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 ADDRESSES 
 
 AT THE OPENING OF 
 
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 FEMALE COLLEGE 
 
 5 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF THE 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA FEMALE COLLEGE, 
 
 AT HARRISBURG, 
 
 GOVERNOR BIGLER, PROFESSORS WAUGH AND TIFFANY: 
 
 WITH 
 
 A LIST OF THE OFFICERS. 
 
 II ARRISBURG: 
 
 1853. 
 
PRINTED BY A. BOYD HAMILTON, 
 
 75 Market St., Harrisburg. 
 
emeiits ®f tmi coLmei 
 
 WILLIA3I BIGLER, President of the Board of Trustees. 
 
 A. O. HIESTER, Treasurer. 
 
 J. J. CLYDE, Secretary. 
 
 BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 
 
 WILLIAM BIGLER, Governor of the Commonwealth, ex officio. 
 CHARLES A. BLACK, Superintendent of Common Schools, ex officio. 
 LUTHER REILY, M. D., Harrisburg, 
 
 A. O. HIESTER “ 
 
 JOHN MAGLAUGHLIN, “ 
 
 BENJAMIN PARSE, « 
 
 JOHN J. CLYDE, “ 
 
 ROBERT J. ROSS, “ 
 
 STEPHEN MILLER, “ 
 
 DANIEL W. GROSS, « 
 
 HAMILTON ALRICKS, 
 
 ROBERT A. LAMBERTON, “ 
 
 JOHN H. BRIGGS, “ 
 
 WILLIAM DOCK, “ 
 
 SIMON CAMERON, Middletown, 
 
 C. E. BLUMENTHAL, Carlisle, 
 
 O. H. TIFFANY, “ 
 
 JAMES BUCHANAN, Lancaster, 
 
 GEORGE FORD, “ 
 
 JOHN WEIDMAN, Lebanon, 
 
 LEYI KLINE, “ 
 
 WILLIAM H. ALLEN, Philadelphia, 
 
 JOB R. TYSON, “ 
 
 GEORGE M. WHARTON, « 
 
 PRINCIPAL OF THE COLLEGE, 
 
 B. R. WAUGH, A. M., (late of Baltimore Female College.) 
 
 PRINCIPAL FEMALE TEACHER. 
 
 Mrs. C. D. S. GETZ, Harrisburg. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
NOTE. 
 
 By the Charter of this new College, the Governor of the Common- 
 wealth of Pennsylvania and the Superintendent of Common Schools, 
 are ex officio Trustees. At their first meeting, Governor Bigler was 
 
 elected President of the Board. 
 
 The ceremonies at the opening of the College on the 5th of Sep 
 
 tember, 1853, were — 
 
 An Introductory Address by His Excellency Governor Bigler, Pre- 
 sident of the Board of Trustees, 
 
 An Inaugural Address by B. R. Waugh, A. M., Principal of the 
 
 College, and 
 
 A Literary Address by Professor O. H. Tiffany, of Dickinson Col 
 lege, Carlisle. 
 
 These Addresses have been furnished for publication in pursuance ol 
 a resolution of the Board of Trustees. 
 
 .1. J. CLYDE, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Harrisburg, October, 1853. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR BIGLER. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
 
 I am most happy to meet you on this very interesting 
 occasion, and to hail you, one and all, as co- laborers in 
 the great work which we are about to commence this 
 morning. 
 
 The Legislature of the State, during its last session, 
 passed an act providing for the establishment of a 
 “ Female College ” at Harrisburg, having for its aim 
 “the liberal education of Females in the various branches 
 of Science, Literature and the learned and foreign Lan- 
 guages” — to be known as the “Pennsylvania Female 
 College.” 
 
 Under the provisions of this law, the gentlemen named 
 as trustees of the proposed Institution, have made the 
 necessary preliminary arrangements, and we have assem- 
 bled here to-day to witness, and to participate in the cere- 
 monies incident to the dedication of the first college that 
 has been founded at the Capital of our great State. 
 
 It may lie matter of surprise to many, as I know it 
 should be of regret to all, that this event did not occur 
 long since — that the females of this community have so 
 long been deprived of the advantages of an institution of 
 this kind. But, in our gratitude for present blessings, we 
 can afford to forget the short-comings of the past. Let 
 
8 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 us be thankful too, that it has been our good fortune to 
 have this opportunity of participating in a work so credi- 
 table to this community — so congenial to the noblest im- 
 pulses of our nature, and so consistent with the highest 
 purposes of civilized society. As President ex officio of 
 the Board of Trustees, I am proud of the relation my 
 name is to bear to this commendable enterprise. It is this 
 relation that has assigned to me the duty of participating 
 in the ceremonies of the occasion, by briefly alluding to 
 the objects and inevitable tendencies of the proposed 
 College. 
 
 In discharging this duty, I would first remark to the 
 trustees and the citizens of this community generally — 
 that they have certainly never engaged in an enterprise 
 more creditable to themselves — more consistent with the 
 purest purposes and the highest aims of the human heart, 
 than the establishment, in your midst, of a College for the 
 education of females; and I am quite sure you have never 
 been engaged in one so likely to bestow the choicest bless- 
 ings on society. Your railroads, your iron mills and cot- 
 ton factories, are all well enough in their place. These 
 have been useful, in giving employment to the laborer 
 and mechanic, and in adding to the general prosperity 
 and wealth of the State ; but these considerations sink into 
 insignificance, when compared with the high purpose of 
 this new enterprise. As much as the intellectual cultiva- 
 tion of woman rises in our estimation, above the mere 
 physical improvement of the country and the accumulation 
 of wealth, must it stand above all others to which I have 
 referred. Let me invoke you then, to make the main- 
 tenance and success of the Pennsylvania Female College 
 a special care for the present. In its infancy, let it have 
 your aid and countenance, that you may enjoy the blessed 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 9 
 
 fruits of its maturity. Let lie who is rich give freely of 
 his abundance, and he who is poor contribute his mite. — 
 Let the old speak words of encouragement — the vigorous 
 extend a helping hand, and the young a willing patron- 
 age; for, notwithstanding the fact that this institution is 
 to be dedicated exclusively to the education of woman , we 
 shall not rate him a real man who withholds from it that 
 support which he can well afford to give. 
 
 A better time for the establishment of a “Female Col- 
 lege” than the present, or a more eligible location than 
 this, could not lie selected. The time is befitting, be- 
 cause this work cannot be done to soon. The location is 
 desirable, as it is at the seat of Government of our great 
 and prosperous State, accessible by rail-roads from all parts 
 of the Commonwealth, and surrounded by a rich and pop- 
 ulous country. The citizens of Harrisburg, in addition, I 
 am confident, are deeply impressed with the value of an 
 institution of this kind, and are prepared to sustain and 
 cherish it. In a community like this, abounding in wealth 
 and refinement — where the moral and social virtues are 
 so generally cultivated — where individual efforts have 
 been so efficient in the promotion of literary and scholas- 
 tic attainments — an institution for the Education of fe- 
 males, cannot fail. In the solid basis thus prepared — in 
 the moral, social, and I may say, religious tone of feeling 
 in this community, we have an ample guarantee for the 
 triumph of this generous work. 
 
 But what next shall I say on this subject? The gen- 
 eral principles of education — the manner of imparting 
 them — their character and consequences, open a field so 
 wide and so prolific of interesting thought, that I dare not 
 attempt to examine the smallest of these ideas in detail ; 
 and yet the theme, in all its parts, is so enticing that it is 
 
10 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 hard to be forced to merely touch the surface as we run 
 by. I have concluded, however, that a slight glance at 
 the history of education in our State, might not be out of 
 place, or entirely uninteresting. 
 
