others than that given the man. Yet
the South seems to demonstrate, by it's
increased patronage of the best schools,
it's belief that the girl is entitled to pre-
cisely the same education as the boy, if
she desires it. In our great Southern
colleges for girls the standards are as
high as in the colleges for boys, and the
course of study is practically the same
The professors in these colleges do not
hesitate to say that individually their
graduates are at least the intellectual
equals of the boys trained in the
Southern colleges. Graduate instruc-
ton for women on anything like an
adequate scale is still lacking in the
South, but this must be supplied within
the next few years. Then we can hope
to take our bright girls and educate
them from the kindergarten to the
university without sending them
beyond the range of the Southland.
The Present-Day Canons.
Viewing in it's entirety the remark
able system of educating Southern
girls, one can see that through the years
have been fixed in the minds of our
people few definite canons of educa-
ton, which we unconsciously observe to
the letter in training young women.
We have, in word, very positive ideas
how the girl should be taught, and we
have adhered to these, even though our
system has been expanded and enlarged
Other sections of the South have diff
ferent views, some of which may be
better, some of which are certainly not
as desirable as ours; but perhaps no
section has more consistent program
for educating young women than the
South.
Womanhood First.
Undoubtedly the canon upon which
most emphasis is placed is that of
"womanhood first Every parent,
every instructor, every college presi-
dent and every public servant agrees
upon this: we wish our girls to be the
best educated of the country, but we
wish them to be the most womanly,
and we want nothing in our system
which will make woman unwomanly.
1t is great tribute to our schools that
this canon is strictly observed, and