THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN. 31 



common uses of life," The fear that she will not marry was less 

 alarming than the thought " men will not marry her." The elect- 

 ive system meant freedom of choice, the inevitable result of 

 which is freedom of life. Intelligent men saw clearly that an in- 

 telligent, highly-educated woman might possibly hesitate to sac- 

 rifice the pure delights of scientific learning for the pettiness of 

 domestic routine and the satisfactions of burden-bearing mother- 

 hood. Therefore she must not be too highly educated, lest 

 freedom turn her from her proper sphere. 



In our day the cry of alarm has again been raised ; more and 

 more women are coming up to the doors of the colleges ; if intelli- 

 gent women do not marry, the future of this race is uncertain, 

 and civilization itself is in danger. Some would even make this 

 question the test of the varied systems of education for women, in 

 the hope of finding one which may be labeled, " Warranted not 

 to divert women from marriage ! " But the problem is neither so 

 imminent nor so serious as many suppose. Two thirds of all 

 women graduates marry ; the one third who do not are an infini- 

 tesimal part of the thirty million five hundred thousand women 

 in the whole United States. The one third in our day have, on 

 the whole, as good a chance to obtain a suitable training as men 

 in the same lines. They specialize and find growth and content- 

 ment in the sense of power and usefulness. It is not their destiny 

 which should concern us, but rather the destiny of the other two 

 thirds who do marry. The question arises, Does their college 

 training bear so definite and satisfactory a relation to their after- 

 lives ? I fear not. It is constantly impressed upon a boy during 

 these four years that he must find out what he is good for ; he 

 must either be fit or ready to be fitted to do something which 

 will have a definite market value. But the destiny of the girl 

 who goes to college is carefully concealed from her. During 

 these four years, who says to her : If you marry, you will need 

 biology, the sciences of life and reproduction ; hygiene, the wis- 

 dom to attain and preserve health ; sociology, the laws which 

 govern individuals in society ; chemistry, physics, economics, all 

 the sciences which may help to solve the problems which the 

 housewife must meet ; literature and language, the vehicles of 

 poetry and inspiration ? No one has the courage to suggest any 

 of these as suitable nay, absolutely essential to the successful 

 fulfillment of her probable vocation in life. Young women are 

 turned blindly adrift among a mass of subjects, with no guide 

 but a perverted instinct, and with many a hindrance in the shape 

 of tradition and ridicule. In all ages men have united in adora- 

 tion of the dignity of domesticity and the sacredness of mother- 

 hood, yet any loving, foolish, untrained, inefiicient creature has 

 been held good enough to be a wife and mother. We do not ex- 