 We learn, then, that at a very early day, in the history 
 of the Commonwealth, the cause of education received a 
 measure of consideration from those in authority. In 
 1701, long before the adoption of the first Constitution, 
 under the auspices of the founder of our Commonwealth, 
 the revered Penn, a charter was granted for a school, un- 
 der the somewhat quaint or Quakerish title of “The over- 
 seers of the public schools, founded in Philadelphia, at the 
 request, cost and charges of the people of God, called the 
 Quakers.” Subsequently this title was changed at the in- 
 stance of Penn himself, by the addition of the beautiful 
 and significant motto “Good instruction is better than 
 riches.” In 1753 a Public School was established in Phil- 
 adelphia, known as “The Academy and Charitable School, 
 of the Province of Pennsylvania.” In 1789 this institu- 
 tion became permanently merged in the University of 
 Pennsylvania, and as such it still flourishes with great 
 vigor in the city of Philadelphia. “The Dickinson Col- 
 lege,” at Carlisle, was next founded. It was opened 
 about the year 1784. Then followed the “Jefferson,” at 
 Cannonsburg, and the “Washington,” at the town of 
 Washington, in 1802. Then sprung up a brood of small- 
 er institutions in different parts of the State. Next, the 
 Legislature endowed academies in nearly every county 
 of the Commonwealth, and these were followed by the 
 erection of the log school house on every hill and in every 
 dale in the State. Thus the cause of Education was made 
 to move hand in hand with the progress of Civilization 
 and Improvement. The pioneers in the settlement of our 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 11 
 
 State, whose brave hearts encountered the savage in his 
 home, and whose strong arms subdued the forest, and made 
 the “wilderness to bud and blossom as the rose,” were not 
 insensible to the value of Education in the higher branches 
 of Science and Literature. We should profit by them noble 
 example, and catching the inspiration of them times, we 
 should be willing to sacrifice much of individual purpose 
 on the altar of the general good. 
 
 But the great event of all, in the history of education 
 in our State, was the adoption of the Common School sys- 
 tem. This institution was the offspring of a constitutional 
 injunction — and started under the auspices of wise heads, 
 pure, benevolent and Christian hearts. The injunction 
 in our first Constitution, and repeated in the second, 
 “ that the poor should be taught gratis,” and “the arts and 
 sciences be promoted in one or more seminaries of learn- 
 ing,” has not been an idle promise, kept to the ear and 
 broken to the hope. But the mandate has been obeyed in 
 its true sense. The rich as well as the poor, are now taught 
 at the Institution of the Government — they meet on the 
 same level, and partake of the same great fountain of truth 
 and knowledge. Thanks to the good men and true, who 
 have preceded us in the control of public affairs, and de- 
 signed, founded and sustained our Common School system. 
 It should be our ambition and pride to cherish, perfect, 
 and extend it. 
 
 In all Countries, and in all ages of the world, Education 
 and Knowledge has been essential to the happiness of the 
 human race, and indispensably necessary to the attain- 
 ment of great national honor, order and prosperity ; “for 
 education begetteth knowledge, and knowledge, righteous- 
 ness, and this exalteth a nation.” Education, knowledge, 
 the elevation of the moral faculties, and the diffusion of 
 
12 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 religious principles, is a work of transcendent importance 
 to the people of a government like ours. Under this 
 system, the mass of the people are the recognized source 
 of all legitimate governmental power, and circumscribed 
 by only a few general fundamental rules, which they 
 can change in a prescribed way, they may lie regarded as 
 the government — as the authors and administratorsof law 
 — as the guardians of the public weal, and the dispensers 
 of political favors. Their will gives direction to public 
 affairs, and to the extent that that will is guided by 
 a refined and intelligent judgment, may we expect the 
 policy of the government to be wise and just. The means 
 of Education for the great body of the people, should, 
 therefore, bear a proper relation to the high functions de- 
 volved upon them by our fundamental law. To prepare 
 the people for this high and sacred trust, should be the 
 first care of the good and wise of all parties. The elector 
 should be educated — should be intelligent — in order that 
 he may make a virtuous and independent use of the pre- 
 rogatives conferred upon him by our Constitution; for in 
 this is found the principal safeguard for our Republican 
 institutions. That our forefathers were impressed with 
 this idea, is clearly manifested in the constitutional in- 
 junction upon the Legislature to provide for the Educa- 
 tion of the poor. The idea is in harmony with our repub- 
 lican policy, and the similitude of our Common School 
 system to our free institutions, should endear it to every 
 patriotic heart. It reflects the beauties of the principles 
 of benevolence and equality, as found in our free Govern- 
 ment. As such it should be cherished as a most sacred 
 branch of our government — as the strong arm of our de- 
 fence as a people — as our gateway to knowledge and 
 science — as a common nursery for the youthful mind, in 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 13 
 
 which shall be sown the seeds of knowledge, to be trans- 
 planted in the tender twig throughout the whole land — 
 as the grand trunk of our educational system, from which 
 all the higher branches may spring — as the means by 
 which the hidden gems of intellect, often found in the 
 ranks of poverty, may be brought to light — by which the 
 fragrant flower, wasting its sweetness on the desert air 
 may be transplanted to a genial and cultivated soil. To 
 the poor, the needy and helpless youth, the unbought 
 bounties of our Common School system come like the dews 
 from Heaven on the tender grass — like the morning sun 
 on the opening bud, exercising a refreshing and invigora- 
 ting influence, leading to maturity and usefulness. 
 
 But I must not overlook entirely the peculiar character- 
 istics of this institution. It is intended exclusively for 
 the education of Females in the “various branches of Sci- 
 ence, Literature, and the learned and Foreign Languages.” 
 I am, I must confess to you, my fair hearers, no advocate 
 of woman’s rights, as practised by Lucretia Mott, Lucy 
 Stone, Antoinette Brown, and others of your sex — nor 
 am I an admirer, to any extent, of the Bloomer costume. 
 But I go for your rights to an Institution of this kind, 
 with all my heart. I go for every means to develope the 
 Female mind, and to train properly her moral faculties. I 
 go for every measure that is calculated to elevate and dig- 
 nify the attributes of her character, and that is to make 
 her approximate the image of her maker — to kindle and 
 strengthen the intellectual flame, that it may consume the 
 baser qualities of nature, and enable her to shine forth as 
 a light in society. I shall not, therefore, annoy you by a 
 serious inquiry into the propriety and utility of an Insti- 
 tution intended specially to promote these ends, nor shall 
 I wound the sensibilities of your nature, by suggesting, as 
 
14 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 has been gravely done, on similar occasions, that Woman 
 must be educated in the higher branches to make her a fit 
 companion for man. This idea may be, indeed it is mea- 
 surably correct, but the converse of the proposition, accord- 
 ing to my view, is still more sound. Man should be edu- 
 cated to make him the fit companion of Woman. But we 
 can afford to drop this controversy and conclude that both 
 should be educated — that the interest and happiness of 
 one sex is involved in the education and correct moral 
 training of the other. If one only were educated and 
 refined both would be unhappy. — Our original qualities 
 are too similar, and our associations and sympathies through 
 life, too identical to admit of so wide a separation. — Nor 
 should it be suggested that the Female intellect is not 
 equal to the higher branches of education. The power of 
 the Female mind has been sufficiently vindicated in the 
 triumphs of Miss Somerville, of Miss Bowditch, in Mathe- 
 matics and Astronomy — in the elegant and heart-stirring 
 productions of Hannah Moore, of Miss Edgeworth, of Mrs. 
 Hemans, of Miss Sedgewick, and a host of other brilliant 
 contributors to the works of science and literature in 
 Europe and in this country. Nature, however, has marked 
 a field and sphere for both sexes — and that sphere is equal 
 to the physical, moral, and intellectual qualities of each — 
 and should be equal to the highest ambition. Woman, 
 from her delicate form and finer sensibilities, may not be 
 permitted to appear in the Halls of Legislation, nor to 
 command on the field of battle. But in the domestic and 
 the social circle — in the great work of constraining the 
 youthful mind to right inclinations — in the formation of 
 character, her influence is most potent. Much of the 
 character of the son will depend upon the training of the 
 mother — the elevated principles and correct moral pre- 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 1-3 
 
 cepts which she has implanted in the mind when free and 
 susceptible, shines forth and adorns and distinguishes the 
 man. 
 
