FEMALE EDUCATION. 
169 
on all hands admitted to be the great cause of pauperism. Strin- 
gent legislation was urgently called for ; and he thought the 
suggestions of the committee of Convocation demanded the most 
respectful attention, and that before long the chief, if not all of 
them, would become the law of the land. 
FEMALE EDUCATION. 
ABSTRACT OF REV. J. METCALFE's PAPER. 
(Read December 7th, 1871.) 
A DESIRE for social amelioration was one of the characteristics of 
the time, and education was one of the principal subjects by which 
the minds of thoughtful persons were occupied. The higher 
education of women had been overlooked, although it was one of 
the most important elements in the progress of civilisation. The 
efforts to spread elementary education had been directed to the 
benefit of both sexes. With regard to the education of the middle 
and upper classes, however, boys were educated for the world, and 
girls for the drawing-room. The slight estimation in which solid 
learning was held in the upper class of girls' schools might have 
sprung from the fact that there were no endowments for female 
superior training ; or, perhaps, the slight estimation had produced 
that result. Eew educational endowments were now applied to 
the benefit of girls ; but many had no express limitation to boys, 
and there was no reason why they should not be applied for both. 
He was disposed to attribute the indifference still shewn to this 
question to a want of due appreciation of the nature of woman's 
work. It was stated almost as a truism, that the proper sphere of 
woman was the family circle, and that to step outside it was un- 
womanly. But the two were compatible, and woman had duties as 
well without the circle as within. The non-recognition of this 
fact led to the evils of which he complained. He did not contend 
that all girls should be educated for professions — all boys were not — 
but they should be educated to have an influence upon the circle in 
which they moved, and the age in which they lived. What was 
there in the life of an ordinary girl of the middle classes between 
leaving school and marriage to call forth her energies ? Would it 
not be better if some definite pursuit were undertaken ? Some 
