EDUCATION OF GIRLS. 189 



knew how to talk with him about his own affairs, the policy of 

 this Commonwealth and country, of which we all are proud. 

 I do not believe a man ever made anything by insisting upon it 

 that his wife should not know as much as he does ; and I am 

 sure there is no man in this hall who will say that his wife does 

 not know as much as he does. Whatever you may say of oth- 

 ers, you will not say that your own wife or daughter is less in- 

 telligent than yourself. So I say you all believe in female edu- 

 cation. Give, then, to the women of this Commonwealth that 

 kind of practical education which will give them a fair chance 

 in life. You educate your boys for every conceivable service ; 

 you educate your girls for no special object. You can name no 

 trade or branch of business for which you educate them. They 

 sometimes educate themselves in various business pursuits, but 

 not through the aid of any system provided for them. They 

 marry, and try to keep house, when, too often, they know noth- 

 ing of housekeeping. Ask one of them to manage your dairy, 

 a healthful and useful employment, and she will stare at you as 

 if you had asked her to fight a battle or storm a battery. 



We want female education in this Commonwealth ; and I ap- 

 peal to the trustees of the Agricultural College not to allow 

 the Cornell University to outstrip this old Commonwealth, that 

 you heard so eulogized this morning. Prof. Chadbourne told 

 us that Massachusetts was ahead in everything. The Cornell 

 University is getting ahead of your Board, sir. There is no 

 reason why it should be so. Let the Agricultural College have 

 a department for the young women of this Commonwealth who 

 desire to make horticulturists of themselves ; who desire to 

 learn how to furnish their houses tastefully when they have 

 them, how to take care of our green-houses, and how to perform 

 profitably and well all those details which the hand of woman 

 can always do so much better than the hand of man. There 

 are branches of education, in which the females of Massachusetts 

 can be educated in that college, which will be of service not 

 only to themselves, but to every one who takes an interest in 

 that education which is to elevate all the people of the State up 

 to a proper standard. 



Mr. President, I have made a long argument in behalf of the 

 Agricultural College ; but I have, in doing it, endeavored 

 simply to discharge a duty which the president of that college 