 The world attributes all to him, and lavishes its glories 
 on his head. The real work was that of an unseen mother. 
 There is no such thing as over-estimating the influence of 
 a refined mother, wife, and sister, on the domestic and 
 social circle ; it acts like a magic spell in restraining vice 
 and advancing virtue. The rudest man the earth ever 
 bore, will cower and be restrained in the presence of a high- 
 toned, refined lady. But, this blessed, this benign influ- 
 ence of woman, cannot be imparted by her without educa- 
 tion — without that knowledge of the book of revelation 
 and the book of nature, that alone can fit her for the great 
 drama of life. Her education should not be for mere em- 
 belishment and empty show, but for practical use in the 
 great work of life — to give her a clear conception of our 
 moral nature and the works of Providence. A too free use 
 of light literature, fiction and poetry, I would not encour- 
 age. Moral philosophy, geology, botany, chemistry, as- 
 tronomy, and history, are studies best calculated to im- 
 press the mind with great practical truths, and elevate 
 our aims above the sensualities of this life. 
 
 Education, in its true sense ! who can measure the mag- 
 nitude of the work ! What a blank this world would be 
 without it ! How far man would sink below even his pre- 
 sent lamentable condition ! Deprived of it, he could rise 
 but little above the animal creation. What a moment- 
 ous work it presents ! In the youthful mind is found a 
 small intellectual spark — the elementary principles of an 
 education, when applied to this are like light fuel to the 
 weak embers. They serve to kindle and to strengthen it. 
 To load this weak faculty at once with the heavy material 
 
16 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 of mathematics, would be to smother it — it could not start 
 under such a weight. The mind must be drawn forth by 
 degrees, and he is a skillful master, who fully compre- 
 hends this science. The mind gradually expands until 
 it discovers and subdues the most obstruse problems. The 
 whole works of God and nature is opened up before it, as 
 one vast rich field for contemplation. He who can so far 
 dwell on these things, as to make them his principal 
 source of happiness, so as thereby to quench the sensuali- 
 ties of the animal nature, has achieved the great triumph. 
 He is on the way to intellectual eminence, and to the 
 highest realities of earthly bliss. The examination of the 
 already admitted de velopements of science, in reference to 
 the material universe, the astronomy of the Heavens, the 
 revelations of history and the pursuit of other discoveries, 
 are studies calculated to awaken to the highest sensations 
 of delight in the truly refined and Christian heart. To 
 think of a science that counts the motions of Heavenly 
 bodies and foretells the coming eclipse of the sun for cen- 
 turies in advance — that measures the almost boundless 
 Heavens. Of another that navigates the trackless Ocean 
 by pointing from pole to pole. Of the Physical Sciences 
 and Mechanic Arts which in our day have usurped the 
 places of the laborer and mechanic. Of the operations 
 of steam which are rapidly revolutionizing the commer- 
 cial and social relations of the world — of the Magnetic 
 Telegraph which has brought the people of each hemis- 
 phere of the globe into close communion. All these things 
 are types and shadows of the wonderful works which man’s 
 intellect is to accomplish under the guidance of Heaven 
 Education must be at the bottom of all these triumphs of 
 the mind. The intellect must be first drawn forth in its 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 17 
 
 weakness, and cultivated and matured. To apply the 
 divine idea of Solomon, to this process, the “ end is better 
 than the beginning.” We must first have the bud and 
 
 O O 
 
 the blossom, and then the full grown fruit. 
 
 INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THE PRINCIPAL, 
 
 BEVERLY R. WAUGH. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
 
 It is not at all unlikely, such is the diversity in the 
 constitution of the human mind, that, on this and similar 
 occasions, the mysogynist, with captiousness and sneering, 
 may cry in derision, a “ Female College !” Humbug ! We 
 want no Colleges for our Women ! Cui Bono? Why will 
 not Female Common Schools answer just as well? may 
 demand the practical utilitarian, whose sole idea of an 
 Education seems to be concentrated in the power of his 
 son, whose one desire is, “that he should be able to turn 
 the nimble sixpence ,” and make for himself wealth, rather 
 than possess general intelligence. Prosperity and success 
 attend your enterprise and efforts, are the generous burst- 
 ings forth of the heart’s desire of every true and devoted 
 lover of mankind, who sees, in the proper Education of 
 the Female, the outline of that lever which is to move the 
 moral world. 
 
 I am sure that the one desire of this large and highly 
 
18 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 intelligent audience, is to have an Institution, in their 
 midst, in which they can educate their Daughters, n<tt 
 that they may be able to stand in the battle and strife of 
 life, (the position of woman is not in the front — not amid 
 the struggles of life’s engagement, to do battle — her’s is 
 the work and office of soothing, consoling, and encourag- 
 ing,) not that they might occupy our Legislative Halls, or 
 iill either offices of the Executive or Judiciary departments 
 of our government, but that they may make their impres- 
 sion where it is most likely to be felt, upon the home 
 circle — society around. There is a diffusiveness in the 
 principles of correct Education, right views of the charac- 
 ter of our Government, and the importance of rectitude 
 and consistency of conduct, which is most appropriately 
 compared to the “ leaven hid in the measures of meal.” 
 Its effects are seen, most manifestly, in the family circle, 
 and radiating from it, there is observed, as that which is 
 a natural consequent, much of good accomplished, far 
 away, as well as near at hand. Its diffusive property is 
 seen, moreover, in the the rapid and continued increase of 
 Female Colleges and other Institutions of high grade 
 throughout our country. The time has been, not one of 
 more than a “Van Winkle” slumber, when Colleges for 
 Females were not thought of, nay, not even dreamed of 
 in fancies wildest flight. But now we find that in almost 
 every portion of the United States, there are in existence 
 flourishing Institutions for developing the intellectual 
 powers of the Female mind. 
 
 Too long has it been, as was said by Addison, in a 
 number of the Spectator, that “the general mistake, among 
 “ us in the Education of our children, is that in our daugh- 
 “ ters we take care of their persons, and neglect their minds . 
 “ in our sons, we are so intent upon adorning their minds 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 19 
 
 “ that we wholly neglect their bodies — though the above 
 remark was made in the reign of Queen Anne, it has not 
 ceased, though last ceasing, to be applicable in the present 
 day. With the most elementary branches of Learning- 
 lias the parent been satisfied, with respect to his Daughter, 
 whilst upon the Son large sums have been lavished, that 
 he might be possessed of an Education of the most com- 
 prehensive character. But from this Van Winkle slum- 
 ber we are rapidly awakening, and being conscious of 
 duty and of right, we see it to be necessary — vitally 
 necessary — to educate, in the full sense of that term, our 
 Daughters. 
 
 The careful observer of the history of our country, 
 looking upon it in a more than superficial manner, will 
 remark with interest, pleasure and profit, the consequen- 
 ces, or rather the results direct, of the conservative and 
 preservative power of correct Education. 
 
 In manners, in morals, in the great diffusion of intelli- 
 gence, in the comparatively equal distribution of wealth 
 throughout society, and the facility with which the com- 
 forts of life, and many of the luxuries are obtained by 
 almost all, we are far ahead of all past time, and every 
 other nation. Science, Literature, and Religion, giving- 
 rise to, and cherishing a spirit of freedom, and restraining 
 immoderation, have made us a peculiar nation, having no 
 parallel, or even an approximating parallel on the earth. 
 We stand alone, a beacon light to guide the noble and 
 the free: a model after which to construct new em- 
 pires, when the spirit of liberty, now slowly, yet per- 
 ceptibly working among the tyrannies of Europe, shall 
 have prostrated them in the dust. And our course as a 
 nation is onward — still onward. “ Excelsior” is our 
 
 motto ! It is true, we sometimes fancy we see in the dim 
 
20 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 distance, and at times, near at hand, shoals and quick- 
 sands. Sometimes it seems sure that in avoiding Scytta 
 we rush to destruction on Charybdis. We fear that our 
 gallant hark of State, which has thus far so nobly and 
 safely steered on the ocean of events, should founder or 
 be wrecked. Yet we look back, and see dangers equally 
 as great, which have been passed, and we have confidence 
 still, that the land which has been the Cradle of Liberty, 
 will continue its chosen dwelling place, until the end of 
 time. We believe that our nation has, in the ways of 
 Providence, a high destiny marked out for it in the future. 
 Hence we feel no little solicitude to do our part — that 
 which we alone can do, for in this “there is work for every 
 man to do,” in order to accomplish this high destiny. 
 But let us trace a single thread in the history of the 
 operativeness of Woman’s influence — emanating from an 
 instructive and cherishing heart, and accomplishing grand 
 results. Precept was then accompanied with example, the 
 practical result by us is now enjoyed. 
 
