AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS 



[ 7 



crease in the number of literary women was the improve- 

 ment of the social environment. This improvement had 

 another aspect besides the disappearance of the ban of dis- 

 approval which used to rest upon women who entered the 

 field of letters. It included also the decline of the idea that 

 women should not receive higher education. Since women 

 promptly and successfully invaded the field of literature as 

 soon as these two obstacles to their activity were removed, 

 it seems evident that public approbation and education were 

 necessary factors for the creation of American women of 

 letters. 



The education received by literary men and women of 

 more than one field of activity is shown in Table XVIII. 



TABLE XVIII 



EDUCATION RECEIVED BY AMERICAN LITERATI, CLASSIFIED BY SEX AND BY ONE 

 OR MORE THAN ONE FIELD OF ACTIVITY 



This table shows that sixty-four per cent of the more ver- 

 satile men were college graduates, as opposed to fifty-six 

 per cent of the men of only one field of activity. The fig- 

 ures for women are still more significant. Sixty per cent 

 of the women prominent in more than one field received at 



1 Does not total one hundred because of cumulative error. 



