Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-04-06
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
Some Speculation Upon the Interest.
ing Experiment to Be Tried at
Bryn Mawrs Summer School
for Working Girls
by SARAH ID. LOWRIE

w Bryn Mnwr College for n summer term
for business and industrial students was
flied with wonder ns to how the girls who
would make the best use Of such an oppor-
tunity, and in sense needed just such n
vista into life, could be got to spare the
time and the money to drop work and 20 out
there to study.
Given the great empty college with all
its dormitorics and classrosnls ready given
n carefully selected faculty drawn from
many sources. who have the ndaptability and
preparation to give the courses In history,
economics and science that will All the time
without oyrrcramming IT.; given all the
money needed for the scholarships, so that
those studying there may do IL at n minimum
expense, how can the right girls be enrolled?
T HAVE heard a vague allusion to the
L Y. W. - 4. and to the Trades Union
League as being the rcadiest and most dc
pendnblc sources for the girls, but surely
there must BE- plans afoot for girls who be-
long to neither to compete for the scholar
ships.
| understand that the woud.bc students
who have already been approached have
asked that to the courses in economies and
history and science there be added as per-
haps of even more Importance, some course
on the appreciation of art, especially OF
music and painting. and n course on Eng
lsh literature. with special bearing on the
speaking and the writing of English
In the short summer term. with varied
assortment Of minds unused to quick acqui-
sition along unwontcd subjects, the fnculty's
task would bn n difficult one between giving
what they thought the students needed and
what they found the students wanted
T TAKE it for granted that what Miss
L Thomas. tho college president. and the
women she has interested in the plan believe
the girls who will come TO this school will
need is less partial view of economics and
more general knowledge of the relation Of
labor and capital in the light of modern his
tory. can imagine their belief is that the
only reason n girl brought up to industry or
to business listens with avidity to the teach
ing of enthusiasts for a radical socialistic
government. or for a communistic revolution
of society. lies in the fact of her ignorance
of the actual facts of the present form Of
government. AS we'll as of the opportunities
for her and for every one who can use them
in the present form Of society.
THE difference of income in the household
l. of a bank clerk and of railroad cngi-
nccr Is all in favor of the engineer, just as
the actual money per child in minister's
family and ship carpenters family il all
in the favor of the carpenters children;
yet tho bank clerks family and the minis
ter's family are seldom to he found among
the ranks of the radicals. and the engineers
and the carpenters often are.
The reason must be the difference Of edu-
cation. one would suppose; and as, in the
families Of less income. the minister's and
the clerks. the education Is generally in
sisted upon. while in the engineers or the
carpenters it Is often left to the childs
decision and hence sometimes curtailed or
neglected. it looks as though. given an cdu-
cation along liberal lines. the appeal of vio-
lcntly radical views. except in few in
stances, would be almost nil.
TN1lESEFORE if in the rrpoSe and the
i serenity of such college halls as Bryn
Mawr'S some Of the education discarded or
never nttainablc could be given in specialized
courses to the girls hitherto dependent on
radical books or speeches for their mental
pabulum. the response would be along the
normal lines Instead of fomcnting bitter
ness, knowledge would widen the sympa-
what they do not possess. the students would
awake to a world of beauty and pleasure
that is theirs for the taking.
| rather think the above line of reasoning
is what is moving those interested in fnan-
Cially backing the scheme to forward the
plan. But naturally it could not be the
point of view of the girls who may be con-
sidcring the acceptance of the course for
themselves. The radical among thrm-and
most of the avid for education are radical
have no notion of dropping single prejudice
against capital or of changing sides in the
silent struggle now on between capital and
labor. What they want more education for
is to fight modern society with it's own
them who will feel no pang of sOftening
toward their opponents oven though they
have had as gift certain large accessions of
intellectual enjoyment at their hands.
A FTEH all. the education that makes for
n better understanding cannot be taught
in n month in a school. Such an outlook on
life is n home product and, in normal per-
son. must be the daily bread Of the growing
mind from earliest childhood. Small in
comes and hard work cannot destroy that
outlook once 1t is n possession of the mind
The labor agitator often has more income
than most physicians and sees not third
Of the misery the doctor does yet he Is n
rNvoutionist by profession and the physician
is Conscrvator. The reason one Is an
agitntor and the other a doctor lies back
somewhere in the childhood Of each and in
the point of view each began very early to
take of the things which happened about him.
GOOD as the Bryn Mnwr idea is, sus-
" poet the teachers will get more valuable
data on life out of their contact with the
students than the students will get out of
the lectures. What the experience will bring
to the girls will b" ANEW idea of the cumula
| tive power of environment The ancient
! dirtum Of the prophet. I'm peace possess ye
your soul" has a very vital message still.
There Is n serenity of mind--pcacc which
paSscth understanding cannot be ac-
| counted for by any formula, but which comes
when the mind and the body are in accord
! and there Is nothing in the immediate sur
| rounding to break the harmony between the
soul and its inspiration. And though one
| cannot say whnt are tho certain impulses
! toward that serenity, some things are more
favorable for it than others.
TNHE tingling RESIDENCES Of II body well
! i and happily used. the mcditativc Contem-
! plation of new ideas, the mellow, soothing
sounds and sights of summer evening. the
companionship without rivalry yet with a
sort of merry competition of ones fellows,
tho sense of holiday and yet of happy occu-
patton. the sense of temporary escape from
lifelong burdens, the return to youth without
for the Ihpmcnt-the cruel necessity Of
cramping its fond hopes Of change and of
advcnture--all these sensations 10 common
to the girls of one class. whether poor or rich.
and 50 seldom completely realized by the
children of another class, whatever their de-
gree of competence may be: could at least be
felt by those girls of the Bryn Mawr sum
mcr term. And to the degree which each felt
and recognized her reaction toward serenity
of soul she would make her progress along
10, IL l.