 This hidden influence — this conservative power has 
 been one of the secret springs whereby our country 
 has been brought forward to its present position. — 
 Though silent in its operation it possesses an untold 
 energy. In imagination I see a little band of devout 
 worshippers ill England’s sea girt Isle. Fain would they 
 worship their Maker freed from external restraints — in 
 that manner, in which, taking his word as their guide, 
 they believed He wished to be worshipped. But this boon 
 was not permitted them. A proud and haughty hierar- 
 chy demanded entire conformity to the canons which they 
 saw proper to impose . These affected matters of conscience . 
 The Father of a family saw that the Prelates assumed 
 a position which interfered with his duty to his God. 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 21 
 
 The Mother too felt, even more keenly, her wrong in 
 being forbidden to meet with the people of her choice, 
 and listen to the man of God of her own choosing, as 
 the words of heavenly instruction fell, with burning en- 
 ergy, from his lips. Must not the little ones, when on 
 the Lord’s day morning, they saw the tear start in the 
 Mother’s eye, because her beloved Pastor was torn by 
 rude hands from his place, and thrown into prison, who, 
 for so long a time, had led them, as a Shepherd leadeth 
 his flock, in green pastures, and beside still waters. Must 
 they not, when they inquired the cause, and learned that 
 the haughty ecclesiastical rulers had forbidden them to go 
 to their accustomed place of worship, have felt, against 
 these tyrants over men’s consciences an irrepressible dis- 
 like ? Was not a spark of liberty then enkindled, which, 
 a long voyage across the boisterous ocean, and years of 
 toil and indescribable sufferings on the bleak and barren 
 shores of New England, were not sufficient to extinguish: 
 and did not the recollection of those scenes of suffering, 
 and those maternal teachings serve in after years to fan 
 the sacred flame, if at any time it began to flicker? 
 Who cherished this thirst for liberty, — this hatred of civil 
 as well as spiritual tyranny, in the young hearts of those 
 who formed the second generation of New England ? It 
 may at first have been excited in many a bosom by a 
 Mother’s tear and a Mother’s sigh, together with a 
 Mother’s teachings, when having called her children 
 around her, she detailed to them the cause — a cruel pro- 
 hibition on the part of spiritual rulers. And the same 
 fireside teaching in which the Mother was more frequent- 
 ly the instructress, prepared 
 
 “ An arm, which nerved with thundering fate 
 
 Braved usurpations boldest daring.” 
 
PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 22 
 
 The first Mothers of New England were educated as 
 well as pious, or rather their Education was of that com- 
 prehensive kind which includes the training of the heart 
 as well as the intellect. They were emphatically their 
 childrens teachers. At the breast they inhaled the Spirit 
 of Freedom — in the fireside conversation this spirit was 
 warmed and cherished. Hence, when the proud oppressor 
 frowned, they started not back in dismay, but bade him 
 do his worst — “We stand prepared.” 
 
 We see thus beautifully and interestingly portrayed the 
 Female’s influence, in inspiring and fostering feelings, 
 which had much to do with securing the priceless boon 
 of freedom which we now possess. Has Woman less to 
 do now in sustaining the priceless bequest of our Fathers ? 
 He who thinks she has, greatly underrates her influence — 
 and has studied with no advantage the pages of practical 
 illustration which are afforded in the study of Human 
 Nature. We feel no little solicitude on this point. We 
 know what Female influence has done — we know what 
 it can do. With a mind that has been subjected to a pro- 
 per, moral and intellectual training, the Female becomes 
 the dispenser of those principles, upon the continuance of 
 which the salvation of our country is based — without this 
 training much of her power is lost. With a wrong train- 
 ing, it is not only lost, but a power for evil takes its place. 
 
 We might bring to your minds the important part that 
 the Educated Female has to perform, and really does ac- 
 complish, in the moral renovation of the world. But 
 already have I occupied more time than I allowed myself. 
 The noble — praise- worthy deeds of Woman, self-sacrific- 
 ing and heroic, “ are known and read of Ml men/’ 
 
 To add their portion to the accomplishment of great 
 and glorious achievements — to hasten on the coming of 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 23 
 
 the millennial day, a season of pure knowledge, the trustees 
 do this day commence the scholastic operations of the 
 Pennsylvania Female College. May all their most san- 
 guine expectations and wishes be realized. 
 
 Our position, as Principal of the Pennsylvania Female 
 College, is one of responsibility and onerousness. And did I 
 not feel assured of the counsel, support and aid of the Board 
 of Trustees I should feel myself incompetent to the task, 
 and shrink from the responsibility. But of their counsel, 
 support and aid 1 am made certain, from the deep interest 
 and concern which they have hitherto manifested, and still 
 do manifest, in the welfare and prosperity of the College. 
 
 We consider ourselves not merely in the business of in- 
 struction, but that of Education. For the purpose of ob- 
 taining this, we judge that our pupils are entrusted to our 
 care : and upon their Education we will try to have their 
 minds fixed, and their energies employed. Every hour 
 will have its appropriate arrangements of devotion, exer- 
 cise, study, recreation, refreshment and rest. 
 
 And while on the one hand we deprecate the employment 
 of pantographic systems, except in the instruction of deaf 
 mutes, in which the eye alone is employed, and at the 
 same time, decry the delusive, though popular notion of 
 a royal road to learning, which in this fast age would 
 hurry us along over courses of Morals and Philosophy — 
 the Sciences and Literature, with telegraphic speed, and 
 cram our brains with “ ologies ” almost too numerous too 
 mention; we nevertheless, in leading out the powers of 
 the mind, shall employ all those appliances which experi- 
 ence has demonstrated to be of service, in producing com- 
 prehensiveness and quickness of mental effort. 
 
 In scholastic discipline, as well as in every other de- 
 partment of toil, it is true, that to patient effort the prize 
 
24 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 is sure, so that those who may in the course of events, 
 become connected or associated with us in a more inter- 
 esting relation, we hope that they will ever, in their 
 course, bear in mind “ Nulla Excellentia, Sine Lahore 
 
 But we conceive that Education does not consist only in 
 acquiring knowledge, or unfolding the reasoning faculties, 
 or in cultivating the moral feelings, or in developing the 
 physical powers, or in forming the manners and habits 
 alone, but in the pursuit of all these objects combined. 
 Especially do we conceive Our Pupils as being accountable 
 creatures, preparing for immortality. We believe that in- 
 tellectual culture cannot take precedence of moral, without 
 hazarding the highest improvement of which the human 
 mind is capable, and sacrificing the best interests of man. 
 
 It shall lie our aim and object, in conducting the exer- 
 cises of the College, to have always a correct state of 
 moral feeling assiduously cultivated. The Word of God 
 will be studied more or less every day, and while reason 
 and reflection are principally operated upon, as inducing 
 to right sentiments and actions, this will ever be appealed 
 to as the Infallible Oracle of Truth, and Sovereign Director 
 of our conduct. 
 
