THREE DECADES OF COLLEGE WOMEN. 35 * 



discouraged. Whenever a variety of occupations is open to women, 

 they need not marry for a livelihood and the ethical standard is raised. 

 I think, however, the fact that a woman has an occupation is a less 

 certain hindrance to marriage than many suppose. As will presently 

 be seen from these records, the graduates who have taken up the most 

 advanced work are quite as likely to marry as those who have not, and 

 many of those who are best known to the outside world are both wives 

 and mothers. 



Still another fact may comfort the pessimists : Although less than 

 three fifths of the first decade of Vassar women have entered matri- 

 mony, no other profession in any decade has attracted nearly so large 

 a number. If marriage is not universal among college women, neither 

 is teaching. 



In the second decade, including the classes '77- '86, there are 378 

 graduates. The members of these classes in 1900, accepting the average 

 age, ranged from 36 to 46 years. As might be expected, the marriage 

 rate is somewhat less than for the preceding decade. Out of the whole 

 number 191, or 50.53 per cent., have married. The next general cata- 

 logue would probably show a larger proportion. The third decade, 

 1887-96, contains 601 members. As '95 was the first Vassar class 

 to graduate 100 members, a rate which since then has been steadily 

 exceeded, it can readily be seen that half the members of this period 

 were under thirty years when the census was taken. Its marriage rate 

 has no value for general statistical purposes. Of the 601 members 

 169, or 28.12 per cent., were married in 1900. 



The number of children next claims attention. These statistics 

 are particularly valuable, for it is the first time any on this subject 

 have been collected. The general catalogues of 1883 and 1890 con- 

 tain no information on this point. The 181 marriages of the first 

 decade have produced 361 children, or two to a marriage, a typical 

 American family of the present day. In the second decade there are 

 191 marriages and 295 children, or 1.54 children to a marriage. It is 

 fair to assume that this proportion will be increased. In the last 

 decade there are 169 marriages and 135 children, an obviously incom- 

 plete record. 



Although the number of children seems small in the first decade, 

 which is the only one where the record may be regarded as measurably 

 established, it must not be inferred that there are no large families 

 among the alumnae. The banner record in this respect belongs to a 

 member of the class of '75, a widow with eight children. There are 

 three graduates who have seven children each, in the classes of '71, 

 '79 and '80, respectively. The member in '71, a small class of 21 

 members, 12 of whom have married, has nearly one quarter of the 

 whole number of children (29) in the class. In the class of '79 three 



