1870] Women at Cornell 



who, at his death in 1918, paid him the honors due 

 to a hermit philosopher who emerged at intervals to 

 discuss worldly matters in current slang. 



Cornell began with monastic traditions, and up Three 

 to the fall of 1870 no women had carried on regular women 

 studies there; in that year, however, Emma S. t loneers 

 Eastman, Sophy P. Fleming, and my sister Mary 

 were allowed to attend classes, with the under- 

 standing that if at some future time women should 

 be formally admitted to the university, their work 

 should be counted toward a degree. As a matter 

 of fact, in September, 1873, coeducation was formally 

 established at Cornell, and Sage College, a dormitory 

 for women built by Henry W. Sage, was opened for 

 their reception. 



All three of the pioneers were excellent students, 

 and won the respect of everybody acquainted with 

 them. Miss Eastman (Mrs. L. A. Foster) became 

 prominent as a suffrage lecturer. Miss Fleming, a 

 girl of delicacy and refinement, taught for many 

 years; recently our acquaintance was pleasantly 

 renewed when I found her acting as "house mother" 

 in a sorority at the University of California. My 

 sister, as I have said, married and thereafter devoted 

 herself to home making. 



Our general lack of social intercourse with women, Lack of 

 I have felt to be a real misfortune. Thrown back social _ . 

 upon ourselves, we learned too little of the amenities 

 of life ; ignorance of the best conventions was there- 

 fore a distinct handicap with most of us for some 

 time to come. For college men there is no other 

 influence so wholesome as that of educated women, 

 and there exist no conditions more favorable for the 



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