 With an efficient faculty of Professors and Teachers, 
 and moreover with conveniences and comforts in the 
 domestic department, we hope that many of Pennsylva- 
 nia’s fairest Daughters will have occasion to feel proud of 
 their Alma, Mater ; they declaring her, in coming time, to 
 be blessed: — -May the Pennsylvania Female College ever 
 prove a fostering Mother to those committed to its charge. 
 “May all her Daughters be as corner stones polished after 
 “ the similitude of a palace, until they are built as lively 
 “ stones in that temple not made with hands, Eternal in the 
 “ Heavens.” 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR 0. H. TIFFANY. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : — 
 
 The great objects proposed in the plan of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Female College, have been so ably presented by His 
 Excellency the Governor, and also by the Principal of the 
 College, that a brief allusion to them on my part, will 
 suffice. 
 
 Our object is to prepare pupils for the duties of life — ■ 
 not so much to make them learned, as to supply the mate- 
 rial and afford the impetus for self-instruction. The true 
 idea of education is the discipline and developement of the 
 mind, not the mere preparation of the individual for a par- 
 ticular station or special duties. And the design of the 
 officers of this establishment is to train the understanding 
 of their pupils, so that they may be able to survey the 
 field of knowledge for themselves, to comprehend them 
 own capabilities, and keep them in healthy exercise. 
 
 Were this an institution for the education of young men, 
 the propriety of this position would be admitted without 
 argument, but the generality of men, though awaking, 
 are not yet wholly alive to the importance of thus educa- 
 ting females. The idea is still too prevalent, that a super- 
 ficial acquaintance with some branches of knowledge, is 
 all that woman requires, if she add to this the gloss and 
 tinsel of so-called accomplishments. Men who think thus, 
 will speak of a radical difference in the sexes, and of the 
 different spheres and positions they occupy, and because the 
 
 D 
 
26 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 idea of education I have given is deemed best for the one 
 sex, they pronounce at once its want of adaptation to the 
 other. To meet such objectors, I take the position, that 
 as an intelligent being, woman is not different from man. 
 She has the same faculties, understanding, conscience and 
 will ; admit, if you please, that she has them in less 
 degree ; she still possesses them, and the fact of possession 
 is the ground at once, both of the reason and the duty of 
 exercising them. Why then should her reason be left 
 without nurture or scantily provided with it — her con- 
 science without light- — her will without laws ? Will not 
 the admission of these points involve the necessity of de- 
 priving a large majority of the other sex of these advan- 
 tages ? For surely, the mere fact of being a man does 
 not, of necessity, imply the possession of greater powers of 
 conscience, reason and will, than exist in woman. We 
 know, too, that the distinction of sex is only recognized 
 in this world, but education has reference to both worlds ; 
 and we do not believe that God has imposed a permanent 
 and degrading inferiority on the immortal essence of being, 
 merely on account of a temporary physical organization. 
 
 It is a truth of the deepest import, and involving for 
 woman and for the educators of women, the greatest re- 
 sponsibility — that before and after being maiden, wife or 
 mother, a girl is a human being, and as Richter says : — 
 “ Neither motherly nor wifely destination can overbalance 
 or substitute the human, but must become its means and 
 not its end. As the artist while forming his work, does, 
 at the same time form something higher, himself — as above 
 the poet, the painter, the hero, the human being rises pre- 
 eminent — so, in every walk of life, the woman, whether 
 fitting herself for society, or adorning herself to gratify 
 her own eyes or those of others, or discharging the duties 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 of home and household, of wife and mother — still bears 
 with her an endowed human intellect, and is still fash- 
 ioning for herself an immortal destiny.” 
 
 The sphere of action to which her constitution adapts 
 her, necessarily occasions a distinction in the character of 
 her intellectual growth, but to justify the idea of denying 
 her an education, the absence of all developement must 
 be established. The mountaineer differs no less in mental 
 characteristics than in physical from the inhabitant of the 
 plain ; and we should naturally expect those whose duties 
 call them to act in the bold scenes of history, amid the 
 difficulties of the rugged world, to differ from those whose 
 peaceful vocations and domestic cares confine them more 
 to the quiet scenes of loveliness and home; 
 
 But let us inquire into the advantages to be gained by 
 a more liberal policy than has heretofore been pursued, 
 and search for the reasons that justify the establishment of 
 institutions like this. 
 
 I. An enlarged and liberal Education will develope the 
 true sphere of the sex. — Objectors to the liberal education 
 of women, are apt to refer to examples, which, while they 
 prove the natural endowment and great power of the 
 female mind, have, nevertheless, from the periods at which 
 they have appeared, and the circumstances by which they 
 were surrounded, manifested what they term masculine 
 power, and the conclusion is drawn, that education would 
 unsex woman and unfit her for her sphere. But the objec- 
 tors forget that these are unusual cases, the result of a 
 forced growth under adverse circumstances, and that the 
 tendency of a generally diffused education by elevating 
 the whole sex, will be to lessen the number of exceptions, 
 already small. But even if the point should be admitted, 
 it surely affords no pretext for the present low state of 
 
28 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 female education. As Sydney Smith has well said “if 
 there be any good at all in female ignorance, it is surely 
 too much of a good thing that a woman of thirty should 
 be more ignorant than a boy of thirteen.” 
 
 I am no advocate for a system which can have even 
 the slightest tendency to withdraw woman from the position 
 Providence has assigned her. I believe it worthy of her 
 highest powers. An educated English woman has well 
 expressed my views upon this point, and the sex of the 
 writer, relieving the subject from any imputation my own 
 language might occasion, is my apology for the length of 
 the quotation. 
 
 “Man,” says Mrs. Ellis, “is appointed to hold the reins 
 of government — to make laws — to support systems — to 
 penetrate with patient labor and undeviating perseverance 
 into the mysteries of science, and to work out the great 
 fundamental principles of truth. For such purposes he 
 would be ill-qualified were he diverted from his object by 
 the quickness of his perception of external things, by the 
 ungovernable impulse of his own feelings or by the claims 
 of others upon his regard or sensibility; but woman’s 
 sphere being one of feeling rather than of intellect, all 
 her peculiar characteristics are such as essentially qualify 
 her for that station in society she is designed to fill and 
 which she never voluntarily quits without a sacrifice of 
 good taste, — I might almost say of good principle. Weak 
 indeed is the reasoning of those who would render her 
 dissatisfied with this allotment, by persuading her that the 
 station which it ought to be her pride to ornament is one 
 too insignificant or degraded for the full exercise of her 
 mental powers. Can that be an unimportant vocation to 
 which peculiarly belong the means of happiness and 
 misery? Can that be a degraded sphere which not only 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 29 
 
 admits of, but requires the full developement of moral 
 feeling? Is it a task too trifling for an intellectual wo- 
 man to watch and guard and stimulate the growth of 
 reason in the infant mind? Is it a sacrifice too small to 
 practice the art of adaptation to all the different characters 
 met with in ordinary life, so as to influence and give a 
 right direction to their tastes and pursuits? Is it a duty 
 too easy, faithfully and constantly to hold up an example 
 of self-government, disinterestedness, and zeal for that 
 which constitutes our highest good — to be nothing or any 
 thing that is not sinful as the necessities of others may 
 require — to wait with patience — to endure with fortitude 
 — to attract by gentleness — to sooth by sympathy judi- 
 ciously applied — to be quick iu understanding, prompt in 
 action, and what is perhaps more difficult than all, firm, 
 yet pliable in will, — lastly, through a life of perplexity, 
 trial, and temptation, to maintain the calm dignity of a 
 pure and elevated character, earthly in nothing but its 
 suffering and weakness, refined almost to sublimity in the 
 seraphic ardor of its love, its faith, and its devotion.” 
 Thus writes a sensible woman from the other side of 
 the Atlantic, and yet, in the growing fancy of our own 
 progressive land, it has become common to prate of Wo- 
 mens’ Hights. The very men and women whose grand- 
 mothers were perversely ignorant, and stupidly foolish in 
 their opposition to female education, have become the 
 great advocates of the sex, profess a desire to see them 
 exalted to an equal participation in all the privileges and 
 duties now enjoyed and discharged by men, and with 
 scarcely less absurdity than their ancestors would embroil 
 women in politics, and subject them to the 'merciless war 
 of contention and dispute. Such persons have no true 
 regard for women’s interests, and those misguided females 
 
30 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 who join in their clamor know not what they ask. Start- 
 ing from the fact, that under present circumstances woman 
 is too circumscribed in her opportunities of education, 
 they overleap the true remedy and propose a social disor- 
 ganization as the only resource. They never think that 
 to bring woman from the hallowed precincts of domestic 
 life would be equivalent to tearing down all the venera- 
 tion and high regard which lias ever been a protection to 
 her retiring modesty. If it be true, that we all have a 
 higher regard for the other sex than we have for our own ; 
 that men seek and prize in woman what they lack them- 
 selves, and women, in turn, admire those qualities in which 
 men excel ; if we seek the society of women and enjoy 
 it the more, because they are not burdened with the ordi- 
 nary cares and duties of our own sex; — if we feel re- 
 freshed by their presence, and invigorated by their purity, 
 and this influence arises from their freedom from the dust 
 with which our own garments are soiled — their seclusion 
 from the turmoil and confusion of the battle-field of life; 
 how can we hope to continue and cultivate this interchange 
 of proper admiration if women £11 the stations and pur- 
 sue the vocations of men, and men are made to lose the 
 deferential regard they now willingly pay to woman in 
 the scramble for office, the competition for advancement, 
 and the routine of business engagements? What man would 
 seek a wife among the “politicians” of a bar-room or the 
 wranglers at the polls ? Who would take as a companion 
 for life a female jockey ? How soon would the adoption 
 of the platform of Woman's Rights be felt to lie the erec- 
 tion of the scaffold for the infliction of Woman's Wrongs ! 
 How soon would the usages of society be subverted and 
 the sexes change vocations? Mr. A. must then content 
 himself at home with a dish of scandal and a cup of tea, 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 31 
 
 while his wife attends the ward or district meeting. Mr. 
 B. may hold the delighted children at the open window 
 to watch mamma, as armed cap-a-pie she spurs her charger 
 and brandishes the sword for which she has laid aside the 
 knitting needle. Mrs. C. may deal in stocks, but Mr. C. 
 must darn the stockings! Gentlemen may then remain 
 at home to receive the calls of their fair friends, and if 
 over-pressed for an answer to an earnest question, flirt 
 their delicate fans with jewelled fingers, and hiding their 
 confusion beneath scented cambric, refer the fair suitor to 
 Mamma. 
 
 These may be regarded as the extreme points towards 
 which the fanaticism of modern reformers is tending. So 
 far as females are engaged in it, and they form but a small 
 minority of the ultra socialists, it exhibits the result of 
 imperfect and misguided training, and manifests the ex- 
 istence of an urgent necessity for enlarged and liberal 
 educational advantages. To oppose these tendencies by 
 argument is useless; the excitement in which they origi- 
 nate will not admit of calm discussion, and any one who 
 should hazard an objection would immediately be classed 
 with those who fear the loss of prerogatives. How silently 
 and insidiously such sentiments effect a lodgement in a 
 discontented or disappointed mind ; the natural and neces- 
 sary result of ignorance, or carelessness, or pride, is attri- 
 buted to an imperfection in the organization of society, 
 and forthwith the mortified girl becomes a “ strong minded 
 American woman” — shortens her skirts and attends pub- 
 lic meetings at the “Tabernacle.” 
 
 The only considerable good that can result from “Wo- 
 men’s Rights Conventions” would be the recognition of 
 the value of labor as such, and the overthrow of the 
 absurd notion, that the same work done by females is not 
 
PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 worth as much as if done by men. The results of labor 
 and not the sex of the laborer form a just element in the 
 determination of value. But this will lie lost sight of in 
 the conflict of angry emotions, the bitterness of disap- 
 pointed ambition, and the clamor for extended privilege. 
 The cpxiet influence of educated women and the just 
 thoughts of true men will silently and speedily accomplish 
 all this more surely than the ranting transcendentalism of 
 the socialists, or the indelicate pretensions of female poli- 
 ticians. 
 
 II. Correct Education will prepare W oman properly to 
 adorn her true position, and to discharge the duties imposed 
 by her constitution. — The influence of W oman in the for- 
 mation of character is not confined to the period in which 
 she may discharge the duties of Mother or Governess, but 
 is felt in the associations of infancy and childhood. 
 
 The relations of children to each other are close and 
 intimate. The sister, who is competent to do so, may 
 wield an important influence in the formation of a brother’s 
 habits and character. If she receives such an education 
 as entitles her to Iris respect, he will often willingly follow 
 her suggestions when the same advice from Parent or 
 Guardian would arouse and irritate his proud self-will, 
 because overshadowed with the consciousness of authority. 
 
 But true education will not only enable a sister to soften 
 the manners and improve the morals of her brother, it 
 would afford also a stimulus to his intellect. The natural 
 quickness, which distinguishes the sex, facilitates the 
 acquisition of knowledge, and to keep pace with a sister 
 would require exertion in most boys. 
 
 Similarity of pursuits would draw the children of a 
 family into closer relations and not only add to the strength 
 of influence but prolong the period of its duration, so that 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 33 
 
 the whole life of a man might be moulded, controled 
 and modified by the gentle authority of an educated 
 sister. 
 
 The true idea of education embraces the culture of all 
 the powers of the soul, and, when carried out, makes draw- 
 ing and music ennobling and elevating employments, in- 
 stead of mere instruments of vanity, or means of spend- 
 ing time and wasting money. Woman needs culture to 
 possess herself of these ideas and realize their truth. The 
 day will come when personal charms must fade, when 
 beauty will leave the form and grace no longer control 
 the actions, when the attentions these have attracted will 
 decline, when intellectual treasures will be the only re- 
 source. Sad and lonely must the woman be who has no store 
 of knowledge upon which to draw. Dark is the night 
 that sets in about her. But the cultivated mind enjoys a 
 long twilight, and the night comes with stars and beauty. 
 The dignity which is the proper ornament of age, belongs 
 only to the truly educated. Intellectual endowments 
 and cultivation add brilliancy to the beauty of youth, 
 stability to riper years, and smooth the steps of the 
 aged drawing near to the end of lifes pilgrimage ; they 
 kindle the torch of memory and light up the stars of 
 hope. 
 
 The uninteresting character of common conversation is 
 attributable in a great degree to defective education. Our 
 ordinary schools afford but limited advantages, and the 
 attractions of society do not allow the time to secure even 
 these. The periods of social transition are so rapid that 
 we not only have no boys and girls, but no schools for 
 them. There is but one step from the nursery to the 
 drawing-room, and that is the “ Institute for Masters and 
 Misses.” 
 
34 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 The girl who to-day wears pin-a-fores, (aprons having 
 long since become obsolete) and cons her task, is to-mor- 
 row the young lady of fashion, devoted to pleasure and 
 doting on sentiment. In the mean time she has “ come, 
 out.” She now takes her place in society and talks flip- 
 pantly to the elderly gentleman, who but yesterday patted 
 her head and gave her sugar plums ; nay, she even fancies 
 that in conversing with her he may have “ serious inten- 
 tions,” and concludes not to mortify him, by a positive 
 refusal. Such characters are met. with in every assembly ; 
 objects for the affected admiration of the ignorant and 
 vain, but moving the pity of those who love them, and 
 the disgust of the indifferent. Sensible young men 
 whom their gaiety may attract for the moment, would 
 shudder at the idea of their sisters becoming such. And 
 it is all a mistake for such persons to suppose, that the at- 
 tentions of gentlemen are a mark of personal admiration 
 or respect ; for these are as often given to the sex as to 
 its representative. 
 
 What pleasure can the conversation of such an one 
 afford ? It can yield no improvement, suggest no thought, 
 quicken no longing for true greatness, for it is destitute of 
 common sense. 
 
 But this is not the only defect to be remedied There 
 are some whose heads have been so turned by that dan- 
 gerous thing — a little learning — that their whole conver- 
 sation labors under cumulative epithets and technicalities. 
 Such speak ever of “ developements of science,” ‘■immu- 
 table laws,” “stand points of history,” “the me and the 
 not me,” “doctrines esoteric and exoteric,” “longings for 
 faith,” “the eternal no,” &c., &c. They are devoted to 
 “isms” and “ologies.” They pronounce decisively upon 
 works whose true position and value history is gradually 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 35 
 
 determining, and ascertain and seal the fate of the study 
 of years, by a glance at a title page. They have learned 
 to talk a little French, and a little German, but it would 
 make a Parisian’s ears tingle and excite the rage of the 
 country men of Goethe. They can thrum a little on the 
 piano, scream selections from Norma, draw a few hideous 
 outlines, and mix red lines and yellow in worsted, but 
 they have no education. How insipid and yet how com- 
 mon is such society, and what wonder is it that the usages 
 of civilized life distinguish between gatherings of such char- 
 acters, and assemblies of the more matured and culti- 
 vated. 
 
 Men love to hear the simplest language and the gravest 
 truths from women competent to use the one and compre- 
 hend the other. The educated woman needs not to parade 
 the course of instruction pursued at the school she has at- 
 tended, to evince her cultivation ; she need not even indi- 
 rectly allude to mathematics or philosophy to convince 
 you of her attention to them ; but she gives evidence of 
 the completeness of her education, by the correctness, ele- 
 gance and readiness with which she selects or pursues the 
 topics of conversation. Old truths acquire a freshness as 
 they fall from her lips, a single suggestion of her bright 
 imagining throws light and beauty over the dullest theme. 
 The grace and elegance which belong naturally to the 
 sex, inhere to sources of thought and forms of expression, 
 and the fable of the girl whose lips dropped pearls and 
 diamonds was only an exaggeration. 
 
 I have known a student to think the toil of hours am- 
 ply repaid, because it enabled him to understand the allu- 
 sions, relish the wit, and comprehend the philosophic sim- 
 plicity of a gifted woman : and I well remember the 
 absorbing interest with which when a lad I listened to 
 
36 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 the conversation of Miss Martineau, games were laid 
 aside and all the younger portion of the company gather- 
 ed round her as with peculiar grace and fascination she 
 participated in the evening festivities. 
 
 There is nothing so charming as the conversation of a 
 well educated woman. “It is a perpetual feast. Her 
 quick feelings and lively imagination enable her to paint 
 what she has seen and experienced in livelier colors and 
 more glowing language than the reserve of the other sex 
 make it possible for them to employ. There are lights and 
 shades in human things, which would pass altogether un- 
 perceived were they not reflected from the clear pure mir- 
 ror of the female mind. The prose of this monotonous life 
 becomes poetry in her lips, and its dullest scenes are illu- 
 minated by her fancy images and illustrations just as the 
 landscape sparkles in the dew.” 
 
 Truth compels the declaration that much of the unhap- 
 piness of married life, arises from circumstances that might 
 be obviated by increasing the number of educated women. 
 The man who is devoted to letters, if he find in his home 
 no other incentive to exertion than the increasing wants 
 of his family, if he receive from his wife no sympathy in 
 his pursuits, either seeks companionship with men of kin- 
 dred thought, or buries himself in the seclusion of the study. 
 The man of business who can only spare from active labor, 
 the hours of the evening for intellectual culture, if he have 
 to spend them with an uncultivated woman, who finds in 
 books no enjoyment, except as they minister to a diseased 
 imagination or gratify an appetite for absurd romance or 
 sickly sentiment, naturally seeks excitement in society. 
 The brother who finds his sisters unprepared to enter into 
 his pursuits, having no companionship at home with his 
 restlessness of thought, rejects their society and resorts to 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 the lyceum, or under pretence of so doing, seeks worse 
 society. Now, however beautiful or accomplished such 
 wives or sisters may be, they are in danger of losing the 
 respect of husband or brothers, and with respect, goes 
 love attention — everything. It is only the educated wo- 
 man who can make home what it ought to be, the centre 
 of all affection and all hope, the mainspring of all energy 
 and all enterprise ; she is the genius under whose benign 
 protection, 
 
 “ A charm from the skies seems to hallow as there, 
 
 Which seek, though we may, is not met with elsewhere,” 
 
 There is a limit to the period when the attractions of mere 
 accomplishment will influence, and the duration of that 
 period is shortened by the character of the education. — 
 Accomplishments are esteemed too often as externals to be 
 put on — instead of being regarded as just branches of edu- 
 cation to be drawn out of the mind. And hence the low 
 standard of taste that prevails to so great an extent. If 
 the hand and not the soul draws colours, or embroiders, 
 the result must be meager and common place, and the high 
 and elevating object of culture must be unrealized. If 
 the fingers touch the keys of the musical instrument with- 
 out awaking the harmonies of the soul, it is no wonder 
 that practice is wearisome, and the instrument unopened 
 after marriage. 
 
 Madame Campan when asked by Napoleon “what is 
 necessary that the youth of France be well educated,” 
 replied “ Good Mothers and in this brief answer are em- 
 bodied the results of history and experience, whose lessons 
 always accord with sound philosophy. The necessities of 
 life place the care of infancy in the charge of the mother, 
 and the instincts of nature render the duty joyous. How 
 
38 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 strong are these instincts. Love manifests itself in no 
 form so pure and so enduring as in the affection of a 
 Mother. It is lavished with the same tenderness upon 
 the deformed and helpless cripple as upon the child of 
 grace and beauty. 
 
 “ The only love, which on this teeming earth, 
 
 Asks no return from Passions wayward birth ; 
 
 The only love, that, with a touch divine, 
 
 Displaces from the heart’s most secret shrine, 
 
 The idol self.” 
 
 No misfortune, no degradation can eradicate it. It lives 
 through all things. A mother cannot forget her babe, 
 though she may live to prove, 
 
 “ How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is, 
 
 To have a thankless child.” 
 
 She still yearns for its love, and would win back its affec- 
 tion. 
 
 But the educated woman only is capable of full} 7 ap- 
 preciating all the demands that flow from this divinely 
 implanted feeling ; she alone can rightly direct the ener- 
 gies of the young intellect, and satisfy the longings of 
 the young heart. 
 
 Few joys may compare with the delight it must afford 
 an educated woman to impart instruction to her own off- 
 spring. When the expanding mind gropes for intelligence 
 as the young vine shoots forth its tendrils, what gladness 
 there must be in the heart of one who is conscious of abilty 
 to direct the enquiries of the spirit around which there still 
 linger the recollections of immortality. Next to the joy 
 of Heaven is the thought, that she may guide the young 
 immortal and direct its gaze so truly, that were death to 
 interrupt her labors its flight would still be upward, and 
 its eye still on the sun. And how sad must that Mother 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 39 
 
 be, who, when her child asks bread, must from ignorance 
 or incompetency give it a stone ; or if it ask fish, a serpent ; 
 how that stone must weigh upon her memory and that 
 serpent bite into her heart. 
 
 For the proper discharge of these sacred duties, the truly 
 educated mother will seek Divine aid, Her own experi- 
 ence and reflection will teach her, that no subject is so 
 important as religion — none so expanding in its tenden- 
 cies — so ennobling in its influence. Her own life and 
 character if formed upon the purest models will be radiant 
 with piety; her presence will diffuse light as well as know- 
 ledge. Impiety is the offspring of ignorance. Right edu- 
 cation teaches the need of prayer, and as the child kneels 
 by the mother’s side and with folded hands repeats “Our 
 Father who art in heaven,” a benison from heaven will rest 
 upon them both. The surest pledge of remembrance, the 
 truest bond of love, is cemented in the united prayer of a 
 mother and her child. “Never, never has one forgotten 
 a pure right-educating mother; on the blue mountains of 
 our dim childhood, towards which we ever turn and look 
 back, stand the mothers who marked out to us from thence 
 our life.” 
 
 How great, then, is the responsibility which the social 
 position of woman forces upon her. She must prepare the 
 cup for infant lips ; but if she carelessly allow poison to 
 mingle with the draught, or in weakness withhold a neces- 
 sary ingredient, she must herself wring out the dregs in 
 bitterness. If she soil the purity of the cherub, or taint 
 with spot of earth its golden plumage, she may rob heaven 
 of its treasure and fill earth with groanings. But if she 
 direct aright the tender growth of childhood, she may in 
 old age be sustained by the ministering of the angel who 
 in infancy nestled in her bosom; or if this be denied her, 
 
40 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 and she must in sorrow yield up her child to God who 
 gave it, 
 
 “ When that mother meets on high 
 The babe she lost in infancy, 
 
 Hath she not then for pains and fears, 
 
 The day of woe — the watchful night ; 
 
 For all her sorrows, all her tears, 
 
 An overpayment of delight ?- 5 
 
 With a well directed education a mother may anticipate 
 even this great joy, for life is but a point in existence, and 
 education begun here is finished only when “tongues shall 
 cease,” and “knowledge be done away.” 
 
 III. Such views of Female Education accord with the 
 teachings and influence of Christianity. — We look in vain 
 over the records of antiquity to find traces of the true 
 position of woman. Greece with her cultivation did not 
 discover it. Rome, with her practical enlightenment, 
 never perceived it. The annals of Heathendom contain 
 no page gilded with the acknowledgment of her rights, or 
 lightened with a glimpse of her privileges. In all hea- 
 then lands she is to this day the household drudge, 
 the slave of caprice ; the loom and the wheel are recog- 
 nized as her true position ; to sutler, her true destiny. Min- 
 istering comfort and furnishing happiness, she is never 
 ministered to or her happiness consulted ; torn from her 
 offspring, maternal tenderness never ripens in her bosom. 
 In none but Christian lands does woman mingle freely 
 even with her own sex, nowhere else are her natural in- 
 stincts allowed their true clevelopement. Elsewhere her 
 babe must be cast upon the Ganges, her body binned upon 
 her husband’s funeral pyre. Even when intellectual supe- 
 riority displays itself there is no surer barrier from sym- 
 pathy ; she is separated from her sex and kindred by 
 more than monastic seclusion. It required a charm more 
 
FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 41 
 
 potent than mere intellectual culture to break her bonds, 
 for however romance may gild, or poetry may burnish 
 them, they are but fetters still. 
 
 To break up the deep seated evils of polygamy, to 
 change the whole structure of society, to give woman 
 all that endears, all that ennobles her, required the 
 power that has been found in Christianity, and only 
 in its teachings. Christ ministered to her, and though 
 rebuked by his disciples, and ridiculed by the world, 
 he received her offerings and granted her requests. She 
 followed him as he went through the world relieving 
 its suffering, healing its sorrows; and learned from his 
 hallowed example and his binning lips, the first lessons 
 of humanity and love. She wept sorrowing “last at 
 his cross,” and the breaking dawn of the third morning 
 found her waiting at his tomb. His last expiring voice 
 committed his aged mother to the care of his best loved 
 disciple; and the listening ear of Mary, in the Garden, 
 heard his first words when he rose from the dead. 
 
 Wherever Christianity has spread, there the position of 
 woman has been elevated, her influence been acknow- 
 ledged, and her true position recognized. The false 
 prophet assigned her no place in Paradise ; but Heaven 
 would scarce be home to the Christian without a mother’s 
 smile. Her influence has extended under the fostering 
 care of Christianity, until it is entwined in every enter- 
 prize of charity and love. Her form is associated with 
 all that ennobles, all that blesses earth. She sanctifies 
 the hearth-stone, ministers to infancy, strengthens the 
 maturity of manhood, and sustains the tottering steps 
 of age ; and the green spot in memory is the hour en- 
 deared by a mother’s love and gladdened by a sister’s 
 smile. 
 
42 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 We demand then, for woman, an education broad in its 
 basis, complete in its details, enduring in its influence ; an 
 education that will qualify her to reform social abuses and 
 fully meet the demands of her position as wife and mother, 
 and which, above all, will prepare her as a human being 
 for the vicisitudes of time and the joys of Eternity. 
 
' 
 
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REVISED RATE OF EXPENSES 
 
 OP 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA FEMALE COLLEGE, 
 
 AT HARRISBURG. 
 
 Board, including fuel and lights, per ses- 
 sion, ------- $30 00 
 
 Washing and ironing, - - - - 3 00 
 
 Tuition in collegiate department, embracing 
 the higher English branches, together 
 with the Greek and Latin languages, and 
 Mathematics, per term, - - - - 10 00 
 
 Tuition in Preparatory Department — 
 
 First class, - - 8 00 
 
 Second class, - - 6 00 
 
 Elementary class, - 4 00 
 
 Music on Piano, Harp or Guitar, - - 10 00 
 
 Use of instrument, - - - - - 2 00 
 
 French, German, Italian and Spanish, each, 5 00 
 Drawing and Painting at Professors charges, 
 Stationery, per term, - - - - 1 00 
 
 Day pupils will be charged for fuel, mak- 
 ing fires, &c., for two terms — each, - - 1 00 
 
 It is expected that boarding pupils will make pay- 
 ment per session in advance. 
 
 A deduction of ten per cent, from the above rates will 
 be made when two or more from the same family are 
 in attendance at the College. 
 
 Fall Term commences Sept. 5, ends Nov. 21. 
 
 Winter Term “ Nov. 22, ends Feb. 7. 
 
 Spring Term “ Feb. 8, ends Ap. 27. 
 
 Summer Term “ Ap. 28, ends July 14. 
 
 Vacation of one week or ten days at Christmas, and 
 of seven weeks at the close of the Summer Term. 
 
 Nov. 15th, 1853. 
 
PENNSYLVANIA FEMALE COLLEGE, 
 
 TEMS ©F T(UJnTD®IJa. 
 
 This College, opened with public ceremonies on the 5th of Septem- 
 ber, 1853, is now in successful operation and prepared to receive and 
 accommodate pupils. The building is new and commodious, well 
 lighted, ventilated, and furnished. The course of Study adopted is 
 ample, and the instruction thorough ; intended to develope the Intel- 
 lectual, Social, and Moral faculties, and fit the Pupil for the active 
 duties of life. The Trustees intend that this College, as a Literary 
 Institution, adapted to the wants of the age and the purposes of a 
 sound Education, shall be second to no other in the Union. At the 
 close of the Collegiate year (in July) a general examination will he 
 had, and Diplomas and Degrees awarded td'such as have completed 
 the studies of the Collegiate course. 
 
 In connection with the Collegiate, there is'^i Preparatory Depart- 
 ment for younger pupils — tlie sisters of those in the Collegiate classes. 
 
 The Scholastic year will consist of four sessions of eleven weeks 
 each. Pupils will he charged only from the time of their entering. 
 
 TERMS. 
 
 Boarding, including washing, ironing, fuel, and light, per 
 
 sesssion $37 50 
 
 TUITION IN THE COLLEGIATE DEPARTMENT, 
 
 Embracing all of the English branches, with Latin, Greek 
 
 and Mathematics, if desired, per session $12 50 
 
 PREPARATORY DEPARTMENT, 
 
 According to the grade of studies, per session, from $6 00 to $10 00. 
 DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES. 
 
 French, German, Italian, and Spanish, per session $5 00 
 
 MUSICAL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Music on the Piano, Harp, or Guitar, with use of instruments, at the 
 usual price. 
 
 Where two pupils of the same family are sent, there will be a 
 deduction of ten per cent, on the whole bills for tuition and boarding. 
 For particulars as to Studies, Terms, &c., address the Principal, 
 
 B. R. WAUGH, 
 
 No. 72, Market street , Harrisburg , Venn.